Fund-raiser to replace bullet-riddled Emmett Till memorial sign reaches $15G goal

BY
JESSICA SCHLADEBECK
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, October 23, 2016, 4:46 PM

A fund-raiser launched to replace a bullet-riddled memorial sign marking the location where Emmett Till’s mutilated body was discovered in 1955 has reached its $15,000 goal.

The marker, which is one of eight memorializing the racially charged murder of the Chicago teen, has been repeatedly vandalized since it first went up in 2007 and earned widespread attention earlier this week when filmmaker Kevin Wilson Jr. shared a photo of the sign on Facebook, writing its destruction was “clear evidence we still have a long way to go.”

Wilson, who intends to make a short film about Till, isn't the first to call attention to mistreatment of the markers. In 2013, someone else shared the sign with 20-some bullet holes which has led many to believe the 50 or so marks it now bears are not all new. Officials have said replacing and repairing the sign every time it's stolen or vandalized is outside of their financial scope, which prompted an influx of donations.

The Emmett Till Interpretive Center by Sunday evening raised roughly $16,500 to repair the sign, putting them more than $1,000 ahead of their original goal.

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