Cardinal Wilton Gregory Remembers Emmett Till’s Wake

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: I have to say that I can’t get over the fact, I can’t get my head around the fact that I’m speaking to somebody who, as a very young kid — that’s you — were at the funeral for Emmett Till. And I just want you to tell me about what you remember from then and how it affected you and perhaps your spiritual journey thereafter.

CARDINAL WILTON GREGORY, ARCHBISHOP OF WASHINGTON: Well, Christiane, I can remember that my grandmother took me to the wake. And, as you and most of the viewers would remember, Emmett Till’s mother insisted that it be an open casket wake, so that people could see the brutality that her son had endured. And I was probably 8 or — 7 or 8 years old at the time. And I went with my grandmother, along with literally thousands of African-American Chicagoans, to witness the awful brutality that that young man had suffered. It was — it was something that I shall never forget. We were in a long line. And, obviously, we just walked past the casket. And I recall seeing the awful, disfigured body of that young man.

AMANPOUR: And I wonder whether you reflect on what is changing. Do you believe now, right now, Black Lives Matter, this moment of uprising since the lynching, the execution of George Floyd is going to lead to something different, something that Emmett Till’s murder did not lead to?

GREGORY: Well, Christiane, I think, if there’s any moment that I have witnessed in my life that this present moment is distinguished from, it’s that it’s — it’s widely embraced. The social media platforms have kept this in front of Americans. But it’s also engaged a wide segment of society, not just in the United States, but across the globe. Businesspeople, sports people, professional people, entertainers, people who have prominent positions in life have been engaged and continue to hold up this moment as, I hope, a transformative moment in human society.