Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, May 11, 2005, Page 8, Image 8

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    May 11.2005
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Page B2
L aw & J ustice
Emmett Till Mississippi Murder Case Reopened
Justice sought 50 years after death
(AP) — A half century after the pieces of information that included
murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till a documentary by New York film­
shocked a nation and galvanized maker Keith Beauchamp.
"The exhumation is a logical con­
the civil rights movement, his body
will be exhumed as authorities at­ tinuation of that," said Deborah
tempt to determine who killed him. Madden, spokeswoman for the FBI
The FBI said Till’s body, buried office in Jackson, Miss. “An au­
in acem etery in the Chicago suburb topsy was never performed on the
o f Alsip, will be exhumed within the body and the cause o f death was
never determined.”
next few weeks for an autopsy.
Till, who was raised in Chicago,
T he Justice Departm ent an­
was
abducted from his uncle’s
nounced plans last year to reopen
home
in the tiny Mississippi Delta
the Till investigation, citing several
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community of Money on Aug.
28, 1955, reportedly for whis­
tling at a white woman at a gro­
cery store.
His m utilated body was
found by fishermen three days
later in the Tallahatchie River. It
was unrecognizable and his
mother was only able to identity
the teenager because she rec­
ognized a ring on his finger.
In Mississippi, District At­
to rn e y Jo y c e C h ile s o f
Greenville said that she hopes
the autopsy will positively iden­
tify Till as well as lead to a cause
of death.
During a trial that ultimately
Emmett Till
led to the acquittal of two men
on charges they murdered Till, de­ Chiles said.
She also said that since an au­
fense attorneys suggested that the
body was not Till’s and that Till topsy was never conducted, there
is a chance that some evidence,
was still alive.
"If there is a prosecution at the such as a bullet, is still with the
end of this investigation then we remains. Neither she nor Madden
hope to dispel any notion that knew why an autopsy was never
Emmett Till was not murdered,” conducted.
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Students will explore perform­
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mentary, “The Untold Story of
Emmett Louis Till.”
R. Alexander Acosta, the assis­
tant attorney general for ci vil rights,
has said the documentary films and
new information indicates the two
had accomplices who may still be
alive.
The Till case gave many Ameri­
cans a closer look at the segregated
South, its Jim Crow laws and lynch­
ings. The boy was killed a little over
a year after the Supreme C ourt’s
landmark Brown v. Board of Educa­
tion decision outlawed state-spon­
sored school segregation and about
100 days before Rosa Parks refused
to give up her seat on a segregated
bus in Montgomery, Ala.
T ill’s m o th e r, M am ie T ill
M obley, insisted that her so n ’s
m utilated body be displayed in
an open casket at his funeral, forc­
ing the nation to see the brutality
directed at blacks in the South at
the time. M obley died in 2003 and
is buried next to her son.
The planned exhum ation
w as a p p la u d e d by Sen.
Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who
had urged the Justice Depart­
ment to re-open the investiga­
tion.
"The exhum ation o f the
body o f Emmett Till brings the
Justice Department investiga­
tion to a much higher level,”
Schumer said in a statement.
“In this rare instance, justice
delayed will not be justice de­
nied.”
The two white men tried for
the murder - store owner Roy
Bryant, the husband of the
w om an T ill p u rp o rte d ly
whistled at, and J.W. Milam,
Bryant’s half brother - are now de­
ceased. After their acquittal, they
confessed in a Look magazine story
to beating and shooting Till, say­
ing they ki 1 led the teenager because
he’d whistled at Bryant’s wife.
Beauchamp claimed to have un­
covered new evidence in his docu­
Law yer Beats W itness Tam pering C harges
African American cleared by jury
(AP)— A former African-Ameri­
can prosecutor was acquitted of
charges that he bribed and tam ­
pered with witnesses as a defense
lawyer.
Randy Richardson represented
himself in the three-week trial that
ended last week. After the verdict,
he put his head on the defense table
and cried. It ended a two-year pros­
ecution in which R ichardson’s
former colleagues in the Multnomah
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County District Attorney’s office
looked into how he had handled a
domestic-violence case from 2001
and the case of Christopher Lam­
bert, who shot into a crowd of people
outside a downtown nightclub in
2002.
The prosecution said that be­
fore Richardson had taken on Lam­
bert as a client, Lambert had ar­
ra n g e d w ith frie n d s Je n n ife r
Napolitano and Quadre Bradley to
testify falsely that he was with them pleaded guilty before the trial
started.
the night of the shooting.
D u rin g c lo sin g a rg u m e n ts,
P ro se c u to rs
sa id
th at
Richardson allow ed those w it­ D e p u ty D is tr ic t A tto r n e y s
nesses to commit perjury and that A llis o n R h o d e s a n d E ric
he paid Napolitano $300 to dis­ B ergstrom said Richardson knew
suade her from backing out of tes­ the w itnesses w ere going to per­
ju re them selves and took steps to
tifying.
N apolitano and Bradley have m ake sure they did.
Richardson, however, said the
pleaded guilty to m isdem eanors
for lying on the w itness stand. district attorney’s office had con­
Lambert, who is serving nearly 21 spired against him, deploying po­
years for attem pted m urder, was lice officers to pressure witnesses
to stand trial with R ichardson for until they said what the police
many o f the same charges, but he wanted to hear.
Million Man Movement Launched
,
»
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Leaders call
for inclusion
(AP) - Black leaders are calling
for a rally in Washington this fall to
mark the 10th anniversary of the
Million Man March.
OTjiddle School
looeliont Bloxtr Boy*# & Girl/ Olvb
Tuesday, flloy 17.2005
6:00 - 8:00 PHI
Refreshments Will be served!
•15:1 Student To Teacher Ratio
• State Standard Curriculum
• Opportunity for Self-Pace Learning
• 6th,7th,8th Grades
• Before and After School Teacher Support
• Special Education Needs Met
Louis Farrakhan, the
leader o f the Nation of
Islam , appeared with
former presidential can­
didates Jesse Jackson
and A1 Sharpton to an­
nounce the M illions
More Movement in Oc­
tober.
It is billed as a more
inclusive successor to
the Million Man March,
encouraging women and
Rev. Al Sharpton speaks at the National
gays to attend.
Press Club In Washington to announce
Farrakhan issued a
the Millions More Movement in October
broad invitation that also
to mark the 10th anniversary o f the
took aim at the wealthy,
Million Man March. (AP Photo)
his critics, and both po­
litical parties.
Sharpton alluded briefly to the
“Millions M ore means w e’re
reaching forthe millions who carry sometimes chilly relations among
the three black leaders but said
the rich on their backs,” he said.
The A nti-Defamation League, they were working together to make
having long criticized Farrakhan the event a success and to end
for anti-Jew ish rem arks, urged d isp arities betw een black and
otherblack leaders to separate their white Americans.
“We don’t come to argue today
cause from him.
“When will someone in the A f­ about who said what, who did what.
rican-American community stand Our family is in crisis,” said Sharpton.
Organizers are promoting a Day
up and say that the M illion Man
March had a positive message but of Absence from work and school
the pied piper is a racist and anti- on Friday, Oct. 14, followed by a
S e m ite ? ” sa id A D L d ire c to r march in W ashington on the 15th,
and religious services the next day.
Abraham Foxman.
eel CASH Today?
T
5250 NE MLK. Jr. Blvd. PO Box 11288
Portland, Oregon 97211
503.249.2003 http://www.victoryms.org
Meth Lab, 50
Guns Seized
Police said they seized evi­
dence of methamphetamine dis­
tribution, including drugs and
money, approximately 50 guns,
and what appears to be stolen
property during search warrants
that led to an arrest Thursday.
Donald Skarman, 47 was ar­
rested on charges of distribution
and possession of a controlled
substance in connection with a
warrant served at 832OS.E. Brmk-
lyn St. A storage facility located
as Southeast 105th Avenue and
Division Street was also searched,
where additional firearms and the
components o f a meth lab were
seized.
We give payday advances
checks cashed
Post-dated cheeks cashed and held until payday • Checks cashed (any kind -• no ID required)
last service o o lines Mow rales
• Technology Enriched Curriculum
• We Believe In Our Students
Donald Skarman
loans • fax stivice • i-day lax refunds • electronic lax filing
fret money odds
A C ||
ONNECTION
s u y . 2 y t . fri u JJ '/
open mon-thur. 9am-7pm
6 6 6 9
irl, 9am-8pm sal. 9am-7pm
W ES TER N
sun. ioam-4pm
_______
FREE DVD Player
Vittor / Middle School admits stud® ts of anv race, color rationality and etluuc origin to all the
rights privileges, programs and actmhos gonwally accorded or made available to students at the
1 school
with first approved loan $200.00 or more.
Call for details (503) 287-M O N Y [MLK, Jr. location only)
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