Trayvon Martin and Emmett Till’s deaths were a tragic and sad start of two different movements that were fighting for the end of racism. The killings put those boys and their families through much pain and grief, but they did not die in vain. How did Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin’s deaths spark the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement? This is such an empowering story of how these young African American boys were the start of amazing change in our country. It is vile that our country encourages racism that made these two innocent young men lose their lives at a very young age. There was an outrage that caused people who were tired of being pushed around and having to be the bigger person, to take a stand for themselves and fight for their rights.
Emmett Till’s death sparked the Civil Rights Movement and what made this mortifying event different than all the others was the way that other people got involved. Emmett Till’s mother had asked for an open casket so she could show the world what had happened, the brutality. She was infuriated and this was the last straw for her. Till’s Mother said “Thousands of people came… see the evidence of this brutal hate crime. Till’s mother… opted for an open-casket funeral in an effort to let the world see what has happened… And I needed somebody to help me tell what it was like.” Even his mother had,had enough of what was going on. When she did that open casket display it was like wake up call to the country to stop what was going on.This is what happened and this quote does not sugar coat it, the article tells the story of the brutality and the in humanness those two men displayed. This day History stated ”The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.” It tells you painful and truly awful it must have been for Till. His body will forever be known. His father had a ring with his initials on them and Tills mom gave him the ring when he left Chicago. States his Uncle “Emmett’s face was so disfigured that the only way his uncle knew it was him was because of his ring that his mother have him before he left for Mississippi.” This shows that what those two white men who thought it was their job to make this young boy suffer. We have come a long way from then but there will always be room to improve we will never stop fighting till its all gone for good.
Trayvon Martin’s death sparked The Black Lives Matter Movement what made this awful event not be in vain is because it started the fight to make sure that that never happens again. Trayvon Martin tragedy did not happen in vain because it started the beginning of something amazing. CNN news states ”It’s been nearly a year since Zimmerman shot Martin to death. The incident generated huge outrage across the country for months and led to a wide-ranging conversation about the state of U.S. race relations”. It says that because people finally got mad things started to happen and that it what counts. The article is talking about how Zimmerman saw Martin and though that he needed to do something about it. Even though he had no right to be judging or following Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman said “This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something,” Zimmerman told the dispatcher.” The amount of racist insecurity through this country to assume the worst in each other and that it exactly what happened to Martin. Someone automatically thought that these two murders went with each other like they had carried on each others legacy. By Michael Pearson and Greg Botelho ”When Aretha heard about the death of Trayvon Martin, he says he thought about the similarities to Till’s death.” They both were very similar to each other and when you put to an to together you finally finish the puzzle. Then start a fresh with a new puzzle. In the devastating loss if the two young men we found our chance to make a enormous change in our society.
Both of these devastating loses shows our country that the way that they have been treating African Americans is not the right thing. Till’s death encouraged Rosa Parks to take her own stand against racism and one stand after another is what got us here. Parks said,CNN news told the public ”Someone asked Rosa Parks why she didn’t get up [from her bus seat]… She said she thought about Emmett Till and couldn’t go back anymore.” Till shows that not matter the consequence people were ready to take the stand and stop the oppression. The murder of Martin was going to help by carrying on the fire of Emmett Till’s murder and made a statement that they are not going to stop fighting for their freedom. CNN news stated ”We will see if the murder of Trayvon Martin sparks another kind of social movement.” The movement that Trayvon Martin murder sparked because of the outrage all across the country. Even though they are dead and it was a horrible and awful experience for both them and their families both of them will not be for forgotten. John Blake states “They died 57 years apart, but their names and legacies may be forever merged” It tells the story of how our country had failed and ruined many innocent lives we changed because if it. In the time that Till’s murder took to sink in, it didn’t stop from another killing Trayvon Martin and certainly others as well. So now both of these murders are working together to fight what killed them in the first place.
It is very important that we all understand that those boys do not deserve what they had, had happen to them and that the racism in our society is so strong that it would drive three men to kill two innocent children/minors, Also that they died and that was sad and terrible time for all of the people who had to endure the pain of losing a loved one to a cop. because this is not the first time that someone took another person’s life from how they looked on the outside because really that could have been any single one of us who got killed or born with dark skin knowing that they will always be treated differently no matter what. Why is that why do we need to put others down to make ourselves feel better about ourselves why do you need to make others feel pain so you feel happy?
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