A Wreath for Emmett Till Quotes

“Emmett Till's name still catches in my throat,
like syllables waylaid in a stutterer's mouth.
A fourteen-year-old stutterer, in the South
to visit relatives and to be taught
the family's ways. His mother had finally bought
that White Sox cap; she'd made him swear an oath
to be careful around white folks. She'd told him the truth
of many a Mississippi anecdote:
Some white folks have blind souls. In his suitcase
she'd packed dungarees, T-shirts, underwear,
and comic books. She'd given him a note
for the conductor, waved to his chubby face,
wondered if he'd remember to brush his hair.
Her only child. A body left to bloat.”
― Marilyn Nelson, A Wreath for Emmett Till

“This country we love has a Janus face: One mouth speaks with forked tongue, the other reads the Constitution. My country, 'tis of both thy nightmare history and thy grand dream, thy centuries of good and evil deeds, I sing.”
― Marilyn Nelson, A Wreath for Emmett Till