When Emmett Till was brutally murdered in a racially-motivated hate crime in 1955, his mother overcame her grief to send the world a message. Mamie Till Mobley decided to allow mourners to view her 14-year-old son’s body in an open casket, ignoring those who advised her to bury him quickly, unseen. The sight of the young boy’s body, beaten beyond recognition, was deeply affecting, and many now see Mamie’s courageous act as reigniting a spark that led to the eventual passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Last week, if you were brave enough, you were invited to look into more open caskets. In a controversial move, surveillance video from Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, was released to the press and shared online. The video shows the shooter’s approach to the school and his crashing vehicle, followed by the shooter walking across the parking lot into the school. It continues with excruciating detail — the shooter entering a classroom, a little boy running down a hall, the arrival of law enforcement. And then. Minute after agonizing minute as law enforcement fails to act to save the lives of those inside the classroom. For one hour and 22 minutes, you can watch just how devastatingly inadequate was the response to the mass shooting. The “good guys with guns” failed to confront the lone “bad guy” killing children.
If you choose to watch, you will not hear the screams of the victims. They were edited out, although you can hear the sounds of gunfire. I cannot imagine how the police in the hallway endured the sound and still did not take action. Who could hear the screams, the pleas, the cries for help, and not choose to break down that door?
And yet.
Last week you could also watch the sentencing trial of the shooter from Parkland High School, Florida. The hearings were televised, so viewers could see the faces of those testifying, as well as reactions from those in the gallery. During the trial, videos taken by students with their cellphones were played. While the televised versions did not show the videos, this time the sound was not obscured. The sound of children crying, praying, pleading for help filled the courtroom, as the television cameras panned the faces of those present — survivors, families of victims — for reaction. Their expressions are stricken, heartbroken.
I do not recommend either; they are hard to watch, hard to listen to.
And yet.
I was compelled to watch them. I felt somehow obligated to witness the horror that we have allowed to fester in our nation. Like Mamie Till Mobley, I believe we must confront the results of our actions, our inaction. We must see it, hear it, feel it in our hearts.
Otherwise we are turning away from the continued senseless murder of children.
Today’s letter focused on 10-year-old Lexi Rubio, killed in Uvalde. A straight-A student, Lexi hoped one day to study law. Her mother says Lexi wanted to change the world. I hate how trite it sounds to say maybe her death will change the world. But maybe it will
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Thanks for writing this Kathy. It's not easy to be a witness for change, but that's exactly what we have to do, for all the Lexi's of this world.