1 of 5 | President Joe Biden speaks while hosting a screening of the movie "Till" in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Photo by Al Drago/UPI |
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Feb. 16 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Thursday blasted "denialism" while discussing racism during a White House screening of Till, a film chronicling the story of Mamie Till-Bradley, the mother of Emmett Till.
The White House on Thursday welcomed students for the screening of the film, which stars Danielle Deadwyler as the mother of the 14-year-old Black boy who was tortured and lynched after he was falsely accused of making advances toward a White woman, Carolyn Bryant, in Mississippi in 1955.
"To remember history is to shine a light on the good, the bad, the truth and who we are as a nation," Biden said during the speech to the students.
"Our history shows that while darkness and denialism hide very much, they erase nothing. They can't erase the past, and they shouldn't."
Biden added that the film "matters so much" because "history matters so much," before touting his own accomplishments in combating hate crimes as president.
"It was almost exactly one year ago that I signed a law more than 100 years in the making," Biden said.
"It was an honor. It was one of the great honors of my career. The Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act, making lynching a federal hate crime."
Biden said that it was "hard to believe" that people would lynch others just because of the color of their skin, adding that "some people still want to do that."
"Lynching is pure terror, enforcing the lie that not everyone belongs in America and not everyone is created equal. Pure terror to systematically undermine hard-fought civil rights. Innocent men, women, children hung by a noose from trees. Bodies burned, drowned, castrated," Biden said.
"Their crimes? Trying to vote. Trying to go to school. Trying to own a business. Trying to preach the gospel. False accusations of murder, arson, robbery. Lynched for simply being Black, nothing more."
Biden said that many Black families still have the same conversations with their children that a teacher had with the real-life Emmett Till before he was lynched, instructing him to "get down on your knees" when encountering racist situations.
"Parents have to have that similar conversation with their children, worrying about whether they'll come home from a walk down the street or playing in the park or just driving their car," Biden said.
The president also praised Black newspapers of the time, including Jet Magazine and the Chicago Defender, for being "unflinching and brave" in their reporting on the lynching of Emmett Till.
"Just imagine Emmett Till standing with us today. Just imagine if he was standing with us today," Biden said.
"Maybe he'd be a grandpop, passing down wisdom of the struggle and hope to all the young people here today."
