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'We know she's here': Emmett Till protesters enter senior living facility looking for Carolyn Donham

Carolyn Donham reportedly accused Emmett Till of whistling at her in a grocery store in Money, Mississippi, in 1955, following which Till was lynched
UPDATED JUL 8, 2022
Emmett Till protesters recently stormed a senior living facility (L) looking for a Carolyn Bryant Donham (R) (Malik Z. Shabazz/Facebook, Bettmann Archive via Getty Images and 60 Minutes/CBS News)
Emmett Till protesters recently stormed a senior living facility (L) looking for a Carolyn Bryant Donham (R) (Malik Z. Shabazz/Facebook, Bettmann Archive via Getty Images and 60 Minutes/CBS News)

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Emmett Till protesters have been combing senior living facilities, looking for a woman who was accused of causing his death in 1955. Till's case came to the headlines after an undelivered arrest warrant was recently unearthed in a Mississippi courthouse. Now in her 80s, North Carolina's Carolyn Bryant Donham had reportedly accused Till of whistling at her in a grocery store in Money, Mississippi, in 1955. 

Fourteen-year-old Till was abducted, tortured, and gunned down a week later, and dumped into the Tallahatchie River. His swollen and mutilated body was found three days later. Donham's husband, Roy Bryant, and half-brother, JW Milam, were arrested for his lynching. However, they were later acquitted. Although the two of them later admitted guilt, they could not be prosecuted due to double-jeopardy laws. 

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The unserved arrest warrant for Donham was found in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse in June this year. This prompted  Till's family and activists to renew their protests and seek justice once again. "You cannot ignore this," said Priscilla Sterling, Till's cousin, according to WRAL. "If this is what’s needed to do for us to change our mindset, our behaviors and attitudes in the society, then this will do it. This will do it. Execute the warrant."

One of the protesters said, according to the Daily Mail, "I do understand that Ms. Bryant is in her mid-to-late-80s, but understandably, this is a crime she committed when she was 22. Sixty years later, it’s time for her to be held accountable."



 

Marsha Bryant, Donham's daughter-in-law, said that the elderly woman "had nothing to do with it", and that Till's murder "appalled" her. "They think she should die or go to jail forever. They think what happened to Emmett Till should happen to her," Marsha told the Clarion Ledger.

The Lead Counsel for the Black Lawyers for Justice, Malik Shabazz, along with other activists, entered a senior living center in search Donham on Wednesday, July 6. "We on the move. We don't know how they're hiding this white woman down here, they're hiding Carolyn Bryant Donham," Shabazz said in a Facebook Live. "They're calling the police, but we're on the move. We know she's in here." Confused senior citizens were seen sitting in wheelchairs as the group walked into the facility. Some of the protesters wore what looked like bulletproof vests. Despite media reporting it as the group 'storming' the facility, the activists contend that it was peaceful and there was no trouble caused.

A woman holds a sign in honor of Emmett Till during a protest on June 13, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois (Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)

"What does she look like?" one woman asked when questioned if she knew Donham. "The false accuser of Emmett Till, the one that said that Emmett Till had sexually assaulted her...she lives in this building," Shabazz said. The woman responded, "No, honey, she does not live in this facility. She lives in a nursing home, this is not a nursing home." 

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The group left the facility through the door, chanting, "No justice, no peace" and "Black power". Two other residences listed under Donham's name were reportedly visited by the activists, who taped an "eviction notice" to the front door. Police and activists are still searching for Donham. Till's case was closed by the Department of Justice, which stated that no further prosecution could take place because back in 1955, federal hate crimes did not exist. It also claimed that the "statute of limitations" for a civil rights case have already expired.  

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