Emmett Till's Murder a Part of Our Unimaginably Horrible, Shameful Past

In last week's Go Triad, Joe Scott helped me make a decision about what play to see at the National Black Theatre Festival. Written and performed by Mike Wiley, "Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till" turned out to be a very solid choice.

I knew the very basic details about what happened to Emmett Till: at the age of 14, while visiting relatives in Mississippi, this African-American boy from Chicago allegedly whistled at a white woman and was later brutally murdered. His mother decided to leave his casket open so that others would have an opportunity to see the handiwork of white Southern men.

For about an hour-and-a-half, Mike Wiley went seamlessly back and forth among several different characters, including Till, his mother, the white woman he supposedly whistled at, and the two white men who later confessed to murdering Till after being acquitted in court. (I lost track of exactly how many characters Wiley ultimately played; one suggestion for future programs would be to list all of the characters and include a brief biographical description of each. That would be useful for audience members, many of whom, like me, probably learned far more than just the basic details we might have known before seeing the play.) Wiley is a mesmerizing performer. When he's in front of you, you can't take your eyes off of him; you want to follow his every word, his every movement, his every expression, and you marvel at how he so thoroughly becomes each of the characters he plays.

Seeing the play reminded me of something that I've long known but which becomes easier and easier to put in the back of one's mind: while America is a great and sometimes absolutely amazing country, there are pieces of our country's history for which we should all be deeply ashamed. Emmett Till's murder is one of those pieces. Audience members last night spent more time watching the play than the 12 white men on the jury spent deliberating before delivering a "not guilty" verdict for the two men tried for Till's murder.

It's been 50 years since Till was murdered. If he was still alive, he'd be between the ages of my father and mother, both in their sixties. While 50 years is a long time ago, it is still within the memory of a signficant portion of the population. Till's 1955 murder (one day before my mother turned 12 and Michael Jackson turned 3) occurred at a time when many white people didn't see anything wrong with how black people were treated in our country, even when such treatment went as far as murder. Such attitudes were still commonplace even more recently than 50 years ago.

I prefer an emphasis on how far we've come, but it's a mistake not to acknowledge how horrible the not-so-distant past was. "Dar He" makes you realize how far we've come, but it also reminds us of how far we had to come to get to where we now are.

"Dar He" is part of a two-part performance at the National Black Theatre Festival. Nora Cole opens the show with "Voices of the Sprits in My Soul." About an hour later, Mike Wiley performs "Dar He." This two-part show is being performed right now at the Ring Theatre on Wake Forest University's campus (3:00 PM start time), and it will play one more time at 8:00 PM this evening at the same theatre. Tickets are $37.00 each. You may call 723-7907 or try to secure tickets at the door. (Last night, tickets were still available at the door.)

To view excerpts from Mike Wiley's performance of "Dar He," visit here. (Past reviews of "Dar He.") Details about some of his other productions that Wiley brings to life can be found here.