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New Emmett Till memorial sign to be bulletproof because people won't stop being racist a-holes

New Emmett Till memorial sign to be bulletproof because people won't stop being racist a-holes

Emmet Till was a fun-loving 14-year-old, always joking and pulling silly pranks. In 1955, while visiting with family in Mississippi, he allegedly flirted with a white woman in a grocery store. Four days later, the woman's husband and half brother broke into Till's uncle's house, kidnapped the boy at gunpoint, beat him severely, gouged out one of his eyes, and then shot him in the head. Using barbed wire, they tied a large metal fan to his neck and threw him into the Tallahatchie River.

When Till's body was found three days later, his face was unrecognizable and a monogrammed ring he wore had to be used to identify him.

The two men who kidnapped him were arrested, and three weeks later they stood trial. After less than an hour's deliberation, the all-white, all-male jury acquitted the men of all charges. After brutally murdering an innocent child, they walked free.


Till's mother insisted on her son's remains being placed in a glass-topped casket so the world would see what racism and white supremacy had done to her only child. The images from his funeral served as a catalyst for the civil rights movement that followed.

Such a clear-cut story of racial violence should easily bring all Americans to the same page, right? We should all agree that such a heinous act and gross miscarriage of justice should be treated with some level of reverence and respect. We should all agree that the scene of such a violent, tragic crime against a child should be considered a sacred place. That should just be a given, shouldn't it?

Apparently it's not a given for the people who can't stop defacing the memorial sign marking the spot where Emmett Till's body was found. It's not a given for the people who stole the original memorial marker in 2008 and threw it into the river. It's not a given for the people who shot 317 bullets through the second sign, nor for the people who shot up the third replacement sign barely a month after it went up.

It's not a given for the three Ole Miss frat boys who posed in front of the bullet-riddled sign holding shotguns and rifles just recently, either. Till's memorial marker has had to be replaced four times in a little over a decade because some people apparently can't stop being racist a-holes.

I mean, really. How sick do you have to be to desecrate a place where a tortured, murdered child's body was found? How brazen do you have to be to shoot holes in a memorial for a child that was killed by being shot in the head? How heartless do you have to be to think there's anything okay about posing with guns and smiling at the camera in front of a sign that describes how a child was brutally murdered?

The marker will once again be replaced, this time by a 600-pound, reinforced steel, bulletproof sign. The fact that a child's memorial marker needs to be made bulletproof should send a chill down everyone's spine.

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I hear people try to say that racism isn't really a thing anymore, as if the passage of the Civil Rights Act magically removed centuries of racism from every American heart. I hear people say racism would disappear if we stop talking about it, as if the word "racism" somehow conjures racial injustice to appear out of thin air. I hear people say stories like this one perpetuate the issue, as if describing something that happened somehow causes things like it to happen.

I hear people talk about "white supremacy" only in the context of Neo-Nazis, as if white supremacy hasn't been the default of our nation since its founding.

Racism is intertwined with America's foundation like a root system, and uprooting it is a messy and arduous process. The civil rights movement may have cut down the most visible weeds of white supremacy at the surface, but it didn't uproot the whole system. If we don't dig deeper down, if we don't get the dirt under our fingernails and constantly strive to pull those weeds from the root, they'll never really be gone. Racism will keep on cropping up in ugly ways.

RELATED: Mom's tweet thread about playground racism went viral because parents need to hear it

Things like shooting up Emmett Till's memorial marker is an ugly, visible weed of racism that keeps cropping up, but it's not the whole problem. Let's condemn such horrific actions, absolutely. But let's also recognize that racism exists in degrees that all of us need to constantly weed out if we ever hope to rid ourselves of it once and for all.

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Three women, three MS journeys: How multiple sclerosis looks different for everyone

Gina, Nathalie and Helga share their reactions to being diagnosed with MS and how they stay informed and positive in the face of ever-changing symptoms.

Courtesy of Sanofi

Helga, Nathalie and Gina all have MS, and their experiences show how differently the disease can manifest.

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It’s been 155 years since neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot gave the first lecture on a mysterious progressive illness he called “multiple sclerosis.” Since then, we’ve learned a lot. We know MS causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue, including damaging the brain and spinal cord. Resulting symptoms can be debilitating and include fatigue, blurred vision, memory problems and weakness. Huge advancements in our understanding of MS and its underlying causes, as well as treatment advances, have been made in the past few decades, but MS remains a complex and unpredictable reality for the 2.8 million+ people diagnosed around the world.

Ironically, the only real constant for people living with MS is change. There’s no set pattern or standard progression of the disease, so each person’s experience is unique. Some people with MS have mild symptoms that worsen slowly but sometimes improve, while others can have severe symptoms that drastically alter their daily lives.

All people with MS share some things in common, however, such as the need to stay informed on the ever-evolving research, find various lines of support and try to remain hopeful as they continue living with the disease.

To better understand what navigating life with MS really looks like, three women shared their MS stories with us. Their journeys demonstrate how MS can look different for different people and interestingly, how the language used to talk about the disease can greatly impact how people understand their realities.

woman with horse, woman riding horseGina loves riding her horse, Benita.Courtesy of Sanofi

Gina—Hamburg, Germany (diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis in 2017)

When her youngest son was 4 months old, Gina started having problems with her eye. She’d soon learn she was experiencing optic neuritis—her first symptom of MS.

“Immediately after the diagnosis, I looked up facts on MS because I didn’t know anything about it,” Gina says. “And as soon as I knew what could really happen with this disease, I actually got scared.”

As her family’s primary income provider, she worried about how MS would impact her ability to work as a writer and editor. Her family was afraid she was going to end up in a wheelchair. However, for now, Gina’s MS is managed well enough that she still works full-time and is able to be active.

“When I tell somebody that I have MS, they often don't believe me the first time because I don't fulfill any stereotypes,” she says.

Overwhelmed by negative perspectives on living with MS, Gina sought support in the online MS community, which she found to be much more positive.

“I think it’s important to use as many positive words as you can when talking about MS.” It’s important to be realistic while also conveying hope, she says. “MS is an insidious disease that can cause many bad symptoms…that can be frightening, and you can't gloss over it, either.”

To give back to the online community that helped her so much, Gina started a blog to share her story and help others trying to learn about their diagnosis.

Though she deals with fatigue and cognitive dysfunction sometimes, Gina stays active swimming, biking, riding horses and playing with her sons, who are now 11 and 6.

Cognitive dysfunction is common in MS, with over half of people affected. It can impact memory, attention, planning, and word-finding. As with many aspects of MS, some people experience mild changes, while others face more challenges.

Gina says that while there’s still a lot of education about MS needed, she feels positive about the future of MS because there’s so much research being done.

woman in wheelchair holding medal, woman rowingNathalie is an award-winning rower with multiple international titles.Courtesy of Sanofi

Nathalie — Pennes Mirabeau, France (diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2002)

Nathalie was a teenager and a competitive athlete when she noticed her first symptoms of MS, but it would take four years of “limbo” before she was diagnosed.

“Ultimately, the diagnosis was more of a relief, than a shock,” she says. “Because when you have signs and you don’t know why, it’s worse than knowing, in the end, what you have.”

However, learning more about the disease—and the realities of disease progression—scared her.

“That glimpse of the future was direct and traumatic,” she says. Her neurologist explained that the disease evolves differently for everyone, and her situation might end up being serious or very mild. So, she decided to stop comparing herself to others with MS.

She said to herself, “We’ll see what happens, and you’ll manage it bit by bit.”

By 2005, Nathalie’s MS had progressed to the point of needing a wheelchair. However, that has not dampened her competitive spirit.

Nathalie began her international rowing career in 2009 and has won multiple world titles, including two Paralympic medals—silver in London and bronze in Tokyo. Now, at 42, she still trains 11 times a week. Fatigue can be a problem, and sometimes hard workouts leave her with muscle stiffness and shaking, but she credits her ongoing sports career for helping her feel in tune with her body’s signals.

“Over the years, I’ve learned to listen to my body, letting my body guide when I need to stop and take breaks,” she says.

Nathalie explains that she used to only look backwards because of the initial shock of her diagnosis. In time, she stopped thinking about what she couldn’t do anymore and focused on her future. She now lives in the following mindset: “Even when doors close, don’t miss out on those that open.” Instead of focusing on what she can’t do, she focuses on the opportunities she still has. Right now, this includes her training for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, where she will compete for another rowing medal.

“I only go forward,” she says. “Well, I try, anyway…It’s easy to say, it’s not always easy to do. But that’s what I try to do.”

woman exiting water after swimming, woman with great daneHelga's Great Dane has become a helpful and beloved companion.Courtesy of Sanofi

Helga—Johannesburg, South Africa (diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis in 2010)

When Helga first started having balance issues and numbness in her feet, she chalked it up to her training as a runner. But when the numbness moved to her face, she knew something was wrong. She never guessed it was MS.

“When I was diagnosed, I felt completely overwhelmed and clueless,” Helga says. “I felt that I had nowhere near enough information. I did not know anything about the disease…I had no idea that it was going to be a process of continually monitoring and adjusting your lifestyle.”

In the beginning, Helga’s symptoms developed slowly, and she didn’t appear ill to others. She was even able to run for a few years after her diagnosis, but she couldn’t do marathons anymore, and she began to fall frequently due to balance issues and right-foot dragging. Then her cognition issues became more problematic, especially in her job as a trainer in a printing company.

“My executive function, decision-making and short-term memory were affected to the point that I was eventually medically unfit for work,” she says. She stopped working in 2017.

However, she didn’t stop living life. Even though she could no longer run, she continued to swim competitively. She got a Great Dane puppy and trained him as a service dog to help her walk. She also serves as vice chair of the patient support organization Multiple Sclerosis South Africa, and she advises others who have been diagnosed to join a patient advocacy group as soon as possible to get reliable information and meet others with MS.

Helga says she is “hopeful” about the future of MS. “I must say that I am so grateful that we have all the new medications available, because my life would not be the same if it wasn't for that,” she adds.

Part of how she manages her MS is by looking at the positives.

“If I could tell the world one thing about MS, it would be that MS is an incurable disease of the nervous system, but it's also the greatest teacher of valuing your health, family, friends, and managing change in your life,” she says. “My life is diversified in a way that I never, ever thought it would, and MS has been honestly the greatest teacher.”

Each MS journey is unique – with each person impacted experiencing different struggles, successes, and feelings as they manage this unpredictable disease. But the common thread is clear – there is a critical need for information, support, and hope. We are proud to participate in World MS Day and share these incredible stories of living life while living with MS. To learn more about MS, go to https://www.sanofi.com/why-words-really-matter-when-it-comes-to-multiple-sclerosis.

MAT-GLB-2301642-v1.0-05/2023

This article was sponsored by Sanofi. Participants were compensated when applicable.

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