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More than a dozen protesters gathered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on Saturday afternoon to demand justice for Emmett Till, a 14-year-old who was murdered in 1955 in Mississippi after whistling toward a white woman.
A small group gathered in Kentucky because the woman who accused Till of whistling at her, which ultimately led to his death at the hands of two of her family members, lives in an apartment complex in Bowling Green. A few months ago, while searching the basement of a Mississippi courthouse, somebody found an arrest warrant for Carolyn Bryant’s arrest which was never served.
“It was a white supremacist who murdered Emmett Till,” said Nasiy Nasir X, the national president of the Lion of Judah Armed Forces said.
Till was murdered by Bryant’s husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam. They were both found not guilty by an all-white jury after a five-day trial.
The protest, which numbered around two dozen at its peak, was led by a civil rights group named True Healing Under God, or T.H.U.G., and was attended by groups including the Black Panthers and the Lion of Judah Armed Forces along with others that came to protest at the last known location of Bryant and ask police to serve the arrest warrant that was found.
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According to protesters, the warrant was not served because Bryant is already old. But, activist John C. Barnett, who organized the protest, believes this should not be an excuse for justice to be served.
“The same punishment that they gave Bill Cosby, they should give her,” Barnett said. “In this country don’t matter if you’re 87, 97 or a 107, you do wrong, then you need to face that elephant in the room. And that’s getting justice.”
Priscilla Sterling, Tills’s cousin, was also in Bowling Green.
“Justice was never served. Our family is not happy,” Sterling said. “I just want you to know that it was white supremacy that freed Carolyn Bryant.
“The warrant that was found in June said, stated that Carolyn Bryant was there charged with kidnapping as well as accessory to murder. Why Corona brand did not get charged?”
While Barnett was speaking to reporters, an unidentified member of the Black Panthers was arrested; police said he had an outstanding arrest warrant.
“He has an outstanding warrant, so does Carolyn Bryant-Donham have an outstanding warrant,” Barnett said. “This is what they need to be doing to Carolyn Bryant-Donham.”
The protest stayed calm throughout the day. The group went from the back of the apartment complex to the front and even the mall across the street. They were met with squad cars, Bowling Green police officers and private security.
Earlier in the day, Bowling Green police sent an alert that there was a threat to people that were going to protest. According to the sheriff of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, the threat was directed toward the protesters and anybody helping them.
In light of the events, the Bowling Green Christmas parade, scheduled for Saturday in downtown Bowling Green, was called off.
Alicia Morgan, 28, from Glasgow said she was there to support her family. “This is my family,” she said of the protesters.
The lawyer in the case, Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz, said they will present a federal lawsuit and an injunction in Mississippi next week, asking the arrest warrant be served.
He also said they want the Department of Justice to reopen the case “and stop playing with this one.”
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