The cousin of Emmett Till, the black 14-year-old tortured and lynched in 1955 in Mississippi, appeared on MSNBC Friday morning and compared the murder of his cousin to the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Trayvon was fatally shot during an altercation by former neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, a Hispanic, who was found not guilty on all charges.
“The comparison to me is similar; there are a lot of parallels between Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin,” Simeon Wright began. “Number one: Trayvon was killed by a white boy that got out of his truck armed to the teeth — chased him down, did kill him. And then the jury did the same thing they did in 1955 with Emmett Till: they came back with a non-guilty vote.”
Mr. Wright went on to say that he doesn’t believe much has changed in the way of race relations in America.
“I asked my wife this morning if she had ever been consulted on one of these polls [that show racism is less of a problem today]. I’ve never been asked about one of these polls,” he said.
Breitbart News pointed out that MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin did not correct Mr. Wright’s “white boy” comment. Mr. Zimmerman’s race became a point of discussion at the height of the trial because many said he targeted Trayvon because he was black. However, no evidence showed race was a factor.
SEE ALSO: Colin Powell calls George Zimmerman’s acquittal ‘questionable’
A host of mainstream media outlets have either refused to identify Mr. Zimmerman as Hispanic or have described him as “white Hispanic,” or some variation of a “self-described Hispanic,” Breitbart reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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