An ‘Emmett Till moment’ for guns?
After the Uvalde shooting, people are considering if an ‘Emmett Till moment’ might change the gun debate.
Headlines From The Times · Gustavo Arellano, Denise Guerra, Shannon Lin, Kasia Broussalian, Ashlea Brown, Angel Carreras, David Toledo, Mario Diaz, Mark Nieto, Mike Heflin, Kinsee Morlan, Jazmín Aguilera, Shani O. Hilton, Madalyn Amato, Carlos De Loera, Surya Hendry
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Show Notes
In the wake of the Uvalde massacre, Emmett Till’s name is again at the forefront of a national conversation, this time about gun control. Till was the 14-year-old boy lynched by a group of white men in 1955 in Mississippi. Images of his mutilated body shocked the country and galvanized civil rights activists.
As people inside and outside newsrooms struggle with whether showing brutal images of slain children might move people and politicians toward collective action, Emmett’s family talks about power and pain, and the impact and limitations of an image.
Today, in honor of Juneteenth, we kick off a week of episodes about the Black experience with the question: Is this country in the middle of another “Emmett Till” moment?
Read the full transcript here.
Host: Gustavo Arellano
Guests: L.A. Times reporter Marissa Evans
More reading:
After Uvalde shooting, people consider an ‘Emmett Till moment’ to change gun debate
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