Local book signing commemorates 70th anniversary of Emmett Till assassination

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- In an effort to honor the start of Black History Month, people gathered at Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God and Christ for a book signing with Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr., the cousin of Emmett Till, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Till's assassination.

"You could not identify his face because he was so badly beaten, and they won the court case saying this is not Emmett Till, this is an old White man that you all have dug up out of the grave to embarrass Mississippi," said Reverend Parker Jr.

Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy from the Chicago area. He was the victim of a lynching in Mississippi, where he was visiting family in 1955. Reverend Parker was 16 at the time, and he later wrote a book on the ordeal and called it "A Few Days Full of Trouble."

"He gives out this big whistle. Well, we could've died. We could've just disappeared. 1955? And you're going to whistle at a White woman? Have you lost your mind? He was trying to be funny but then he sees we're afraid. Now he's apprehensive. Nobody said, 'let's go,' we all bee-lined for the car," said Reverend Parker Jr.

The 70th anniversary of Till's death is on Aug. 28 of this year. Reverend Parker Jr. told today's crowd that it is important to tell stories about people like Emmett Till, as he describes it, turning lemons into lemonade.