Protests Planned For Suspected Lynching

M E M P H I S, Tenn., July 7 -- The mother of one of the best-known slaying victims of the civil rights era joined the call today for moreinvestigation into a black teenager’s hanging in Mississippi.

Mamie Mobley, 78, of Chicago said she hoped to give emotionalsupport to Maria Johnson, whose 17-year-old son Raynard was founddead last month hanging from a tree in his family’s front yard.

A medical examiner has ruled the death a suicide, thoughJohnson’s family, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other supportersbelieve he may have been killed for befriending two white girls.

The FBI and state authorities are continuing to investigateJohnson’s death.

Unforgotten SlayingMobley’s 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, was killed in Mississippiin 1955, apparently for whistling at a white woman.

The black teenager was on a visit from Chicago when he wasdragged from a relative’s house late at night, beaten and shot. Hisbody was pulled from the Tallahatchie River several days later.

Two white men, including the husband of the woman who drewTill’s whistle, were charged with the killing but acquitted attrial.

Mobley said she knows what Johnson’s mother is going through.

“I haven’t gotten over Emmett’s death, so I know what she’sfacing,” Mobley said. “It’s going to be a long journey, but withthe help of God, we’re going to make it.”

Tour For JusticeSitting in a wheelchair because of a recent illness, Mobleyjoined Jackson at The Civil Rights Museum in Memphis as he and anentourage began a trip through Mississippi to draw attention toJohnson’s death.

Jackson said he also planned to discuss during a tour across thestate what he called a suspicious number of suicides in recentyears in Mississippi jails.

Jackson said residents across Mississippi should demand morethorough investigations into incidents like Johnson’s death and thesuicides of jailed prisoners.