Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. – MLK
He walked through a rabid mob filled with the klan to testify, and to speak truth to a divided nation at the Emmett Till trial. He was alive to hear the verdict in the George Zimmerman case. He died five days later.
Willie Louis (Willie Reed), 76, a son of sharecroppers, and an unsung civil rights hero, died on Thursday, July 18, 2013.
Louis was a key witness in the 1955 Emmett Till murder trial. He testified of hearing screams, and licks, until he heard no more sounds. He was discouraged from testifying by his family; they told him his testimony would not hold up against white men, but he testified anyway.
An all-white jury acquitted the two men who murdered Till, and Louis fled to Chicago, changed his name, and vanished, out of fear for his life. He would later be discovered by a journalist who was doing research, and making a documentary for PBS, and he again told us his story.
_________________________________________________________
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. – Nelson Mandela
In 1955, in a segregated South, Louis knew the risk he was taking, but he took it anyway. He knew both sides of the aisle would be filled with men and women who hated him, and would kill him if they got the chance, but he walked anyway.
He probably knew a jury in 1955 would not convict white men for killing a Black man, but he took the stand anyway. He knew his testimony might not be enough, but he testified anyway. And he heard a verdict of not guilty, and watched two murderers walk free, and then he fled.
Almost 60 years later, Louis would still be alive to hear the verdict in what some describe as a similar case (Zimmerman/Martin).
I wonder how Willie felt about our nation’s progress.
Intrepid Observer 