Abstract

Slow Motion

The author argues that the reopening of the Emmett Till murder case raises questions about the consequences of a dual justice system in the context of Iraq. The Justice Department recently announced its intention to reopen the Emmett Till case. For almost fifty years the case has stood as an unfortunate marker of unfinished business and was credited with having lent the civil rights movement its most powerful moral rallying point. I ponder the ingredients of such prolonged inaction about so egregious a wrong. First, Till's murder was committed against the backdrop of a two-tiered justice system. Second, Jim Crow's shadow justice system permitted unchecked forms of punishment, inventive destructiveness with no accountability. Third, the reality of a parallel, ungoverned secondary system of retribution destroys not only the autonomy of the subordinated community but also the very sovereignty of the state or nation in whose behalf the vigilantism is exacted. These days, lots of people are debating analogies between the brutality at Abu Ghraib or other military prisons and the brutality of the old South. Here's my thought: If analogies are to be made, let us focus on the consequences of any dual justice system, in any historical context, and as a matter of principle rather than degree.