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Emmett Till's cousin bonds with George Floyd's brother over deaths in family: 'There's hatred in our DNA'

Deborah Watts and Philonise Floyd discussed the shocking similarities between the murders of their loved ones
PUBLISHED APR 21, 2021
Emmett Till (CNN/AP) and George Floyd (Getty Images)
Emmett Till (CNN/AP) and George Floyd (Getty Images)

The family of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African-American who was lynched in 1955 sympathizes with George Floyd's family, seeing that they too have dealt with the same grief and pain.

As the trial to convict Floyd's murderer, Derek Chauvin took place in Minneapolis, CNN brought Deborah Watts, Emmet Till's cousin and Philonise Floyd, George's brother, together in the city for an interview. Although the two hadn't met before this, their situations are glaringly similar, seeing that they've both lost a family member to a hate crime.

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'We are here for justice'

The interview between the two was a long and emotional one. Although Watts was a toddler at the time of Till's murder, she remembers the pain her grandparents went through. She also remembers Till's mother's strength while addressing crowds about lynching, as she spoke about what her son endured. "We know the journey that they have been on," Watts said, to Floyd, with regard to his family. "Our hearts are bonded and the spirits connected." As for Floyd, he understood what they've been fighting for, seeing that it is one that he and his family are now a part of as well. "We’re both like, we’re holding the rope and we don’t want to let it go," Floyd added. "We’re going to be on a mission, and we are here for justice."

Deborah Watts and Philonise Floyd (CNN)

'We're still fighting for justice after 66 years'

Watts was however hopeful that Floyd would get the justice he deserves, unlike her own cousin. "Here we are today with George Floyd," she said. "What’s unfortunate is that there’s not much (that) has been changed. But we hold out hope that there will be. We are still fighting for justice after 66 years."

Till, just a 14-year-old boy then, was tortured and murdered in Mississippi in 1955. Ninety-five days after Till's death, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a bus. She said it was Till's murder that helped her to act.  The two White men and prime accused, Roy Bryant and JW Milam were prosecuted by state authorities for the killing and despite the accused confessing to the kidnapping, an all-White jury acquitted them of the crime. In 2017, author Timothy Tyson revealed details from a 2008 interview with Carolyn Bryant, the woman who accused Till of harassing her at the time which led to the horrific events and his subsequent death. Tyson claimed that Bryant admitted to having fabricated parts of her testimony during her trial.

At the time of Till's funeral, his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, placed his body in an open casket for the world to see what happened. The photos soon resulted in the Civil Rights Movement. "By making those efforts and showing the world what his 14-year-old body looked like with a 75-pound cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire, after being thrown into the Tallahatchie River, she exposed to the world, and I think the world stood up. The world spoke out. The world was enraged," Watts said, while talking about Till's mother. "The world started marching and thinking about what we could do to effect change."

A photograph of Emmett Till in his casket hangs on the wall at the Chicago Historical Society June 13, 2005 in Chicago, Illinois. The "Without Sanctuary" exhibit features a collection of lynching photographs and other memorabilia (Getty Images)

'There’s hatred in our DNA in America"

Floyd hoped for swift justice for what happened to his brother. "Everybody had the opportunity to see a motion cinema picture of a man being tortured to death as his life was extinguished for all the world to see. It was -- it was violent. It was barbaric," he said, seeing that the clip of the brother was shared across social media. "The video is enough," he explained. "If we can't get justice for that, as a Black man in America, what can we get justice for?" he added.

However, in light of the attacks on African Americans that followed after George Floyd's including the murder of Daunte Wright, he expressed his turmoil over their situation, as racism continues to rampage through the country. "We never get justice," he said.

"People of color, it feels like it’s not justice for us. It’s ‘just us.'"Watts agreed with him, seeing that it seems like there is no end to these hate crimes. "There’s hatred in our DNA in America," she said. “There’s violence against Black and brown bodies that needs to stop."

Chauvin was charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Floyd. He was found guilty on all charges. He faces up to 40 years in prison for second-degree unintentional murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder, and up to 10 years for second-degree manslaughter. 

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