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A shocking image surfaced on Instagram: Three white University of Mississippi students posing with guns next to a memorial sign dedicated to the black teenager, Emmett Till, who was murdered in 1955.
According to The New York Times, two of the students in the photo have been identified as Ben Leclere and John Lowe. All three are members of the fraternity Kappa Alpha.
In the photo, one of the students holds a shotgun. Another brandishes an AK-47. The memorial sign is bullet-ridden. According to ProPublica, which first reported on the photo—it isn’t clear if the students shot the sign.
Emmett Till (Wikimedia)
NYT reports that the students have been suspended by their fraternity. “The photo is inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable,” and “does not represent our chapter,” stated the Kappa Alpha fraternity chapter.
However, the fraternity is known for prior racist activities. As per ProPublica, “The fraternity, which honors Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as its “spiritual founder” on its website, has a history of racial controversy, including an incident in which students wore blackface at a Kappa Alpha sponsored Halloween party at the University of Virginia in 2002.”
The photo has since been turned over to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The students have not been suspended from the university. A spokesperson from the university told The New York Times that while the photo was “offensive,” the students did not violate the school’s code of conduct.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice said it was reopening the murder case of Till 63 years after the 14-year-old was brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Federal officials announced that it launched an investigation into the case based on “new information” received about Till’s kidnapping, torture, and murder.
News that the DOJ was reopening Till’s case was first reported by the Associated Press after the Justice Department sent a report to Congress in March under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016, a bill authorized by President Barack Obama granting feds the ability to investigate unsolved civil rights murders committed before 1970.
New revelations about Till’s death were published in the 2017 book The Blood of Emmett Till by historian Timothy B. Tyson.
Till was a native of Chicago visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, when he was accused of making sexual advances toward Carolyn Donham, 21, at a grocery store. Her then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother J.W. Milam were charged with killing Till but were acquitted by an all-white jury. Bryant and Milam later admitted to a reporter the next year that they beat and shot the teen before dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River. They were not retried due to double jeopardy laws.
—Additional reporting by Selena Hill
A shocking image surfaced on Instagram: Three white University of Mississippi students posing with guns next to a memorial sign dedicated to the black teenager, Emmett Till, who was murdered in 1955.
According to The New York Times, two of the students in the photo have been identified as Ben Leclere and John Lowe. All three are members of the fraternity Kappa Alpha.
In the photo, one of the students holds a shotgun. Another brandishes an AK-47. The memorial sign is bullet-ridden. According to ProPublica, which first reported on the photo—it isn’t clear if the students shot the sign.
Emmett Till (Wikimedia)
NYT reports that the students have been suspended by their fraternity. “The photo is inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable,” and “does not represent our chapter,” stated the Kappa Alpha fraternity chapter.
However, the fraternity is known for prior racist activities. As per ProPublica, “The fraternity, which honors Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as its “spiritual founder” on its website, has a history of racial controversy, including an incident in which students wore blackface at a Kappa Alpha sponsored Halloween party at the University of Virginia in 2002.”
The photo has since been turned over to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The students have not been suspended from the university. A spokesperson from the university told The New York Times that while the photo was “offensive,” the students did not violate the school’s code of conduct.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice said it was reopening the murder case of Till 63 years after the 14-year-old was brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Federal officials announced that it launched an investigation into the case based on “new information” received about Till’s kidnapping, torture, and murder.
News that the DOJ was reopening Till’s case was first reported by the Associated Press after the Justice Department sent a report to Congress in March under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016, a bill authorized by President Barack Obama granting feds the ability to investigate unsolved civil rights murders committed before 1970.
New revelations about Till’s death were published in the 2017 book The Blood of Emmett Till by historian Timothy B. Tyson.
Till was a native of Chicago visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, when he was accused of making sexual advances toward Carolyn Donham, 21, at a grocery store. Her then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother J.W. Milam were charged with killing Till but were acquitted by an all-white jury. Bryant and Milam later admitted to a reporter the next year that they beat and shot the teen before dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River. They were not retried due to double jeopardy laws.
—Additional reporting by Selena Hill
Ty Hunter is one of the most humble and fashionable souls in the game. Although many associate him with being the two-decades-long stylist for Beyoncé, he is also a motivational speaker, soon-to-be author, a loving father and son, and just all-around awesome human being.
I had many ‘aha moments’ during my recent podcast interview with Hunter and identified four key pillars that have assisted with his massive success and longevity in the game.
1. Shake Things Up in a Major Way
We know by now that we must be OK with the idea of getting uncomfortable in order to succeed. Ty Hunter teaches us that positive change usually comes as a result of shaking things up in a major way. He shook up his life and left his medical field career behind in Austin, Texas, and headed to Houston. In Houston, he worked at a clothing store by the name of Booyaka where he did window dressings and displays and later worked at Guess and Bebe. During this time, he met and began building relationships with “Ms. Tina” (Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Lawson) and “the girls” (Destiny’s Child) who often came into the stores.
After Destiny’s Child’s Independent Women dropped, Tina Knowles told him she will get him out of that store one day. While he didn’t quite believe her at the time, three weeks later she called him on his day off from work and was given the opportunity to work on the Survivor music video. “The rest, as they say, is history,” Hunter recalls.
2. Step Out on Faith with Confidence
Ty Hunter is a go-getter who was never intimidated by big names. Because of this, he often confidently steps out on faith.
“I always knew that I wanted more and I wanted something different from the norm. I’ve always just stepped out on faith. I just feel like once you have a vision or a dream, you just gotta go for it… I don’t believe in being one of those people [who say] ‘I wish I coulda,’ shoulda.’ I try to keep those out of my vocabulary. I just go for it…People tend to get in a room and feel like they don’t belong. I belong in any room God puts me in,” Hunter affirms.
3. Roll with The Punches
Hunter has had his moments of despair and openly shares his struggles with depression. He makes it clear, however, that he refuses to stay there for too long.
“It’s OK to have a down time and depression. You can have that moment where you order pizza, have ice-cream in the bed, and are crying. You’re supposed to, we’re human,” he said.
When going through a tough time, however, he writes himself a message to ‘snap out of it’ and posts it on his bathroom mirror as a reminder that he has given himself the time needed and it’s time to roll with the punches and get back up.
“It’s OK to have a bad day but make sure you put an expiration on that bad day,” he urges.
Another thing that he finds works well for him and his friends during sad moments is to call a photographer friend for a photoshoot. He simply picks out clothes, prepares them on a rack, and heads out to shoot.
He believes that you can have everything in the world you think you want, but until you learn to live with and love yourself, none of those things will be enough. You must know who you are and what you enjoy doing, then make sure you go out and do those things.
4. Remain Humble
Some may call Ty Hunter “lucky,” but he attributes his blessings to simply being a good person. He has not allowed his success to change his caring nature, “You’ve got to be good to people…you get what you put out.”
He shared that you could be the richest person, you still must look at the next man as your brother. “You cannot feel that you are superior to anybody because you’re not. There’s a higher power.”
He believes that once you put good out and treat everybody as equals and with respect, good comes your way, “The maid, the housekeeper, the front desk—treat everybody the same. Let them know ‘I see you’ and ‘you’re not invisible’, then good things will happen to you. That’s how I was blessed. And that’s how I’ve had longevity in this game,” he shared.
What Ty Hunter Is Up To At The Moment
Ty Hunter has quite the résumé and is still adding to his massive list of accomplishments. He is currently working on a book and is very passionate about motivating people to live their best lives. He has helped so many struggling with tough times through his uplifting Instagram posts @TyTryOne and through motivational speaking.
To hear more from Ty Hunter, check out a recent interview I did with him for my Freedom Slay Podcast.
Black Enterprise Contributors Network
Writer: Jonathan Hickman /Artists: Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia / Marvel
If you haven’t heard the news, Jonathan Hickman, one of the most reknowned writers in recent comic history has taken the reins on the most in/famous team (yes, even more than The Avengers) in Marvel history — The X-Men — starting with House of X. Hickman is on record being brutally honest about his meetings with the Marvel big wigs. He had big feelings on where he’d like to take the X-Men and where their rightful place is. In an interview with Comicbook.com, he said: “So I argued for cancelling the entire line: Why it would work, why it was a good idea, and most importantly, why it was what we needed to do narratively to return the X-Men to their rightful prominent position in the Marvel Universe.”
With that as the base of our understanding, the X hype has been real. Rightfully so. Hickman, along with Rick Remender, Brian Michael Bendis, and Jason Aaron, have all executed some wonderfully planned storylines and character retcons that set up the Marvel Universe for years to come. The X-Men are next up and it makes perfect sense why Hickman is the man for the job. This title, House of X, will focus on “a pivotal month in the history of the X-Men where everything changes for mutants on Earth.” The accompanying book, Powers of X, “is a story about the history of mutants in the Marvel Universe” that will work in perfect harmony with HOX and drop bombs that will force readers to go back and rethink what each reveal from the previous book actually meant.
Ok, enough backstory, can I talk my mutant ish?!
Talking Mutant Ish
House of X is a phenomenal inaugural issue. Everything gets set up to properly usher in this new era of Professor X and company. Speaking of Xavier, that’s exactly how this issue begins. Charles can be seen strutting through a primordial looking forest of organic greens and pods of some sort. They burst open and he welcomes his X-Men who crawl to him before the realness begins.
The rest of the issue plays out as a meeting between a budding greenhouse and a United Nations convention. The greenhouse is an extension of Krakoa, a mutant island that possesses incredible abilities, like allowing mutants to teleport themselves from one destination to the next, as well as housing a pharmaceutical angle that has species-changing possibilities. The UN meeting is facilitated by the Stepford Cuckoos, who allow various world ambassadors to explore sections of Krakoa before reaching their final destination. More on that destination later.
Let me pause here, and express how absolutely gorgeous this issue and the details of each panel are. Artists Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia exceed all expectations and produce brilliantly vibrant colors while drawing incredibly detailed character expressions from start to finish. The various locations of Krakoa are so lush that you wonder where the artists inspiration could’ve come from. The panels that detail micro level interactions sport cotton candy hues, providing gorgeous backdrops for mutant interactions and embraces. The moments that force you to realize things will get real dicey real soon, such as Cyclops’ interaction with a certain family of four, and his acceptance of where they currently stand only lends itself to the set up of a fascinating future. The scenes that make you shiver with excitement, such as the final panel featuring Magneto’s venomous and legendary last line, establish exactly where this story is heading.
By the close of this plus-size issue, the world of the X-Men, and humans alike, has been completely re-established and the scales have been tipped in the favor of the super powered. Of course, this means nothing to skeptical humans, as evident by the responses to these new revelations…but you’ll have to dive into the issue to find out the details on that. There’s just so much to keep you entertained in this one book that I foresee every X-fan grinning from ear to ear as we all begin this journey that is set to take years before the final payoff. From the periodic breaks in the story that provide context and explanations to Charles and Magneto finally coming to terms with their differing ideological opinions, House of X holds back nothing and is the start of so much greatness to come.
10 New Mutant Gods out of 10
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