My masthead was generated this past weekend, knowing that the men who lynched Amaud Arbery were scheduled to be sentenced Monday for the hate crimes (on top of the state murder convictions in Georgia).
But, in truth, I was also hoping that the grand jury would complete its work during this week (and authorize charges) against the woman who falsely accused a then 14 year old Emmett Till of improprieties, and then lied on the stand to help exonerate her then husband (and another man), who had each admitted to. . . lynching Emmett. And that she would see justice moving toward her -- on much delayed, but now swifter wings.
Neither of the men were ever punished for that crime. They walked free, and died free men. . . due mostly to her testimony -- and the searing racism, in the State of Mississippi, in those days.
And Emmett's "accuser", one Carolyn Bryant Donham, while recanting her former false statements -- in filmed remarks, captured by various documentarians since about 2000 through 2015. . . had never even been served with the original perjury warrant -- from 1955. It was put away, by law enforcement at the time -- and never served. But it resurfaced when a documentarian found it in the basement of the local courthouse.
I had been hopeful -- even though the woman is 87 this year, that she's see the criminal laws apply. . . to everyone. But I am sad to report tonight that the grand jury did not vote an indictment, for perjury:
. . .Family members of Emmett, whose killing in the Jim Crow-era South spurred the civil rights movement in America, said earlier this summer that they had unearthed an unserved arrest warrant for Bryant Donham, her late husband and his brother.
The warrant is dated August 29, 1955, and signed by the Leflore County clerk. The image of the warrant shows the current clerk certified the document as authentic on June 21. . . .
We still plainly carry national scars. . . or perhaps more accurately, the still-open, gaping wounds. . . of racism. . . and they fester, and fester. . . with each of these failures, by our judicial system. The hate festers. . . in so, so many of us. I am truly disappointed. Out.
नमस्ते
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