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Emmett Till’s cousin sues Mississippi sheriff for Carolyn Bryant's arrest over 68-year-old murder

'We are using the available means at our disposal to try to achieve justice on behalf of the Till family,' the lawyer of Emmett Till’s cousin said

LEFLORE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI: A cousin of Emmett Till has sued a Mississippi sheriff to get him to execute an arrest warrant that was issued in connection with the horrific kidnapping and murder of the teen over 70 years ago. A team discovered an unserved arrest warrant for Carolyn Bryant, who was identified on the document as "Mrs. Roy Bryant," months before the filing of the complaint.

Emmett Till's torture and murder that summer in the Mississippi Delta sparked the civil rights movement after his mother asked for an open-casket burial in Chicago and magazines released images of his disfigured body, reported USA Today.

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How did Emmett die?

On August 28, 1955, a group of White men brutally murdered Till, an African-American teenager from the south side of Chicago, Illinois, for supposedly flirting with a White woman. The 14-year-old was killed while visiting family in Money, Mississippi. Till, who was known for playing harmless pranks, started telling his cousins that he had a white girlfriend back home. The boys pushed Till to approach the White woman working behind the counter at the country shop they were in because they didn't believe him.

Till accepted the challenge and entered the store to buy some sweets, and was heard saying, "Bye, baby," as he exited. There was no one else in the store, but Carolyn Bryant, who was working behind the counter at the time, later alleged that he grabbed her, made obscene overtures, and whistled at her as he left.

When Roy Bryant, Bryant's husband, came to town a few days later, he hurried over to Till's family residence with his half-brother JW Milam and pushed Till into their automobile. After assaulting him, they drove him to the Tallahatchie River and forced him to carry a 75-pound cotton gin fan to the river before ordering him to strip naked.

He was beaten, had his eye gouged out, was shot in the head, and his body was thrown into the river by the two men. The cotton gin was first securely fastened to Till using barbed wire. Three days passed before his body was found. Till's mother advocated for an open-casket funeral in Chicago after his death. After pictures of the young man's brutalized body were broadcast on the news, media attention followed. The tragic torture and death of Emmett Till served as a catalyst for the civil rights movement.

Why are Emmett Till's relatives filing a lawsuit?

Till's case has been reopened more than sixty years later, and the woman who made the claim that led to his murder is being investigated again. The research team discovered an unsettled 1955 arrest warrant while working out of a courthouse in Leflore County, Mississippi. Patricia Sterling, Till's cousin, filed a fresh complaint on Tuesday, February 7, against Ricky Banks, the current sheriff of Leflore County. Sterling aims to compel Banks to serve Bryant's arrest warrant.

“We are using the available means at our disposal to try to achieve justice on behalf of the Till family,” Sterling’s attorney Trent Walker said, as reported by The US Sun.

Where is Carolyn now?

Bryant withdrew from the public glare after Till's death. Later, after divorcing Roy, she married twice more while politely avoiding media requests for interviews. As of last year, Bryant, who is currently in her late 80s, was allegedly getting hospice care in Kentucky. How Bryant or the Sheriff's office will react to the case's developments is not yet clear.

'Serve the warrant!'

People were quick to respond on social media, with one tweeting, "Good. I don’t care if she’s 140 years old. Her actions caused the murder of a teenage boy. To hell with her." Another said, "Ancient Nazis are rounded up and jailed for their crimes. She should be too." A third chimed in, "Serve the warrant!" A fourth said, "Critics: She’s too old, leave her alone. It happened years ago. Same critics: Yes! That Nazi deserves to go to prison. Who cares that he’s 90! Conclusion: The same rules do not apply to black victims .. evidently." "It must be done. She is responsible for Till's death," said another.

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