The civil rights struggle today is just as important as it was 58 years ago, when a 14-year-old African-American boy, Emmett Till, was brutally murdered for whistling at a white woman in the south. Till was from Chicago and bragged to his cousins, whom he was visiting in Mississippi, about the white girlfriend he had back home. He asked a 21-year-old white female store clerk out on a date and whistled at her on a dare. Shortly thereafter, he was abducted from his uncle’s house, beaten, shot in the head and found in the Tallahatchie River with a cotton-gin fan tied around his neck. The all-white jury found the murderers, including the store clerk’s husband, not guilty. One of the accused murderers was quoted as saying, “Well, what else could we do?…I like n—–s—in their place…They ain’t gonna go to school with my kids…and I just made up my mind. ‘Chicago boy,’ I said, ‘I’m tired of ‘em sending your kind down here to stir up trouble…I’m going to make an example of you—just so everybody can know how me and my folks stand.’”
The murder of Emmett Till was a catalyst for the civil rights movement, an effort for racial equality and justice. Dr. Martin Luther King cited the Emmett Till murder as an example of “the evil of racial injustice.”
Recently, in a predominantly white suburb of Miami, Florida, George Zimmerman was found not guilty by reason of self- defense of the murder of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teen walking home from the store. Zimmerman said Martin looked “suspicious.” As a self-appointed neighborhood watchman in the gated community, Zimmerman took it upon himself to follow, chase and gun down Martin, wrongly believing he didn’t belong there.
Despite Fair Housing Laws aimed at ending residential discrimination and promoting racial integration, the United States continues to be racially segregated. In a 2011 report using 2010 census data, “The Persistence of Segregation in the Metropolis,” Miami, Florida was ranked the 7th most segregated major metropolis. Cleveland followed, ranking 8th. (Logan & Stults, 2011)
Was segregation the dark shadow behind the Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin murders? In the Columbia University study, “How Desegregation Changed Us: The Effects of Racially Mixed Schools on Students and Society,” researchers found that when white and black students were integrated in schools, “white graduates said that they had gained a greater appreciation for other cultures in high school and were less likely to revert to stereotypical assumptions about others based on race. They also stressed their decreased fear of people of color.” It continues to find that as the minority students of desegregated schools grow up and look for places to live, “they find themselves in a housing market with limited choices of diverse and stable communities.” (Wells et. others, 2005) According to the Housing Center’s report, “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in 2011 Ohio Mortgage Lending,” housing discrimination against minorities continues, with African Americans, Latinos and Asians given fewer home lending options and receiving more high-cost mortgage loans.
For 45 years, fair housing advocates have touted the benefits of integrated communities, including greater racial tolerance, increased cultural sensitivity and less racial bias. Fair housing doesn’t only benefit those who are protected from discrimination. It can propel society to a more unified state. If George Zimmerman understood Trayvon Martin had as much right to be in that gated community as he did, Trayvon might still be alive today, and entering his senior year of high school. If the accused murderers in the Emmett Till case had the opportunity of racial integration, perhaps they would have dismissed a black boy whistling at a white woman as youthful bravado.
Where we live affects our access to jobs, education, healthcare and transportation. When we are denied the chance to live, work, and play together, we create an environment where suspicions and racial stereotypes breed more ignorance and hate. Greater enforcement of fair housing laws will support more culturally sensitive and racially tolerant communities. Again, we have an opportunity to move forward as a country toward a more just society. Fair housing is still the issue.