[applause] president biden: really critical work ahead to continue equality for all americans and my administration commit to leading the path forward and members of congress are even more committed than that. i will close with this. the reason the world saw what ms. till mobley saw, because another hero in this story. the black press. [applause] president biden: i m serious. jet magazine, chicago defender told the story unflinching in bravery with which they told the story, making sure america saw what they saw. ida b well, said, the way to right wrong turn the light of truth upon them, way to right wrong is shine the light of
is a ritual of absolution. we want to deny our sins. and move forward. it is always the case that we do this when we re at a moment of contradiction where the reality of who we are shall we say run smack into the lie of who we take ourselves to be. so then we engage in these rituals as it were. so we have to be a better people is the at least my answer i think. i think if you have a list of better people, right, emmett till s mother would have to be near the top. i mean, she was the one who said let people see what i ve seen. first by demanding that open casket, and then she asked jet magazine to take pictures of emmett till s body so it could be seen worldwide. the emotional price that she paid not just through the death of her son, but to make it mean
became a catalyst for the civil rights movement. now till s memory is being honored with a national monument. here is blayne alexander. reporter: emmett till would have turned 82 years old today. instead, in 1955, the 14-year-old boy was abducted, beaten, and lynched after he was accused of whistling at a white woman in money, mississippi. and today president biden created the first national monument named for emmett till and his mother mamie till-mobley. we should know about our country. we should know everything, the good, the bad, the truth, who we are as a nation. reporter: the monument will have three sites, the tallahatchie river bank where till s mutilated body was pulled from the water, the courthouse in sumner, mississippi, where his killers were tried and acquitted by an all-white jury. and roberts temple church in chicago, the site of till s open casket funeral, a decision by his mother, who allowed jet magazine to