The family of Emmett Till reportedly offered support to George Floyd's while awaiting the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial

(Image credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

published 20 April 2021

The family of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy who was brutally tortured and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, reportedly offered support to the family of George Floyd as they awaited the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial.

Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, met with Deborah Watts, Till's cousin, briefly during the trial; the pair were recently brought together to speak more formally with each other by CNN. "We're both like, we're holding the rope and we don't want to let it go," Floyd said in that interview. "We're going to be on a mission, and we are here for justice."

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On Tuesday, the jury found Chauvin guilty on all three counts in Floyd's death. But many do not see Tuesday's ruling alone as a satisfying conclusion of justice. "This verdict is but a piece of it," Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN. "And it will not heal the pain that existed for generations, that has existed for generations among people who have experienced and first-hand witnessed what now a broader public is seeing because of smartphones and the ubiquity of our ability to videotape in real time what is happening in front of our faces. And that is the reality of it."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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