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Comment by bwanab | Hacker News Reader

This reminds me of George Wallace’s famous realization that his long term institutionalization of racism in Alabama was wrong when he was getting close to death’s door. It was kind of nice to hear, but lots of damage was done.

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I found it interesting that Wallace didn't start out racist: he became racist when he discovered it would help him win elections. Before that he was a liberal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixiecrat

Also the Emmet Till accuser admitting she lied, once she was on her death bed.

At age 84 Carolyn Bryant Donham allegedly confessed to instigating Till's lynching. She's still is alive today, age 86.

My bad, thanks for the correction. I guess subconsciously I assume everyone over 80 is on their deathbed?

She was 14. I don't think we can blame her for what happened to Emmet Till.

Edit: thanks for the correction, she was 21. However, I still think the blame should fall on Till's murderers.

The tragedy of Emmitt Till's murder wasn't just his death, but that it was representative of a corrupt and violent White Southerner culture that lasted despite the horror of what was done to him (and the loss of face the Deep South experienced when it was exposed). She spent 70 years standing by her lie. About 4 years into it, she was old enough to start making it right and didn't.

Further tragedy: the two men accused of his murder admitted in 1956 that they'd done it but since they'd already been acquitted they were immune from further prosecution.

Furthermore, a plaque memorializing his murder is constantly vandalized and stolen (three times in the last twelve years). The current one (if it is still there now a year later) was made bulletproof: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/10/20/this-emmet...

According to Wikipedia she was 21. Emmett Till was 14. Also, the evidence that she recanted is shaky. She was 72 in 2008 when this allegedly happened. If she recanted in the presence of the interviewer, it wasn't on tape and she hasn't done it since.

I think if we try real hard we can figure out how. African American kids under ten can be super predators. A white woman at 21 can probably be responsible.

Blame isn't exclusive.

Murdering someone is clearly worse than lying about a kid whistling at you.

In the context of the events, that lie was a guaranteed death sentence. Saying which is "worse" isn't relevant imo since it was the trigger.

No, killing someone is definitely worse.

That's Tyler Barriss' defense.

Ditto for Lee Atwater.

Contemplating ones deathbed is an extremely productive form of meditation IME.

Lots of damage done, but for Charles Koch there might be time still to heal some of the polarization.

I am skeptical. I think people like Koch have been fanning the flames for a long time, only to now see that the monster rose up and threatens to eat them. They'd like to put the genie back in the bottle, but it's too late for that.

I think it's unlikely. Once you fully unchain the beast of partisanship like they have, then it's very hard to releash it.

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