Matt Khoury
AP Literature
Song Of Solomon Close Reading
“ A young Negro boy had been found stomped to death in Sunflower County, Mississippi. There were no questions about who stomped him—his murderers had boasted freely—and there were no questions about the motive. The boy had whistled at some white woman, refused to deny he had slept with others, and was a Northerner visiting the South. His name was Till.” In this passage, Milkman walks in on Guitar and Railroad Tommy listening in to a radio report. The report is that an African-American boy in Sunflower County was killed and his murderers got off free, no questions asked. This event occurred in real life and started national uproar and call for justice. The most striking part of this situation is that the murderers received no jail time for their crime. If this injustice were to occur now, there would certainly be national outcry. During the time this book takes place, however, there is not even any mention of possible charges. It is as if it is excusable to just kill innocent African-Americans. The way Toni Morrison incorporated the real event of Emmett Till fit well in the book and even highlighted the racial climate and power structure during the book’s time period. Tensions between white Americans and African-Americans were high, especially after the death of Till. The power structure is also very apparent in the fact that Emmett Till’s killers weren’t indicted for the crime they committed. This is a clear example of how it was like back then. There was an extreme bias against African-Americans, so white people would generally not be as heavily penalized for the same acts that people of color would get arrested for. A power structure in America was very apparent back then and it still lingers now. This injustice is dangerous, which is made apparent by Emmett Till’s death.
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