Our Little White Supremacist Domestic Terrorism Problem, Local Edition

Here in Kentucky, the city of Bowling Green canceled its annual Christmas parade and outdoor market over the weekend because of specific white supremacist terrorist threats.

 

Bowling Green, Kentucky, has canceled its annual Christmas parade scheduled for Saturday due to threats against protests related to the notorious lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955.

The city announced the cancellation in tweet. In a video posted on Facebook, Police Chief Michael Delaney said at least three groups planned to protest at noon on Saturday at two locations.

Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower said his office learned of threats late Friday evening “to shoot anyone who is protesting” or assisting protesters, Hightower said.

“At this moment, we have not been able to determine the validity of the threat; however, we believe it’s important to alert our citizens,” the sheriff said.

The protesters want a Mississippi court to order the arrest of Carolyn Bryant Donham, the White woman now in her late 80s who accused Till of whistling at her in 1955 in Mississippi, according to CNN affiliate WBKO. He was abducted, tortured, and lynched, in a case that drew national attention and helped galvanize attention on the civil rights movement.

According to WKBO, Donham’s last known address is believed to be an apartment in Bowling Green.

Donham was never arrested in connection with Till’s death, but a warrant for her arrest was found earlier this year in a Mississippi courthouse basement. A grand jury in Mississippi declined to indict Donham in August.

 

So yeah, a bit to unpack here. Carolyn Brady Donham was the woman who accused Emmett Till of whistling at her almost 70 years ago. Till was lynched and dragged behind a car to his death as a result. Donham lives in Bowling Green, and when word of a possible protest on Donham at the Christmas parade of Mississippi once again refusing to serve justice got around, that protest became the direct target of white supremacist terrorist violence, so much so that the city and county cancelled the parade.

Remember, this is 2022. We're still having the same conversation about racial justice in this country as we did 70 years ago. A lot has changed.

A lot is still the same.