The Fifties

by David Halberstam

There were no surprises in the story they told Huie: Moses Wright had produced Till. Milam had shined his flashlight in Till’s eyes. “You the nigger who did the talking?” he asked. “Yeah,” Till answered. “Don’t say ‘Yeah’ to me: I’ll blow your head off. Get your clothes on,” Milam had said. Then they drove away with Till. They told Huie they did not intend to kill Till, they wanted merely to scare him and teach him a lesson. But when he proved to be unrepentant, only then, much to their sorrow, did they realize that they had to kill him. “What else could we do?” Milam explained to Huie. “He was hopeless. I’m no bully; I never hurt a nigger in my life. I like niggers in their place. I know how to work ’em. But I just decided it was time to put a few people on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, niggers are going to stay in their place. Niggers ain’t gonna vote where I live. If they did, they’d control the government. They ain’t gonna go to school with my kids. And when a nigger even gets close to mention sex with a white woman, he’s tired of livin’. Me and my folks fought for this country and we’ve got some rights. I stood there in that shed and listened to that nigger throw that poison at me 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. Goddamn you, I’m going to make an example of you—just so everybody can know how me and my folks stand.’”