Day 1,782, Quasi-Quarantine: "The Barn" Unearths Historic Inevitability And Profound Whitewashing Of Emmett Till's Murder

 

“The more I looked at the story of the barn and came to understand the forces that moved everyone involved into the Mississippi Delta in 1955, the more I understood that the tragedy of humankind isn't that sometimes a few depraved individuals do what the rest of us could never do. It’s that the rest of us hide those hateful things from view, never learning the lesson that hate grows stronger and more resistant when it’s pushed underground. There lies the true horror of Emmett Till's murder and the undeserved gift of his martyrdom.”

Painstakingly researched, "The Barn" benefits from the unique perspective and lived experience of the author, a native Mississippian who had to leave the state to find a full education. 

“The South is built, he said, on never talking about the things right in front of your face. But the sign speaks. It cannot be ignored and here in this palace of national honor, it cannot be forgotten.”

“A cult is built on believing the absurd if the absurd justifies the cult.”

The pain and love are evident in Wright Thompson's prose, as he details the state's origin story as an inevitable path from greed to a lonely barn in the middle of nowhere.

“All of which is to say that money’s only ethic is to reproduce itself, and it keeps on moving, circling, finding the best margins. Once upon a time it found those best margins in the Mississippi Delta.”

Subtitled "A Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi," the book is propelled by powerful interviews and the weight of 345 citations. The result is an emotional, indelible look at a tragedy that has resonated over the decades.

“Rarely has a more cowardly collection of humans been put in the exact right place at the exact right moment to do maximum damage.”

Thompson takes great care to honor the memory of Emmett Till and the community that has done its best to preserve his memory, and his meticulous eye for detail makes the read both challenging and emotional -- yet instructive and beautiful.

“‘At a time when there are those who seek to ban books, bury history,’ Biden said as he made his own closing arguments, ‘we’re making it clear – crystal, crystal clear’ – the crowd’s applause stopped him for a beat – ‘while darkness and denialism can hide much, they erase nothing. They can hide, but they erase nothing.’”