President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden will host a screening of the acclaimed film “Till” Thursday evening at the White House inside the East Room.
The film focuses on the real-life story of Mamie Till-Mobley and her fight for justice after the murder of her 14-year old-son Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi, in 1955.
There is a connection between the film and the White House as President Biden last year signed the nation’s first-ever anti-lynching law in Emmett Till’s name. The historic signing, which was done during a White House ceremony on the South Lawn, happened 67 years after Till was murdered by a white mob for allegedly whistling at a white woman.
Though “Till” did not receive any Oscar nominations, to the chagrin of many, it is being celebrated by the Biden administration.
Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in and produced the film, told theGrio in a statement that it “seems fitting that the President, who made sure the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act finally got signed into Law, [would] have the film screened at the White House.”
The EGOT star of “The View” continued: “Especially after being snubbed this award’s season and in light of places like Florida and Texas, among others, trying to pretend this history did not happen, or that Black people were fine being treated as less than.”
The 2022 film was decades in the making, and in previous interviews, Goldberg said the makers of “Till” hoped that it would be completed and released while Mamie Till-Mobley was still alive. The mother of Emmett Till, who infamously held an open casket so the world could see the brutality of her teen son’s murder, died in 2003.
The film…
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