Letter to Mamie Till's Family

"Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due" ~ Romans 13:7

Hello,

My name is Keymarthanese Rahim Rashad-Ali. You do not know me personally, but I am someone that (admires) your mother. I recently learned of her passing and God has open arms, and your mother is in good company.

I’d wanted to write your mother a letter – maybe even a poem. If I created a poem, it would be written like something from Langston Hughes had – or sung like Marvin Gaye, With the presence of Martin Luther King, Jr., so that I might articulate how I feel about the power of strength and courage I saw in your mother, and how she didn’t waver. She didn’t back down to the South and her actions say “I’m not afraid of you!” Regardless if my friends tell me that I shouldn’t say these things.

Similar to a puppy dying in the road, the mother comes and lays down right beside it. And if another car come – then so be it. Just like the old Negro spiritual, “I shall not be moved.” I can understand why she decided to have the casket open better than ABC. It would seem as though she would have to be crazy to show this to the world. Yet had she not done this – no one would understand. She wouldn’t be able to describe it, and have people understand what happened to her son. She says, “I’m going to expose it”. I admire this because this is what I would have done, or at least what I hope I would have been able to do. She was the last person to remind us what it meant to be black in America.

It doesn’t matter that at one point she was suicidal. Even I have believed myself to be suicidal at one point. Things get bad and you think about your life. She had children. I have two sons and a daughter also. After every bit of difficulty comes ease. It’s almost scientific. When you’re at your lowest point (and we all have problems) then we say “ I cannot carry any more burdens” and you think the only escape from this would be death. Then your mind thinks, “Is this really what I want? Or do I just want to escape? Or am I just experiencing sadness?” Or do you say “someone is looking at me as a model. And if I succumb to these pressures then I let them down.” So you decide to put down the bottle of those pills or that gun and live. I admire Mamie Till - Mobley as someone I could never be. The only thing I can do is to speculate about ‘what I would do’. Yet my mind tells me, that if I let my temper get involved, if I let my emotions get involved – I don’t think I could do what she did.

I would have become a Carl Lee Haley (from A time to Kill). Drunken with revenge, looking for some form of payment. I know that is not the best thing to do. Aggression begets aggression, and violence – violence. At this time, surrounding the death of Emmett Till, aggression is not what was needed. Instead, you fight with intelligence. Imagine you see your only child taken from you. The only consolation you have is that one day you’ll receive justice in some form. Then you go in the courtroom, with the concept of fair treatment. “Justice for the people, by the people”, believing this includes you. You walk in, only with your faith in God and in the people of the jury. Four to five months later, you have to read about the crucifixion of your child in a newspaper as described by his killers. She thinks, “If no one can do anything for me, then I am either going to get them myself or I will die trying.” Or do you say, “I’ll let God deal with these battles”?

Ending - (Stay blessed and stay strong).

I know the story of Christ and his suffering. To me, Martin Luther King, Jr. is a type of modern Christ. His death and the death of Malcolm X were identical. Malcolm didn’t want any guards when he went to the podium. Martin didn’t want any guards around him either. Which signifies that each of them knew that something was going to change in their lives, these were prophecies. Martin actually spoke about Malcolm’s death. Still he said, “I don’t want anyone around me. “If this is God’s will”. These are the peacekeepers. Freedoms fighters. Fighting for those who are unable to fight for themselves. Malcolm said, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything”. Martin said, “If a man has not found something for which he is willing to die, he is not fit to live”. Today when we discuss affirmative action, reparations there are no true mouthpieces. Things have been delayed, halted or forgotten. It’s forgotten as our generation continues to get older. The teachings haven’t changed. What was taught during black history month (number) years ago is the same information that is being taught today. There’s no new information, and the stories don’t go past African American history. African history isn’t taught. The textbook tells of slavery, as if that is actually where the story begins. There’s so much I want to do, but I can’t rock the boat.

Once our history is forgotten, we’re back in the same situation as 300 years ago. It’s common when asking someone how he or she is doing for him or her to provide an automatic response such as “Fine” or “I can’t complain”. The least you can do is complain. Still we opt not to. Why? Because even if we complain “no one is going to do anything about it!” Make people hear you complain longer and louder.

I remember watching the “Eye on the Prize” series in the 8th grade. One of Mrs. Neil reasons for showing this might have been to ensure that the students stayed in touch with our history. So that when these students see this again, they’ll already know about it. This is the same reason I have my trainees write papers about the philosophy of a Mandika warrior. I am the person who lives through me (did I get this quote right?). No one owes me anything (there seems to be something missing from this sentence like “but I owe”). I’m the prayer that Kunte Kente whispered to the grasshopper. Everyone has forgotten (has forgotten what?) – but not me.

I am a reminder to a generation that has taken all that we’ve gotten in vain. When I see the elderly, and I see their age and their wrinkles – I see their story. I see a little boy or a little girl who had to put up with things I never had to put up with and I am humbled. I’m humbled when I see their slow walk and their quivering hands and the little energy they have left to tell a joke. I see a person that, in 10-15 years, will not be here anymore. They’ll be gone. Those people, those works, those pains and sufferings – those stories, they will be gone. Lost.

– 1LT KEYMARTHANESE RAHIM RASHAD-ALI