Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of S. 450, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Congressional Gold Medal Act, which is a companion to a House bill sponsored by Representative Rush. This bill will provide for a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of two very important figures in our American history and heroes of the civil rights movement, Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley. It was not long ago that Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American child from Chicago, visited his family in Money, Mississippi. Shortly after his arrival, he was kidnapped, beaten, mutilated, and shot in the head. His murderers then sunk his body in a river with a cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire. Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till's mother, expressed both love and heroism in the face of the unthinkable, ensuring that her son's body was brought home to Chicago and insisting that his funeral be open casket. She ensured that Emmett was dressed in his Sunday best and that nothing else about his body was touched, so that people could see the violence that had been perpetrated upon him and bear witness to the horrors of lynching. Mamie issued an open invitation to her young son's funeral. 50,000 people heeded the call and were moved by the devastating effects that racism, prejudice, and hate had on Emmett's body and very life.…”