Death of Innocence : The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America (9781588363244) by Jesse Rev (FRW) Christopher; Jackson Mamie; Benson Till-Mobley

of little Emmett? I had defied thedoctors who told me he would be crippled for life following the complications at birth. We got through that. Now there was this.
    The doctors at the contagious disease center weren’t able to tell us anything reassuring at first. In fact, what they were telling us was anything but reassuring. What we heard from the medical specialists was talk about permanent limb damage, and the possibility that Emmett might be disabled for the rest of his life, and, oh, my God, there was just so much to absorb.
    We turned to prayer. We prayed hard. I had heard this kind of talk from doctors before. I didn’t accept it then, and I couldn’t bring myself to accept it now. We tried to figure it out. Where had this come from? It was often hard to tell with polio. As far as we knew, no one in Argo had been diagnosed. Our best guess was that Emmett must have been exposed to it in a pool. But we never really knew. So, we kept praying.
    Emmett had to be quarantined at home. We could go out, but he had to stay in, and no one else could come over. We kept praying. There were good signs. Emmett’s little legs and arms were still moving and our baby didn’t seem to have any brain damage. We were overjoyed. I mean, we were so grateful. He was recovering, he really was. His only problem was keeping still. Mama had to sit with Emmett all the time, practically holding him in the bed. And he just couldn’t stand that. But that was a good sign. I called constantly from work to check, and I looked after him when I got home at night. Then, on one of his regular visits to our home, the doctor finally discharged Emmett. It had been thirty days, and Emmett had recovered. He had beaten it. He was up and running again and practically tore a hole in the screen to get out.
    After Emmett’s recovery, I remember we went to church one night. Mama testified how God had brought her baby through. And the whole church just started shouting. It was such a wonderful, “glory hallelujah” time. I heard Mama’s testimony, saw the church just going up in thanks, and, as the congregation rose, all I could do was sit there and cry. Tears of joy.
    Although it was a great relief to learn that Emmett hadn’t lost any of his motor skills, it wasn’t long before we noticed a related problem. It was devastating to us. Emmett’s bout with polio had caused some muscle damage after all. He was left with a speech defect. He stuttered. It was especially bad when he got excited or nervous. It could just take over at times in those early days. Nobody could understand him. Nobody but Mama and me. We knew what this could mean and we refused to accept it. We were very proud people, and we didn’t want anything to stand in the way of Emmett’ssuccess. We didn’t want him held back because of people’s prejudices, because they might hear him speak and think he had limitations.
    Good speaking skills had always been important to Mama. She was a very proper and dignified lady. She had an aunt named Rose Taliafero. Actually, I think it was Tolliver and she changed it to Taliafero. But, anyway, she worked in the political arena with the black Chicago congressman, Oscar DePriest. And Mama fell completely under the spell of Rose Taliafero, who was a lady’s lady, and who placed a heavy emphasis on appearance and speech. The kind of person who said “to-mah-to.” That was “Ant.” And every time somebody would say something incorrectly, Ant was right there to stop him in his tracks, back him up, and make him repeat the phrase correctly. Ant was a lady of grace, charm, and, above all else, first impressions. Mama knew what she had learned from Ant, that people judge you by the way you present yourself, and that those judgments can be very important for your success in life.
    We couldn’t bear the thought that Emmett might somehow be misjudged for something that was not his fault. So we worked on that problem very hard. We started taking him to doctors,