The Great Migration occurred in 1916 when African-Americans sought rescue and did not leave the country. They had no leader and there was 6 million people involved while the incident was happening at night. This was a family tragedy as well and it left trace on the future generations. The freedom of black people today has been affected by the gruesome experiences of their ancestors.
Mamie Carthan Till got married in Chicago where she lived with her son Emmet who was raised to respect white supremacy. “That August, he was kidnapped, beaten and shot to death, ostensibly for whistling at a white woman at a convenience store. His murder would become a turning point in the civil rights movement” (Wilkerson). This happened in 1955 and another woman, Millie from Cleveland lost her grandchild, Tamir who was only 12-years-old because he used an air gun as a toy and a policeman shot him and continued to harass his sister for sticking to her brother. There is a video record of this heinous crime committed by the police and the boy was only a child playing in a park. Tamir became a synonym for unprotected black humans who got ruthlessly killed by the excessive use of police force. Therefore, Tamir replaced Emmet and it is peculiar that these boys resemble each other. They are symbols of the fight for freedom in the U.S. which is still happening. During the Great Migration many murders happened to black people and the historians gave them names. These killings were happening every fourth day and they were given names by a historian “He called them the Nadir. Today, in the era of the Charleston massacre, when, according to one analysis of F.B.I. statistics, an African-American is killed by a white police officer roughly every three and a half days, has the makings of a second Nadir“ (Wilkerson). What was happening a century ago is still happening today which is why the police call these men by the symbolical name “Nadir”. This second Nadir is the symbol of the brutality which black men suffer because of racism. White people believe that black people were given many rights, but there is still discrimination and oppression. Tamir and Emmett were the victims a century ago and there is still much prejudice against black people. “For all of its changes, the country remains in a similar place, a caste system based on what people look like“ (Wilkerson). It seems that these prejudices are unconscious, but they are still the reason for innocent people being killed.
During the Great Migration many questions arose which never received answers and they are related to the status of black people who live in the white supremacy. There are 45 million black people and they should have their rights protected as human beings. What is worse, white people would move from the places which began to be inhabited by black people. There are similarities between Tamir and Emmet whith:“their clear eyes looking into the camera with the same male-child assuredness of near adolescence. They are now tragic symbols of the search for black freedom in this country” (Wilkerson). It is devastating to see that nothing has changed after the whole century has passed and that human rights are still not being respected.
Ira Berlin sees the immigration as a constant process and black people come from many different geographical locations. They do not share the same history as other African-American people who have lived for generations in the U.S. Black people are arriving all the time and they have a different experience as well as different definition of racial matter. “Given the numbers of black immigrants arriving after 1965, and the diversity of their origins, it should be no surprise that the overarching narrative of African-American history has become a subject of contention“ (Berlin). This is why Wilkerson’s narrative has less relevance today since the situation has changed and immigrants nowadays have different past which defines them.
Many young people do not even stand a chance in this system in which they are underprivileged. They drop out of schools and they do jobs which are manual without realizing their intellectual potential. When Tamir died, it was shocking because he was just a boy who went out to play. The situation has to change and black people have to stop being victims like Nadir.
Works Cited
Wilkerson, Isabel. "Emmett Till and Tamir Rice, Sons of the Great Migration." The New York Times 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Apr. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/opinion/sunday/emmett-till-and-tamir-rice-sons-of-the-great-migration.html?_r=0>.
Berlin, Ira. "The Changing Definition of African-American." Smithsonian.com. N.p., Feb. 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2016. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-changing-definition-of-african-american-4905887/?page=1>.
