Just when it was getting hard to imagine that we could sink any lower as a country when it comes to our racism we had to go and outdo ourselves. Apparently, the heartbreaking death of 30-year-old pregnant mom of four Charleena Lyles at the hands of Seattle police wasn’t enough to shock us into finally waking up. Nor was actually watching a police officer murder Philando Castile in front of his girlfriend and her young daughter, which was recently released on video. These are only two recent examples. We are a country with a serious race and racism problem, dating back centuries and we refuse to get help for it. It will most definitely be our undoing.
The problem is not just that we can’t agree that racism is a current issue that needs addressing. We haven’t even come to terms with acknowledging the importance of our racist past. Perhaps that’s why vandals recently decided to destroy a marker in Mississippi memorializing slain teenager Emmett Till. This is the second time in as many months that the marker has been vandalized.
A civil rights historical marker in Mississippi has been vandalized, obliterating information about black teenager Emmett Till, who was kidnapped and lynched in 1955. [...]
Allan Hammons, whose public relations firm made the marker, said Monday that someone scratched the marker with a blunt tool in May. During the past week, a tour group discovered vinyl panels had been peeled off the back of the metal marker in Money, Mississippi. The panels contained photos and words about Till.
It’s almost tempting to ask “Is nothing sacred anymore?” but we already know the answer. Black lives have never been sacred in this country, so neither are monuments and markers commemorating the sacrifice our lives have paid on behalf of civil rights in this country. After Emmett Till was brutally murdered for supposedly having whistled at a white woman (a story which the woman later recanted), his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, insisted on having an open casket funeral so the world could witness the hideous brutality directed at blacks during that time. But sadly, her effort was for naught. It seems as if witnessing such horror isn’t enough to shame white supremacy out of existence. It is determined to thrive, no matter what.
"Who knows what motivates people to do this?" Hammons said, noting that traffic signs are common targets for vandals and shooters in rural areas. "Vandals have been around since the beginning of time."
The sign was erected in 2011 for the Mississippi Freedom Trail, a series of state-funded markers at significant civil rights sites.
Vandals can continue to destroy these markers, disrespect the contributions of civil rights icons and try to erase history. But our ugly legacy of racism lives well into the present, no matter what we try to do to hide it.