And I think they told him to put his shoes on, and he wanted to put his socks on. When the men found Till, he was in bed, Parker said.
So, when they came in with the gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, I closed my eyes to be shot. It's so dark, you can't see your hand before your face. "I'm shaking like a leaf on the tree in the dark of a thousand midnights. "They said: 'You got two boys here from Chicago.' And, of course, when I hear this, I'm thinking - I said, man, we're getting ready to die. "I heard them talking at 2:30 in the morning," Parker recounted.
Vines and tree branches cover the remnants of Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market, in Money, Miss., where in 1955, 14-year old Emmett Till allegedly whistled to Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, then wife of the store's owner.Ī few days later, in the middle of the night, white men came to the house where Till and Parker were staying. His story resonates and brought about a lot of changes," said Parker, who is now the pastor of the Illinois church founded by Till's grandmother. "We're here now because he still speaks from the grave. Parker is the last living witness of the kidnapping. Till's murder would spur international outrage and propel the fight for justice and equality. Parker was just 16 years old when his cousin and best friend, 14-year-old Emmett Till, was lynched. "I promised God if he just saved my life, I was going to do right." "It changed my life," said the 83-year-old Parker. There are times even now, when he will break down in tears when he describes what happened that night in Mississippi in 1955. The horror happened 67 years ago, but it never left the Rev. Nearly 70 years later, he will still break down in tears when he describes what happened. is the last living witness of the kidnapping of Emmet Till.
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