National activist calls for arrest of Carolyn Bryant Donham for her involvement in Emmett Till’s death

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) -It was a gruesome murder in 1955 of a 14-year-old boy that horrified people around the world.

Emmett Till’s body was mutilated after falsely being accused of whistling at a white woman.

Now, almost 70 years after his death, an outstanding arrest warrant for that woman was discovered last week in a Mississippi courthouse basement.

National civil rights activist John C. Barnett is helping the Till family seek long-overdue justice by demanding that Mississippi execute the unserved warrant for Carolyn Bryant Donham.

“I believe that we need to get justice and that small form of justice is even if she’s arrested,” said Barnett. “We’re not asking, we’re demanding.”

The unserved warrant charges Donham for her participation in the 1955 abduction, kidnapping, and murder of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi.

Donham lives in North Carolina today.

Barnett wants Mississippi and North Carolina to work together.

“Execute the warrant so that they can come to Raleigh or Raleigh will transport her back to Mississippi so at least the family of Emmett Till can get some justice,” said Barnett.

Barnett is also demanding to meet with the district attorney in Raleigh to put the issue to rest.

He says although Donham may be elderly now, Till died as a 14-year-old boy without justice.

“I don’t care if she’s 87, I don’t care if she’s 89, I don’t care if she’s 97 because at the end of the day I know Miss Mamie as I call her died not knowing if her son was ever going to get justice,” said Barnett.

Barnett said if an arrest is not made soon, members of the Black Panthers will travel to Raleigh next Wednesday seeking action.

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