Exclusive: Emmett Till's casket left to waste at Burr Oak

[meegbear]

Broken. Rusted. Battered. The image of a glass-covered casket with the body of Emmett Till was shown around the world in the 1950s. But on Thursday, as hundreds of African Americans searched frantically for the graves of love ones, the battered casket of Till was rusting in the back of a shack at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.

The casket was surrounded by garbage and discarded headstones strewn about like litter.

"When we opened it up trying to find what we have, a family of possums ran out," said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

Cemetery workers had been cooperative and informed law enforcement officials that it was indeed Till's original casket.

"It sure looks like all of the photos I have ever seen," Dart said. "This is absolutely horrible."

In June 2005, Till's body was exhumed during an investigation of his death. As is customary, he was not reburied in the same casket.

The original casket was supposed to be part of a planned memorial for Till at Burr Oak Cemetery, but the donations for that memorial were allegedly pocketed by a woman who has been charged in this ghoulish scheme.

Till, 14, was kidnapped and murdered after he whistled at a white woman in 1955 in Mississippi. The lynching of the Chicago youth helped spark the civil rights movement. A picture of his severely mutilated face was shown around the world.

His original casket is symbolic of the condition of the battered condition of the cemetery.

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/1660395,CST-NWS-mitch10.article

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Critters2]

2. Such greed. Unbelieveable. nt

[snappyturtle]

3. K&R How horrible. nt

[a kennedy]

4. this is just so sad

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. This whole story is just shocking. :^(

[Mrs. Overall]

6. Delete--totally misread something and asked a stupid question.

[malaise]

7. Man to man is so unjust

Even in death - this is all about greed - money trumps the dignity of the dead. :puke: