ABSTRACT

CONVERSATIONS MOTIVATED BY LOVE, BASED IN WISDOM, AND SEASONED WITH GRACE: RHETORICALLY TRACING “THE TALK” AFRICAN AMERICAN PARENTS HAVE WITH THEIR SONS

This thesis presents a rhetorical analysis of The Talk African American parents have with their sons, preparing them for life within American civil society. Black male disposability provides a unique challenge for African American parents who struggle to support their sons in their development while informing them of the inherent risks of being Black and male in America. This thesis analyzes two of these conversations, one between Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, prior to Till’s murder in 1955; and the conversations Lucia McBath and Ronald Davis had with their son, Jordan Davis, who was killed in 2012. This study uses a public memory and genre as a theoretical and methodological approach to further explore The Talk. This analysis concludes that there are three defining elements of The Talk: concern for the person, a cautionary tale, and potential violations.

Melissa Harris May 2017

CONVERSATIONS MOTIVATED BY LOVE, BASED IN WISDOM, AND SEASONED WITH GRACE: RHETORICALLY TRACING “THE TALK” AFRICAN AMERICAN PARENTS HAVE WITH THEIR SONS

by Melissa Harris

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication in the College of Arts and Humanities California State University, Fresno May 2017

© 2017 Melissa Harris APPROVED For the Department of Communication:

We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the university and the student's graduate degree program for the awarding of the master's degree.

Melissa Harris Thesis Author

Marnel Niles Goins (Chair) Communication

Kevin Ayotte Communication

Hillary Jones Communication

For the University Graduate Committee:

Dean, Division of Graduate Studies AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION OF MASTER’S THESIS

X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in its entirety without further authorization from me, on the condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of authorship.

Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must be obtained from me.

Signature of thesis author: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my parents, the late Isaac Harris, Jr. and Arlene Harris for raising me to be proud, self-aware, and self-assured. You encouraged me to reach for the stars so I learned to fly. I am so appreciative for the unconditional and unyielding love and support that you have always given me. My siblings; Isaac III, Alicia, Jariah, Jalen, and Marquis- you are not just my siblings, but you are my very best friends. Marquis, my greatest joy is being your person. Thank you to my family, friends, and church family that have been with me through every triumph and defeat. Uncle Roy Jr. and Willie Moore thank you for being there for me and being my daddy’s true friends/brothers. To my wonderful chair, Dr. Marnel Niles Goins, you have provided so much support and inspiration to me at some of my lowest and greatest personal and academic moments. Your #BlackGirlMagic is unparalleled- I want to be like you when I grow up, though my natural will never compare. Dr. Francine Oputa, you also loved and counseled me as only a true mother would. Dr. Ayotte, you changed my life from the day I entered your classroom in 2012. The way you genuinely believe in me takes my breath away. Dr. Jones, your scholarly and life chats have become very special to me. I would like to dedicate this project to my grandparents, Neomia Crawford, Ike and Bertha Harris, and Leroy and Fannie Graves that never graduated from high school but whose knowledge and wisdom was not bound by titles or degrees nor the institutional constraint that ruled their day. Finally, I dedicate this thesis to my grandfather, Bowley Hamilton, who was an educator and pushed me to be great academically and complete what I started. Though you did not live to see this day you knew it would come. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

LIST OF FIGURES ...... viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...... 1

Historical Context ...... 4

“The Talk” Defined ...... 13

Current Content of The Talk ...... 16

Statement of Purpose...... 21

Significance of Study ...... 22

Overview of Chapters ...... 24

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 25

Remembering ...... 26

Memory and Forgetting...... 33

Media’s Influence on Memory ...... 36

Race and Public Memory ...... 40

CHAPTER 3: METHODS ...... 45 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION FOR EMMETT LOUIS TILL ...... 50

Emmett’s Story ...... 51

Emmett’s Talk ...... 52

Murder After Midnight ...... 55

Images and Till’s Memory ...... 58

Emmett Remembered ...... 60 CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF JORDAN RUSSELL DAVIS ...... 64

Murder in Jacksonville ...... 64 vii vii Page

Jordan’s Talk ...... 68

The Second Death: Character Assassination ...... 72

Remembering Jordan ...... 74

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ...... 77

Implications ...... 77

The Talk Enumerated ...... 79

Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research ...... 81

Closing Thoughts ...... 82

REFERENCES ...... 85

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 1. Young Emmet Till at 14 years old...... 59

Figure 2. The mutilated and disfigured body of Emmett Till ...... 59

Figure 3. Mamie Till-Mobley receiving the remains of Emmett Till...... 63

Figure 4. Manie Till-Mobley weeping at the casket of her son...... 63

Figure 5. The vehicle Jordan was a passanger in after the shooting...... 66

Figure 6. Selfie Jordan posted to social media...... 67

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In a poem entitled “Mother to Son,” the great African American poet laureate Langston Hughes documents a conversation that a Black mother has with her son, as she metaphorically analogizes her hard-lived life as being “no crystal stair” (Hughes, 1939). In the latter portion of the poem, the mother encourages her son to remain positive and resilient in the face of his own life adversities: But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landins, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. (Hughes, 1939, lines 1-13) The message of resilience, encouragement, and hope that the mother imparts to her son is indicative of the conversations that Black parents have with their sons, a tradition that originated in U.S. American history during slavery. These conversations provide instructions for navigating through life as well as survival skills for Black men in America subject to racial violence. This thesis analyzes two of these conversations, one between Emmett Till and his mother 2 2

Mamie Till-Mobley, 64 years ago, prior to Till’s murder; and the collective conversations that Lucia McBath and Robert Davis had with their son, Jordan Davis, who was killed Thanksgiving weekend in 2012. While visiting family in Money, Mississippi in August 1955 for the summer, Emmett Till was awakened at 2:00 a.m. on August 28, 1955 by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milan and abducted from his relative’s home. Emmett was accused of making lewd comments to Bryant’s wife, Carolyn, one week prior while buying candy at the Bryant’s store. On August, 31, 1955, Emmett’s savagely beaten and disfigured body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, where barbed wire had held a heavy gin fan around his neck, which was intended to weigh his remains down (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, recounted that she told her city- raised son that racial relations were very different in the South prior to his summer vacation. Till-Mobley and Benson (2003) explained: He had to remember that he would not be in Chicago and had to act differently. I wanted him to be aware of this at all times. That was so important. We went through the drill. Chicago and Mississippi were two different places, and White people down South could be very mean to Blacks, even Black kids. (p. 101) Age was not a factor in the maltreatment of Blacks, a point made painfully clear by the brutal murder of 14-year-old Till. Therefore, there was a profusion of social rules that Till would be required to follow in order to navigate rural Mississippi in the Jim Crow South. Fifty-seven years after the death of Till, 17-year-old Jordan Davis was gunned down by Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, Florida on November 23, 2012. Jordan and three friends were parked outside of a convenience store, listening to 3 3 loud music while waiting for a friend to exit the store. Dunn claims that when he asked the young men to turn the music down, Davis cursed at him, verbally threatened him, and waved a pistol at him (Burns & Denyeau, 2012). According to Dunn, he feared for his life and shot several rounds at the car, striking and killing Jordan. However, no weapon was ever found in the car of the African American young men or at the scene (Burns & Denyeau, 2012). News media presented the case as a dispute over loud music, but Jordan’s father, Ronald Davis, understands that Jordan and his friends reaped the punishment of disrespecting Dunn, stating, “The kids didn’t respond to [Dunn] the way he wanted them to respond, that annoyed him. It aggravated him. And that was it. He thought, ‘You’re not going to talk to me that way’” (as cited in Gambino, 2015). Neither Jordan, nor any of the African American young men, had a criminal history, yet Dunn referred to them as “gangsters” (Burns & Denyeau, 2012). Davis’s mother, Lucia McBath stated, “It wasn’t about loud music. It was about my son’s right to exist in his Black body” (as cited in Gambino, 2015). In his defense, Dunn used the controversial Florida law called “Stand Your Ground,” which permits citizens to protect themselves and their property if they feel they are in danger or threatened. Regardless of race, parents serve as a child’s first teacher, as they offer guidance and impart knowledge, basic life skills, and lessons in differentiating right from wrong. However, Black parents historically have been tasked with communicating to their sons that being a Black male in America is accompanied by inherent risks. Black men live daily by a set of rules that must be adhered to in order to survive; violation of those rules may cost them their lives. Hughes (1939) offered a fictional account of a very real talk and iterative discussion that most Black men in America experience, a talk that both Till and Davis received from 4 4 their parents prior to their untimely deaths. Across time, the historical context and social constraints of the discussion vary, but the content remains constant: admonishing Black men about life, including, but not limited to, appropriate behavior, conduct, and temperament. This inevitable dialogic exchange between Black parents and their sons has come to be known simply as “The Talk.” To better understand the exigence for and necessity of The Talk, I first explore the historical context that grounds this study of The Talk.

Historical Context As the cliché goes, home is where the heart is, but making home in America has proven to be a complicated task for Blacks. From the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to North America, the enslaved were explicitly and repeatedly told that they were merely a limitless workforce, used to cultivate the fertile North American land. Robbed of language, family, and tradition, Blacks in America have long struggled to make home in a country in which their humanity and freedom have been questioned. Du Bois (1903) stated: The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife — this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of White Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. (p. 9) Indeed, the Black body in America is every bit African because it is connected genealogically to its African origins, as well as fully American, because it maintains a bond to an American lineage. In order to cope with the reality of 5 5 life as a devalued black body in America, Blacks morphed themselves into a two- faceted being with an acceptable public self, constrained by the expectations and requirements of civil society, and a private self, possessing agency and free to express pride, self-determination, and confidence (Anzaldúa, 1990, 1999; Du Bois, 1903). Enslaved Africans were not stakeholders in the opportunities for a prosperous future that America presented for others; the onus was then placed on parents to impart knowledge about how to negotiate and form this bifurcated self to enslaved children who would then pass it along to future generations.

The Historical Intentional Exclusion of Blacks in the Formation of a New Democracy When the original architects of the United States government drafted legislation and documents to incorporate the American colonies, which would later come to be known as the United States of America, these “founders” attempted to safeguard what they identified as fundamental rights that should be given to every “man” to form a government with protection from tyranny. The Declaration of Independence (US 1776) declares, “We hold these truths to be self- evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (para. 2). However, due to the diction of this document, constitutional scholars and Supreme Court justices have since struggled to clarify who is included and excluded from the promises of the Declaration of Independence. First, the use of the word man is deliberately and specifically meant to include only those with the biological anatomy of a male. Women were not property owners, nor were they considered to be fundamental to the formation and development of the new government. Additionally, genealogical similarity to the 6 6 founders was necessary to be fully recognized as a stakeholder within the colonies, as that was the only way to own land and be formally recognized as a voter. Therefore, the documents that would become the cornerstone of what is currently the largest “free” and democratic system in the world, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, were essentially founded to protect the rights of and only recognize those who were both nationalistically and anatomically the same as the founders: White, rich men (Hope Franklin, 1976). Prior to any formal incorporation and documentation unifying the colonies, indentured laborers and enslaved Africans actively participated in the colonization of the Americas informally. Foreign prisoners were often sent to the Americas to complete sentences. Indentured servants would work for 7 years and, at the completion of service, be awarded their freedom (Hope Franklin & Higginbotham, 2011). However, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which began in 1620, drastically changed the cultural landscape of the Americas and the Caribbean by bringing enslaved Africans to colonize the fertile and virgin land. Later, through eugenics, Whites attempted to advance claims that Blacks were not even fully human, seeking to absolve guilt over the dehumanizing treatment and forced servitude of over 12.5 million enslaved Africans between 1525 and 1866 (Hope Franklin, 1976; Hope Franklin & Higginbotham, 2011). The oft-quoted and revered leader Thomas Jefferson (1832) claimed: I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the Blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the Whites in the endowments both of body and mind. … This unfortunate difference of colour, and perhaps of faculty, is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these people. (p. 151) 7 7

Through perpetuating a myth of inferiority between Americans of European descent and enslaved peoples of African descent, America’s founding fathers built institutionalized beliefs and ideologies regarding Blacks into the fabric of American consciousness, thereby solidifying a Black/White binary that is still very much in play today. There is a fracture between the connotative and denotative meanings of who is fundamentally considered an equally created human being within the founding documents of the United States. Lingering questions persist and tug at the hem of the American democratic fabric. Although the trans-Atlantic slave trade was banned by Congress in 1808, the institution of slavery was not formally abolished until 1865, ending 245 years of African enslavement in America (Fishman, 1997; Hope Franklin, 1976). The residual effects of slavery, in the forms of domination, discrimination, oppression, and White supremacy continue to punctuate the experience of the Black Americans whose ancestors were not considered fully human, even though contemporary interpretation of U.S. law provides protection via the very language that once excluded Blacks from civil society (Hartman, 2007; Wilderson, 2003). Civil society is the American social structure maintained by legal, social, political, and libidinal capital, thus perpetuating the dominance of White supremacist ideals in American society (Wilderson, 2003). In colloquial terms, it is the White ruling American majority. For rich, White plantation owners newly colonizing the Americas, the need for enslaved Africans was paramount for cultivation and expansion, as the fruitful land could yield great revenue through profitable exports such as tobacco, sugar, and cotton (Hope Franklin & Higginbotham, 2011). The enslaved Africans who cultivated the land were like commodities farmed on the thriving plantations. Through the commodification of the Black body, enslaved Africans were sold, 8 8 traded, and disposed of at the whim of the slaveholders; the enslaved people were deemed expendable. Because enslaved Africans were dehumanized, classified as property, they could not possess free will or choice, therefore making the promises of the Constitution and Bill of Rights unavailable to the originally transported Africans and their offspring, who would be conceived and born into the chattel slavery system. Power and domination characterized the relationship between the slave and owner. The intentional brutality, degradation, and humiliation of chattel slavery was a display of the power and dominance that slave owners imposed upon the enslaved, As Foucault (1995) stated: But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment - mere loss of liberty - has never functioned without a certain additional element of punishment that certainly concerns the body itself: rationing of food, sexual deprivation, corporal punishment, solitary confinement. Are these the unintentional, but inevitable, consequence of imprisonment? In fact, in its most explicit practices, imprisonment has always involved a certain degree of physical pain. (pp. 15-16) The mental and physical pain of slavery left a lingering legacy of scars that still determine how Blacks perceive themselves in relation to non-Blacks in America. Because of slavery and the display of White dominance and power, an “us versus them” dichotomy was permanently infused into American culture.

The Development of The Talk Through Slavery From America’s earliest beginnings, religious freedom was one of the most foundational promises of the new democratic society. Though individuals were allowed to worship in their own way, early America was widely a Judeo-Christian society. Enslaved Africans were not allowed to practice any of their native forms 9 9 of worship and were forced to practice Christianity. Further solidifying the distinction between slave and slave owner, texts from the Bible were used to justify the institution of slavery as well as the maltreatment of the enslaved. Additionally, Foucault (1995) traced back to the earliest forms of power and control used by the church, specifically, the Roman Catholic Church, to create a hierarchal structure where the leaders of the church purported to hear from God and then establish societal moral codes by which all should abide. The church became the only entity that could establish what was ethical and moral while putting their agents and organizations in a position to be the only authority on what was knowledge and truth (Foucault, 1995). Similarly, Christian slaveholders became the interpreters and enforcers of biblical texts and moral judgments. Justifications of slavery ranged from being directly linked to biblical principles, as scripture required enslaved Africans to be obedient to their master, to the understanding that Blacks were the descendants of Noah’s son Ham, who were resigned to living life under the Hamitic Curse. The myth states that after looking upon his father’s nakedness while in a drunken state, Noah cursed Ham’s youngest son, Canaan, with servitude and blackened skin. Once again, these interpretations and subsequent justifications for slavery exemplify the intrinsic problem when a church or religious leaders are the only entities that may establish moral judgments for the majority (Foucault, 1995). Fundamental to maintaining control over the enslaved was fully converting them to Christianity, because if they understood the scriptures as interpreted by the slaveholders, the enslaved Africans would establish an abiding devotion to God as well as submission to their oppressors. The enslaved were unable to read and search the scripture for themselves, therefore the slaveholders had the power to be the only tester of fact and interpretation, which enabled them to exercise control over the enslaved with 10 10 scripture: “obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and sincerity of heart, just as you show to Christ” (Ephesians 6:5, The King James Bible). If slaves truly loved Christ, they were expected to obey their master, regardless of their treatment. Though slaveholders used religion and religious meetings as an instrument of oppression, the enslaved seized this opportunity as a chance to come together and build their communities. During the period of chattel slavery, survival and self-preservation became the most important goal of the slave. Unlike the codified, written rules that the founders had drafted to guarantee peaceful co- existence, enslaved Africans developed their own set of rules, which were passed on and kept alive through oral traditions. Clark Hine and Thompson (1998) stated, “They formed a subculture as a base from which they could protect themselves -- against all White people, on the one hand, and against all men, on the other hand” (p. 72). The founding documents did not grant agency to objects, and enslaved Africans did not belong to themselves, nor did anything belong to them. Children were property of the plantation, and owners often bred their enslaved Africans to produce certain types of offspring. True love and relationships between enslaved Africans were confined to the sanctity of their own interactions; although not respected or validated by slave owners, they bonded and created family and community amongst themselves. Community was the most important asset to enslaved Africans, as loyalty to each other provided continuity and stability in their lives. In addition to communal bonds, Black parents bonded strongly with their children in an endeavor to support one another and transcend the horrible conditions of slavery (Clark Hine & Thompson, 1998). 11 11

However, despite plantation owners’ attempts to separate the family units of enslaved Africans, the natural feeling of attachment still took root, as one of the greatest bonds within the African and African American family is that of a parent and child. The ancient African leader, Ptah Hotep, penned instructions to his son in 2400 B.C. regarding how properly to communicate and conduct himself within social and private worlds, using the term, “Good Speech” (Blake, 2009; Kelley, 2002). According to Kelley, “Good Speech proclamations that Ptah Hotep sets forth as rules for personal and societal conduct are foundational beliefs of African Americans access(ed) in order to respond to shape United States society” (p. 46). Similarly, parents living as enslaved Africans in America often had to look out for their children and provide wisdom while teaching them how to survive in a world where they were a fungible commodity. The unpredictable nature of the possible sale and removal of children further contributed to the urgency parents had in teaching their children how to survive on the plantation and in interactions with the master, a term encompassing the man of the house and his entire family (including children). At any time, a child could be sent to another plantation or moved into the big house, therefore enslaved parents tried to prepare their children by imparting rules for survival through decorum, regulatory language, and acceptable social behavior. Although conditions were not optimal to raise happy and well-adjusted children, enslaved parents attempted to help their children to establish a sense of pride in themselves and build internal fortitude. Survival was the name of the game, as children had to be taught to be mindful of their own temperament as well as the slave owners (Clark Hine & Thompson, 1989). Clark Hine and Thompson explicated the delicate balance of parenting methods employed by the enslaved: 12 12

A good slave, obviously, is not a healthy, secure, “self-possessed” person. Self-respect was a treasure to be cherished in quarters. It was a quality that parents worked hard to instill in their children and the slave community encouraged in all its members. Separated from that atmosphere, a child was vulnerable to all sorts of attacks on her self-worth. (p. 71) A carefree childhood for a slave child was virtually non-existent, as their duties as laborers began at a very early age, tending to the gardens and doing small chores. Born into a system that attributed a Black child’s humanity to labor and childhood folly to physiology, slave children would eventually grow into adulthood, when they would question their own worth and position in society. Du Bois (1903) later articulated the conundrum, explaining, “One ever feels his twoness—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder” (p. 9). The duality of the Black consciousness began before Du Bois (1903) dubbed the concept double consciousness, a theory explaining how Blacks struggle to see themselves simultaneously as they truly are and as they are positioned by hegemonic societal constructions. The responsibility for teaching double consciousness emerged from enslaved parents helping their children to think positively about themselves, regardless of the harsh conditions and positions imposed upon them by slavery. Clark Hine and Thompson (1998) established: A Black mother taught her daughter to develop two faces. She was to seem accommodating and tractable to the slaveholder, smiling and ready to please. At the same time, she was to have a secret place inside her full of [self] respect. (p. 73) 13 13

Cognitive dissonance enabled enslaved children at an early age to learn how to negotiate the stark inconsistencies between who they could be in the slave owners’ presence and in private, a legacy that has been passed to generations of Blacks through slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Black Power, and the current Black Lives Matter movement. Although slavery was abolished, the damage was done, as the balance of power and control were already established (Foucault, 1995). African Americans still maintain methods to cope with their daily lived realities in a post-slavery, but still unequal, society. The Talk that African American parents have with their sons is one coping mechanism and rhetorical tool to aid Black men in surviving and navigating through life in dangerous, and unequal, conditions.

“The Talk” Defined The talks that began with simple survival lessons of wisdom from enslaved parents to enslaved children, became part of the communicative exchange between parents and children that currently reoccurs within the parent/child unit. In this analysis, the term Black and African American will be used interchangeably, although each term contains its own etymology, history, and political implications, which extend beyond the scope of this analysis. Kelley (2002) suggested that The Talk may have roots within Ptah Hotep’s ancient Good Speech instructions to his son: Good Speech became the overwhelming strategy of defense against oppressive and debilitating practices by the dominant society for African Americans. African Americans kept the cultural practice of Good Speech and adapted it to the circumstances of their lives in the United States (p. 46). 14 14

Now simply called, “The Talk,” this life-sustaining discussion on how to survive in the world as a Black person at some point will occur between a Black child and their parents. Historically, the Black body has been commodified and devalued through institutionalized structures that began with slavery. Through the process of commodification, the Black body is stripped of value, essentially rendering the Black male both disposable and expendable (Sexton, 2010). Though the value of the Black body is diminished within civil society, Black parents have always found value in their Black children, and protecting them is fundamental to the parent-child bond (Wilderson, 2003). A functional definition of “The Talk” is a communicative exchange between one or more parents with their African American child in which significant socially protective information is provide from the parent to child. The content of the talk may vary based on the child’s gender, though the social context is very similar. However, for the purpose of this study, I focus on The Talk with male children. During The Talk, the parent presents an argument to support specific directives regarding appropriate behavior and conduct for African American males. The overall goal of The Talk is to help young Black men make strategic and critical choices regarding their conduct while evaluating the world around them. One must note the iterative nature of The Talk, as it often does not occur in one setting, but, rather is implemented over a series of rhetorical exchanges between parent and child. As earlier noted, the content of The Talk may be impacted by the current social context and position of the Black body within civil society. There is an organic nature to the rhetorical content of The Talk because the reoccurrence of the same situations creates an opportunity for a similar response varied exigencies that share similar qualities. The Talk that Till received in 1955 15 15 was constrained by Jim Crow segregation, lynching, and White supremacy in the racially divided South. However, the content of Davis’s talk included admonishments regarding perceptions of Black youth and assumptions about socio-economic status and self-worth. However, both versions of The Talk include cautionary behavior for Black men in the public sphere (Baker, 1994). Ironically, the murders of Till and Davis affected the rhetorical content of The Talk for other young Black men, as media outlets relayed information that created new inventional material for parents to incorporate these young men as exemplars in The Talk within the private sphere. Essentially, The Talk that happens within the private sphere serves as a mandate from African American parents to their sons regarding how they should function in the public sphere. The standard for acceptable public sphere behavior is set, monitored, and controlled by the dominant culture, which has displayed some, but limited, evolution over time (Baker, 1994; Foucault, 1995). Historically, Black men have been depicted as a threat based on physical stature, strength, and hyper-sexed mythologies that posited them as the highest- level predators (Oliver, Jackson, Moses, & Dangerfield, 2004). Unfortunately, the archetypes of the brute and the savage still pervade in contemporary times; therefore, the discussion that parents have with their Black sons differs from the talk that daughters receive. As America transitioned from slavery to Jim Crow and into a post-civil rights society, so too has the “The Talk” evolved. Though the mitigating factors anchoring the talk slightly differ due to the passage of time, the rhetorical situation and contents of the discussion remain eerily similar. 16 16 Current Content of The Talk The current content of The Talk is centered around a recurring theme of Black male disposability which reflectively recalls past experiences of the Black man while refashioning the content to address present issues of mass incarceration, disproportionate prosecution of people of color, and an increasing trend in unjustified murder of unarmed Black men. Though Black men only make up 2% of the entire United States population, in 2015, 15% of all deaths involving deadly police force were Black men between the ages of 15-34 (Swaine, Laughland, Lartey & McCarthy, 2015). According to Swaine et al., “Young Black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police officers in 2015, according to the findings of a Guardian study that recorded a final tally of 1,134 deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers this year” (para 1). A binary that measures Black masculinity against White masculinity is a fundamental issue undergirding the political issues between Blacks and Whites. Collins (2006) explained that the construction of White masculinity in comparison to Black masculinity creates a system to measure masculinity in general and is problematic, as the comparisons of masculinities will never be equal. White supremacist ideologies of domination and power are at the core of civil society (Collins, 2006; Wilderson, 2003). Further, Wilderson stated, “There is nothing willful or speculative in this statement, for one could just as well [state the claim the other way around:] There is something organic to civil society that makes it essential to the destruction of the Black body” (p. 18). Based on the way these ideologies are reflected in the mass incarceration and the killing of African American men, the value of Black life is found mainly within the Black community. 17 17 Mass Incarceration Through discursive practices such as policing and legislation, the dominant culture is able to legally adopt and enact practices that help maintain power and domination over African Americans (Alexander, 2012; Pettit, 2012). Prisons have become a new slavery system in America, as young Black men, often victims of their circumstances, begin a life of crime that will forever change the trajectory of their lives. Alexander identified that race, the penal system, and slavery have always had a familial relationship, dating back to the way Blacks were targeted as runaway enslaved Africans by police. The first person sentenced to the penitentiary in the United States was a Black man who had experienced nothing but lifelong hardship and rejection, thus contributing to his delinquency (Alexander, 2012). Though young Black men today are not born into a chattel system, life choices and circumstances may lead them to enter a trap leading to incarceration that benefits only the government and private corporations. Black men are often erroneously arrested, charged, and sentenced without proper representation, which leads to convictions that follow them and have devastating ramifications preventing re-entry into society (Alexander, 2012; Corrigan 2016). Alexander likened the effects of mass incarceration of Black men to Jim Crow because, as a result of criminal convictions, Black men are politically, socially, and legally disenfranchised by losing the ability to vote, perform jury service, and find meaningful employment. By not being able to provide for themselves and their families, Black men often re-enter the prison system. Alexander considered: It is far more convenient to imagine that a majority of young African Americans in urban areas freely choose a life of crime than to accept the real possibility that their lives were structured in a way that virtually 18 18

guaranteed their early admission into a system from which they can never escape. (p. 184) The results of years of institutionalized racism and discrimination have contributed to confounding circumstances within Black communities that foster criminal behavior (Corrigan, 2016). Pettit (2012) addressed why the government wants to keep Black men incarcerated and what the government has to gain by doing so. Mass incarceration is a big business in the Unites States, as the prison industry (including a disproportionate number of Black males) creates a workforce similar to a chattel slavery business model (Alexander, 2012; Miller, 2006; Pettit, 2012). The biggest difference between slavery and the prison workforce is that in the latter labor is justified as rehabilitative work to rectify and curb criminal behavior. Therefore, prosecutors benefit by sending defendants away for large amounts of time because they create a workforce that makes about $14 per week for hard labor, which translates to significant economic savings (Pettit, 2012). The government receives substantial benefits by incarcerating Black men because, like enslaved workers, inmates do not receive health benefits or worker’s compensation, they cannot vote as convicted felons, and they provide nearly free hard labor. Black parents not only fear untimely deaths for their sons; they also fear their sons may enter the penal system, permanently damaging their life chances. Undoubtedly, the mass incarceration of Black men contributes to the content of The Talk.

Tense Race Relations Between Law Enforcement and the Black Community Law enforcement and African Americans have long had a contentious relationship. In recent history, there have been a series of high profile incidents 19 19 where African Americans were killed by law enforcement or White private citizens. Due to technological advances, many of these incidents have been captured on cellular phones, and social media has contributed to the national dissemination of these incidents at a great rate of speed. Indeed, the tipping point for many people in the Black community was the murder of unarmed, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida by a neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman. Martin had not committed any crime, but was murdered by Zimmerman after a confrontation when Martin refused to comply with Zimmerman’s commands (Botelho, 2012). Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal sparked national outrage and the inception of the social movement #Black Lives Matter (Higgs, 2016). As these deadly altercations continue, relations between the Black community, law enforcement supporters, and law enforcement agencies continue to deteriorate as counter movements against Black Lives Matter grow. Indeed, there is a troubling pattern developing of Black men being murdered by White men and murders being justified by the government through acquittals or the refusal to file charges. Failure to hold the individuals who kill Black men accountable hurts the community and is a reminder that, although there has been much progress for African Americans since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there is still a long way to go. Obama (2013) stated: And when you think about why, in the African American community at least, there's a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it's important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that -- that doesn't go away. (para. 7) 20 20

The ghosts of Jim Crow, segregation, and lynching lurk in the psyche of the Black consciousness; these painful reminders of the past inform the present lived experience of young Black men. The profiling of Black men is not limited to young urban youth or bound within a certain socio-economic class. Coates (2009) asserted that mistreatment by police “remains a shared experience for African Americans” (para. 4). Even highly respected and educated members of the Black community, like Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who was detained by police and accused of breaking into his own home, are not exempt from profiling and mistreatment by the police (Coates, 2009). Black men of high social regard are acutely aware that there is no distinction between them and any other Black man; as Coates (2009) stated, “When it comes to encounters with law enforcement, they are uniquely aware of how quickly their accolades can be rendered irrelevant” (para. 4). According to Coates (2009), the election of a Black president has not curbed racial tensions in the United States, but appears to have fanned the flames. Obama (2013) acknowledged the shared experiences of discrimination of African Americans: And there are very few African American men who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before I was a senator. There are very few African Americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often. (para. 9) Unfortunately, the continual acts of discrimination against African American males have become normalized, perhaps which explains why some people are confused by protests and outrage, as they presumably did not know how deeply the wounds of racial injury run through the shared Black consciousness and the 21 21 frequency with which these shootings happen and microaggressions are displayed. Often, it is others’ own ignorance and unwillingness to address inherent unconscious and conscious biases that cause them to dismiss black suffering and injustice.

Statement of Purpose Those unfamiliar with African American history might assume preventative discussions about prohibited behavior with young Black men is a recent phenomenon, considering the recent highly publicized cases of violence perpetrated upon the Black body, but they would be grossly misinformed. The Talk has been a mainstay within the Black family because acts of violence, either sanctioned or justified by the U.S. government, solidified young Black men as expendable and vulnerable within America. If the Black body continues to be a site for perpetual, gratuitous violence, there will always be a need for The Talk (Sexton, 2010). Further, Jackson (2014) stated: Even today in the so-called post-racial period in which we supposedly live in this first quarter of the twenty-first century; and in the age of America’s first Black president, racial profiling of Black males (a much more violent form of racist violations) is extremely real. (p. 287) The myth of a post-racial society further necessitates The Talk. Black parents are still forced to discuss with their children what they can and cannot do, as well as say and cannot say, which is indicative of a very racialized society where discursive limitations are imposed on African Americans. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand the role of The Talk as a rudimentary and necessary rhetorical phenomenon between African American parents and sons. Black men languish in the fact that they are the illegitimate sons 22 22 of America and are often treated like outside children. Du Bois (1903) stated, “Much that the White boy imbibes from his earliest social atmosphere forms the puzzling problems of the black boy's mature years. America is not another word for Opportunity to all her sons” (p. 98). This study explores the reoccurring murder of Black men and how the memories of Black death create a rhetorical situation that requires a fitting response regardless of the time based on institutionalized structures embedded within civil society. By analyzing interviews and statements made by the parents of Till and Davis before and after their son’s deaths, this study uncovers the recurrence of the situation of Black death that necessitates The Talk, which is the most fitting response of the African American parent. Additionally, both young men were murdered by White men for alleged disrespect as a response to rhetorical exchanges and not physical actions, which highlights an even deeper underlying issue. There is an unspoken code that implies that Blacks who overstep their boundaries rhetorically by violating social norms when addressing a White person has committed a punishable offense. The purpose of this analysis is to explore the purported social violations by two young black men, the content of their “Talk”, and the lasting memories of their murders which now influence The Talk.

Significance of Study This study contributes to an alternative understanding of the definition of the colloquial interpretation of the term “The Talk.” Civil society assumes that when parents have the often uncomfortable talk with their children it contains life lessons about sex. Even the Urban Dictionary defines “the talk” as, “A conversation most American parents try to have with their teens, telling them all about sex even though they've already known it all for a couple of years by that 23 23 time” (“The talk,” n.d.). It is my contention that The Talk between African American parents and their sons is the manifestation of the historic and relentless assault of the Black male body in America. Further, The Talk is a mandatory rhetorical exchange wherein parents attempt to give life-saving information regarding prohibited behaviors and social norms to help their sons live. This study identifies and names a very significant cultural practice and rite of passage that most African American young men go through. Acknowledging and naming the rhetorical phenomenon as The Talk legitimizes the defining of the practice within the African American community and by the general public as well. This study provides background about the history, development, and an organic communication phenomenon within the African American community. It recognizes that African Americans have a unique and very distinct method of communication in the private sphere that has great significance for communication in the public sphere. There is a history of the posthumous criminalization of Black men, which is often presented as justification or causation for their death. Neither victim in this study violated any laws, but they violated social norms. The parents rhetorically defend their sons after death by recounting the content of their “Talks,” as a means of letting others know that the young men received their social survival instructions but it was not enough to prevent violence from being enacted upon their bodies. Finally, this study recognizes a long-held practice within the African American community. This is not an attempt to create a concrete and ubiquitous definition of “the Black experience” shared by all African Americans, for myriad reasons. However, this study identifies the legacy of African Americans that comes from a lineage of slavery, which has left an indelible imprint on the way 24 24 that African Americans communicate. The legacy and trauma of slavery and the residual structures of institutional racism fortifies the need for the same talk that enslaved parents had with their children spanning from the 16th Century to the 21st Century.

Overview of Chapters Chapter 2 provides a review of public memory scholarship. Next, chapter 3 discusses the methods that this rhetorical analysis employs. Chapter 4 presents the results of the textual analysis and discussion of the content and context of The Talk that Mamie Till-Mobley had with her son Emmett Louis Till. Chapter 5 presents the results of the textual an analysis and discussion of the content and context of The Talk that Ronald Davis and Lucia McBath had with their son Jordan Russell Davis. Finally, chapter 6 concludes with a discussion of the implications of the analysis, limitations, and closing thoughts.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

It is paramount to understand the historical legacies of African Americans in the United States when contemplating how individual, dyadic, and communal communication practices are constructed and function among members of the community. Fundamental to those communication practices is the way that historical events are remembered and reiterated. The earliest enslaved Africans who arrived in the colonies at the beginning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade came from myriad locations in West Africa and had their own languages, religion, and cultural practices. Stripped of any resemblance to their previous lives, free and in their homeland, the enslaved Africans were left with only memories of home and family, with limited means to express and share those memories. The offspring of the first generations of enslaved Africans became a new people, who were African in genealogical origin and American based on the location of their birth and acculturation. Many American born African Americans are descendants of the institution of chattel slavery, a fact that distinguishes African Americans from others within the diaspora of Black people. Whether the original enslaved Africans or the future generations commonly referred to as African Americans, the people shared a history and memories that were passed on from generation to generation. The oral tradition of storytelling is a cultural practice that survived the deadly middle passage, was retained by the enslaved, and is fused into African American culture. Indeed, folklore and storytelling is the lifeblood of the African American tradition, as the stories introduce a wide range of characters that include famed historical figures and everyday folks, stories of sadness and triumph, and retelling of historical events. These memories and stories serve as the foundation for many cultural practices and as the rationale 26 26 behind many norms, shared beliefs, and customs within the African American community. The Talk is a by-product of that oral tradition, as it has been passed on from generation to generation, shaped by the reality and lived experience of African Americans throughout time. Each generation has crafted The Talk in response to the exigence of the day, which was primarily due to the way that Black men were targeted and treated. The Black male body has historically been a site of violence and the way that the acts of violence are remembered is essential to the content changes that appear within The Talk.

Remembering Public memory is a mode of remembering that re-contextualizes some type of past event or particular event in light of a present understanding often informing the way the initial event is remembered (Browne, 1999; Casey, 2004; Phillips, 2010). Of memory, Casey stated, “The primary locus of memory is not found only in the body or mind (or even brain, mind’s physiological counterpart) but an intersubjective nexus that is at once social and collective, cultural and public” (p. 21). Casey performed an in-depth analysis of the types and functions of memory and identified four major, distinct types of memory that humans possess: individual, social, collective, and public “proper” (p. 20). The value of memory, in any form, is its reflective nature, which allows for individual and collective recall. As Biesecker (2002) stated, “what we remember and how we remember it can tell us something significant about who we are as people now, about contemporary social and political issues that divide us, and about who we may become” (p. 406). 27 27

As African Americans contemplate their position in American history, they recognize continued marginalization within the social structure. Anchoring the creation of current social justice movements like Black Lives Matter are memories of the institutionalized legacies of police brutality and racial profiling of African Americans that are consistent with the current epidemic of unarmed black men being killed by police. In 2015, the number of African American men killed by police reached its highest rate of 1,134, and 25% of those Black men were unarmed (Swaine et al., 2015). Consequently, memories of the Civil Rights Movement, marches, and protests are very reminiscent when watching the Black Lives Matter movement pick up the mantle to fight for the rights of African Americans by employing many of the same activism tactics as previous movements. Remembering often occurs for individuals when they recognize an event, but it can become a shared memory of social significance when it is held in common with a group affiliated with one other by social, relational, or even geographic locations (Casey, 2004). The term “social” within this context may not mean an event that all who share the memory had participated in; it can be a memory passed on historically to those related to or connected to the event in some way. Unlike the origins of social memory within shared meaning, collective memory is plural, as the shared experience is outweighed by the necessity for all remembering to share the exact same recollection (Casey, 2004; Kligler- Vilenchik, Tsfati, & Meyers, 2014). This type of collective memory is often how traumatic, national, or global events are remembered, due in part to the fact that, “The richness of collective memory cannot be fully captured by mentions of past events alone. Yet referencing events cues wider narratives about the collective 28 28 past” (Kligler-Vilenchik et al., 2014, p. 487). The murder of Emmett Till provides a context for African Americans to evaluate their social identity within a historical place of black male disposability considering the inhumane disposal and mutilation of his physical body. Whereas, the story of Emmett Till cultivates the African American collective memory as the circumstances surrounding his death and the events set in motion as a result of his murder, continue to contribute to African American collective memory through recollection and retellings to each new generation. It is important to note the impact that the death of Emmett Till had on the collective memory of African Americans as a whole because it provided a concrete example of lynching out of the realm of significance to sole community and became a national exemplar of brutality. Certainly, the murder of Till provides insight into the collective memory of African Americans during the period of Jim Crow. Mamie Till-Mobley was intent on letting the world see how hate and the racial divide in America ravaged her handsome and bright-eyed son’s body, relegating his remains to an unrecognizable mass of flesh. Till-Mobley’s insistence on an open casket presented Americans of all races an actual depiction of Black male mortality in the United States (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). The death photo of Till in his casket juxtaposed with a studio rendering prior to his death was published in the largest circulated Black publication of the time, Jet Magazine, as well as others, signifying his death’s significance and importance to collective Black memory (Pool, 2015; Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). Further explaining the impact of her son’s brutal murder on the Black community and shared memory, Till-Mobley and Benson stated: To little black children who gazed upon the images of my son in Jet magazine, Emmett was the face of a harsh reality that left no place to hide. 29 29

To all Black people, he was a reminder of the common problem we faced in this country, whether we lived in the North or the South. (pp. 199-200) The haunting images and murder of Till would long serve as a brutal reminder of the cost of being Black in America, shaping the collective memory of African Americans that has transcended time and is still cited in popular culture and contemporary discourse. Individual memory, social memory, and collective memory do not oppose the function of public memory. To the contrary, these types of memory are rooted and embedded in the structure of public memory, as public memory allows for openness with others and facilitates discussion, which helps to shape and define the overall public memory (Casey, 2004). Public memory is not static but organic and changes over time as other events that shift the context or salience of the public memory coalesce; however, the memory will always exist (Casey, 2004). Individual memory is how one perceives and recalls an event or process independent of others (Casey, 2004). However, according to Casey, the individual memory may be further solidified when two or more individuals come together and recount their memories through individual recall and storytelling, which is social memory. Social memory differs drastically from individual memory, as it occurs in preexisting units of people such as families who often retain those memories within their social unit, without the public being privy to them (Casey, 2004). Additionally, collective memory is neither individual nor a group function; as Casey stated, “By this term, I mean the circumstance in which different persons, not necessarily known to each other at all, nevertheless recall the same event again, each time in a new way” (p. 23). Often collective memory is how communities’ traumatic or historic events are retold over and over again by the people who witnessed or lived through them. 30 30

The collective memory for a community of marginalized individuals may include a slightly nuanced recall. According to Baker (1994), “The essence of critical memory’s work is cumulative, collective maintenance of a record that draws into relationship significant instants of time past and the always uprooted homelessness of now” (p. 3). Baker further suggested that the creation of positive Black images and self-reliance emerged through critical memory, as leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King, Jr. began to reconstruct radically the narratives of historical events from a Black perspective that influence and contribute to Black oppression. By critically remembering factors that led to oppression, leaders can strategically refute historical ideologies that contribute to and further cause marginalization of a group of people (Baker, 1994). Baker claimed that the rhetoric of the oppressed merges concepts identified as nostalgia with critical memory. Nostalgia does not refer to the colloquial definition suggesting fondness of remembrance here; instead, it serves a dual purpose. For Baker, nostalgia “writes the revolution as a well-passed aberration. Second, it actively substitutes allegory for history” (p. 3). In conjunction with nostalgia, critical memory “judges severely, censures righteously, renders hard ethical evaluations of the past that it never defines as well-passed” (Baker, 1994, p. 3). Critical memory thus allows African Americans to remember the institutionalized oppression they endured and make coherent connections to current oppressive practices within the social structure of America. Central to the way that history is remembered are the dominant ideological perspectives that infuse memory and context into culture as well as influence public memory (Hoerl, 2012; Kretsinger-Harries, 2014). For example, schools present American History from a perspective that frames America as heroic: an exceptionalism point of view. American exceptionalism is propagated through the 31 31 retelling of America’s fight for independence, through the use of rhetoric, and symbols (Engle, 2014; Gilmore, Meeks, & Domke, 2016). The United States Civil War was a polarizing event that is fundamental to the extrapolation of American history; however, divergent memories abound based on ideological perspectives and representations. For example, the centennial anniversary of the Civil War in 1959 presented an opportunity for very different memories regarding the cause and memorialization of the war to be brought to the forefront of public discourse. Kretsinger-Harries (2014) analyzed the varied responses to the proposed celebrations and commemorations of the Civil War that created controversy and disagreement, mainly based on different memories regarding the causes that led to the war. A poignant example of such a controversy was if and how John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry should be commemorated (Kretsinger-Harries, 2014). In 1957, Congress established the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission (CWCC), which later, under President Eisenhower, would branch into three organizations that would develop and institute celebrations commemorating the Civil War (Kretsinger-Harries, 2014). The raid on Harpers Ferry was a slave rebellion lead by abolitionist John Brown; although the rebellion was unsuccessful, it is considered a major catalyst for the Civil War. Regardless of the raid’s significance, the CWCC was unsure whether the rebellion should be included in the centennial celebration. The CWCC heroically framed the Civil War by memorializing “personal virtues- not moral positions” to justify the fervor with which each side fought (Kretsinger-Harries, 2014, p. 76). This framing enabled both individuals who fought to uphold slavery and those who fought to dissolve the Union to appear as glorified heroes without moral entanglements. Further, the two distinct framings of the Civil War has helped shape public 32 32 memory. As Kretsinger-Harries claimed, “The result was a rendering of the Civil War as heroic, romantic, and unifying, yet profoundly problematic because it ignored African American experiences, slavery, and even the issue of White supremacy” (p. 76). Kretsinger-Harries (2014) suggested that the problem that occurred over the commemoration of the Harpers Ferry raid was because it “challenged prominent U.S. public memories of the Civil War that excluded slavery as a major factor” (p. 70). It is important to note that adding to the tension of whether the raid on Harpers Ferry should be included was the fact that the racial climate of 1959 in America was charged with acts of civil disobedience, protests, and ground- breaking court decisions like Brown v. Board of Education, which challenged the lingering legacies of slavery. The nostalgia presented by Baker (1994) and Kretsinger-Harries (2014) are two demonstrations of how nostalgia is employed through public memory. Kretsinger-Harries offered, “Nostalgically re-envisioning the South’s history and its role in the coming of the Civil War, Southern mythologies glorified the Confederacy’s political and military leaders, while overlooking the region’s reason for fighting the war and its ultimate defeat” (p. 74). Both interpretations of nostalgia collide as the acts and causes of the Civil War are remembered quite differently based on interpretations of history, which is shaped by ideology. According to Thiel-Stern, Hains, and Mazzarella (2011), “Memory provides a powerful and sometimes mysterious means of binding oneself to a sense of time, place, purpose, and community, and when shared it can illuminate lived experiences in a way that studying official documents cannot” (p. 161). Certainly, the memories of Black and non-Black individuals who lived in the Jim Crow South when Emmett Till was murdered would differ greatly. White 33 33 individuals may nostalgically reflect on a simpler time with fondness, whereas African Americans recall fear and the uncertainty of life as the threat of violence against the Black body was imminent. Black parents often designed The Talk with their sons around the memory of Emmett Till and the horrific circumstances surrounding his death. Through education, children of all races share more commonality in memories as Americans who live in a post-Civil Rights era, but present-day Jacksonville, Florida, where Davis was killed, cannot escape the memories of previous Black Death. The gratuitous violence that befell Till was enacted upon Davis decades later, thus altering The Talk to include the cautionary tale of the memory of Jordan Davis’s death. Though there are significant differences in the details surrounding their deaths, the end result was the same.

Memory and Forgetting Memory can fail and recollection of actual events can be skewed by human fantasy due to the interplay of human imagination, motives, and memory recall (Phillips, 2010). Phillips elaborated that recollection provides an opportunity and method for careful consideration of events. Additionally, Phillips claimed, “Rhetorical appeals serve to frame memories within established cultural forms… Assuming the success of these connections then the memory of some past event becomes established, indeed reified, into fixed forms that present themselves as necessary and ‘true’” (p. 218). By remembering pivotal events, they remain salient. Gerber (2007) contended that the lack of any form of remembrance in Tulsa, Oklahoma of the 1921 Race Riots alters public memory of the events and the magnitude of the racially charged encounter. Memorials remind the public not to forget a specific occurrence or event; by contrast, Gerber suggested that the 34 34 absence of memorials encourages people to forget. Gerber claimed, “To ensure that only one, authoritative version of history is recorded and perpetuated, minority or subaltern voices are excluded from the public negotiations over the meaning of past events” (p. 253). Gerber concluded that a monument in Tulsa would render a mutual cultural understanding between the Black and White citizens within the Tulsa community as well as shift remembrance of the riot from a minor event in the history of Tulsa, but solidify it as a major event that still has consequences for the city. Not all memories are positive, and they can leave emotional scars on individuals, groups, and communities (Casey, 2004; Porter & Peace, 2004, 2007). In an attempt to understand the salience of traumatic versus positive emotional memories in adults, Porter and Peace (2007) extended their work from Porter and Peace (2004), which reported results from interviews originally conducted in 2001 and 2002. In the 2007 study, Porter and Peace found that traumatic events did not fade or become repressed over time; on the contrary, they remained salient, consistent, and just as impactful through the follow-up process, unlike the way that positive memory recall deteriorated. The memories of Black men being lynched, beaten, and killed remains a salient memory that affects the way African Americans interpret and inform present perception of Black male disposability. The consistent death of Black men through time continues to leave emotional scars on African Americans. Listening to grieving parents recount the traumatic deaths of their Black sons has created a shared emotional wound within the Black community as other parents use past trauma to contextualize The Talk. With every public and controversial death of a Black man, the community grieves together and empathically suffers a communal trauma, understanding that under different circumstances it could be their individual loss. 35 35

Certain memories solidify narratives that are widely accepted within society. Just as it is vital for some memories to be remembered to prevent past mistakes from being repeated, on a societal level, dominant ideologies often attempt to forget or diminish historical atrocities in an attempt to alter a historical narrative or affect public memory (Hoerl, 2012; Kretsinger-Harries, 2014). Mitigating the extent of traumatic historical events through a process of selective amnesia, which strategically removes certain rhetoric from public discourse, may alter awareness of the lingering implications that still affect a marginalized group. (Hoerl, 2012). Per Hoerl (2012), selective amnesia helped contribute to the myth of racial transcendence in America, which suggests that our country has come become a society that grants equal access to all citizens, thus transcending the racial turbulence of the past. Bolstering the claim of racial transcendence is the fact that America elected a Black president; however Hoerl (2012) cautioned, “The omission of significant events in history of antiracist struggle, particularly those events occurring after King’s death in 1968, enabled the construction of a seamless narrative that reaches its conclusion in Obama’s election” (p. 182). Strategically forgetting the full extent of history helps perpetuate the notion of an inclusive society and mitigates racialized legacies (Hoerl, 2012; Kretsinger- Harries, 2014). As the pendulum swings between remembering and forgetting within public memory, marginalized communities attempt to maintain a collective memory in which trauma remains in the forefront of their group narrative, not as a means of holding on to the past but to inform the future. Racial progress is good, but forgetting the institutionalized legacies and by-products of racism and slavery within American history can be devastating to a community if people buy into the myth of racial transcendence (Hoerl, 2012). The classic representations of Black 36 36 men as brutes and savages have morphed into portals as violent criminals and thugs on the nightly news (Jackson, 2014). Hoerl (2012) observed, “Popular culture’s portrayal of the Black masculine body is constitutive of the African American community’s traumatized historic collective memory” (p. 190). Americans live in a society marred by the murder of Emmett Till at the height of Jim Crow and segregation, but have reached a place where a Black man could be elected president in a free election. Nevertheless, the progress that has been made is overshadowed by the murders of Jordan Davis and other violent acts against Black bodies that are reminiscent of the past. Hoerl (2012) stated, “Historic images of violence against Black men, including numerous enslaved Africans, Emmett Till, and Rodney King, remind Black communities of their constant state of physical vulnerability” (p. 190). Moreover, the constant vulnerability of the Black community informs the way that Black parents must present the lived experiences of the community and maintain pre-emptive and strategic planning conversations about life to their young sons.

Media’s Influence on Memory Memories are not created in a vacuum or solely within the psyche of an individual. Rather, there are multiple influences that contribute to individual, social, collective, and public memories, including print, broadcast, and digital media. The saturation of newsworthy events plays a vital role in the way that public and collective memory is shared and interpreted as the memory takes root within a historical or cultural context (Kligler-Vilenchik et al., 2014). Due to the wide reach of mass media, they can present current phenomena and provide great detail about past events that possibly contribute to or counter the situation (Edy, 1999; Kligler-Vilenchik et al., 2014). Kligler-Vilenchik et al. contended that news 37 37 media not only affect the perceptions of public memory, but possess their own memory that affects how past events are the relayed to the viewing public, thus shaping collective memory. Through content analysis, Kligler-Vilenchik et al. used the 60th anniversary of Israel to examine the effect of the news media’s selected memories of Israel and the effect on individual and collective memory. They determined that collective memory is affected by news media coverage of particular events, as well as cultural and community significance. However, “individuals are far from powerless: some events were important to the public though they were not salient in the media, nor intentionally commemorated by the state” (Kligler-Vilenchik et al., 2014, p. 496). Therefore, some collective memories of a traumatic nature remain prominent in the memories of individuals regardless of news media manipulation. News media plays a fundamental role in how the narrative characterizes the victim as villain, and the murderer as the hero, particularly in instances in which the descendant is Black and the murderer is White. Kligler-Vilenchik et al. (2014) stated: Media’s crucial role can be attributed to their ability to simultaneously reach mass audiences, and provide interpretations of the past that are hard to avoid. Moreover, the representations of the past conveyed by the mass media appear in a narrative form, stressing an emotional aspect, rendering them more resonant than structured learning. This is true for both fictionalized representations and news. (pp. 485-486) The victims are criminalized, which follows the same psychology justifying murder and brutality by criminalizing the victim. Whites who took part in lynching or were indifferent towards the barbaric ritual would attempt to absolve themselves through the justification of the decedent having done wrong (Ohl & Potter, 2013). The victim is blamed for their untimely demise because they did not 38 38 follow a rule, absolving the murderers and bystanders from any wrongdoing. Emmett Till was portrayed as a large and fresh-mouthed man, when in actuality he was a child with a speech impediment. Coincidently, Jordan Davis was characterized by his murderer as a thug and a bad teen, when in actuality Jordan had never been in trouble with the law. Print media, television, and movies also influence the way that individuals interpret historical events, and serve as cultural texts that shape collective memory (Biesecker, 2002). Motion pictures, such as Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, are just one way that Americans have come to know about WWII, patriotism, and American exceptionalism (Biesecker, 2002; Ehrenhaus, 2001). Biesecker evaluated three cultural or memory texts, Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation, and the Women in Military Service for America Memorial as exemplars to illuminate the contemporary interpretation of WWII in the light of the WWII Memorial on the Washington Mall. Saving Private Ryan depicts the story of a multi-cultural ranger unit after the battle at Normandy during WWII. After the combat deaths of three of the four Ryan brothers, the unit is tasked with finding the only surviving brother, John Francis, and bringing him home alive to his mother. Through the work of character development and storytelling, people become invested in the stories of others, whether Spielberg’s fictional characters or the real-life stories of WWII survivors in Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation. Biesecker contended that through fictional, yet compellingly realistic imagery of the carnage and human condition of war, Americans have redefined a collective memory of what makes one a “good American” (p. 406). Motion pictures have become a means for infusing memory into current pop culture. Films that depict racial struggles in American history can become a 39 39 battleground for political and ideological control over memory in popular culture (Hoerl, 2009). In an analysis of cinematic amnesia, Hoerl (2009) explained how the film Mississippi Burning effectively became a double-edged sword by creating a fictionalized account that was loosely based on the actual events in the Freedom Summer murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Hoerl (2009) contended that the film reinforces White male hegemony while perpetuating the “White savior” myth, as it was White FBI agents who would not rest until the truth was discovered and justice served. The depiction of only White men active in the pursuit of justice, with civil rights activists as passive and silent, erroneously creates a perception that this may have been the case during Freedom Summer, thus influencing public memory. Fictional media are powerful; an individual may not be able to distinguish fact from fiction (Hoerl, 2009). Hoerl (2012) further suggested that media coverage contributed to the discourse around Barack Obama, aiding in the myth of racial transcendence by pulling from Black collective memory while mitigating the traumatic political and social past of the Black community. News media coverage associated the significance of Obama being the first Black nominee of a major political party to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s struggle for equality, but downplayed the violence that was associated with King’s struggle. Hoerl (2012) claimed, “Attending to selective amnesia in news discourses surrounding the election illustrates how mainstream media have obscured broader histories of social struggle and denies contemporary activism of its rich heritage” (p.195). Therefore, when voices of dissent come forward to criticize current renderings of institutional power structures, they often fight to recuperate repressed history and weave it back into the narrative, as it was selectively forgotten in collective or public memory. Mass media have aided in infusing selective amnesia into contemporary discussions 40 40 about race, which has resulted in a lack of vocabulary to describe micro- aggressions enacted against people of color. When parents of slain Black young men express frustration and anger, non-Blacks may struggle to identify with the depth of their grief due in part to ignorance about history in which these deaths have been all too common.

Race and Public Memory Much of public memory is shaped by the visual rhetoric produced because “images provide material resources of memory that are very much about the present and ‘ongoing’ interpretation and re-interpretation of the past for constitutive ideological purposes” (Ohl & Potter, 2013, p. 120). One cannot neglect the pervasive images of lynching in America, which have shaped the collective memory of not just African Americans but all Americans (Harold & Deluca, 2005; Ohl & Potter, 2013). The past images of lynching can reveal what the controlling ideology was at the time, which also allows us to understand and interpret the collective or public memory (Hoerl, 2009, 2012; Kretsinger-Harries, 2014). Societies and communities shift and new ideals form and influence public memory, but these new visions also allow us to re-evaluate artifacts and memories of the past. Each re-evaluation of the visual rhetoric of lynching adds depth to the discussion of race and social justice and recontextualzes the deeply complicated and turbulent relationships between Blacks and Whites historically in America (Hoerl, 2012). By examining the elements of lynching and the correlation to racialized tension between Blacks and Whites, one can uncover why certain behaviors and communication are interpreted as controlling, dominant, or insensitive. For example, a commonly used term, such as “lynch mob,” may evoke 41 41 anger in someone who shares the memory of the origins of the phrase, which was defined as multiple White men violently subduing a Black person accused of erroneous charges prior to lynching (Perry, 2013). Photographs of lynching depict the brutality and humiliation that countless Black bodies endured. Often these group killings were captured on film; post cards and family photos taken with the mutilated corpses were commonplace. Perry (2013) stated, “In a way, lynching photographs extended the scene of spectacle lynching beyond the immediate crime” (p. 454). An entire industry of lynching photos proved very lucrative, as they were sold as gifts and souvenirs (Perry, 2013). Images lay the foundation for what would later become collective or public memory. According to Ohl and Potter (2013): While images are integral in the formation of social cohesion, similar to public memory, their meanings and associations to the past are never unified, static, or uncontested. Rather, the ability to tether a visual narrative of the past into public consciousness is a powerful tool for colonizing the “imagination of the dominated.” (p. 187) The postcards may have been for the amusement and enjoyment of Whites, but they also served as a message to Blacks and shaped their shared memories of life during lynching. The images of lynching produced both shared memories of the entire community and individual shared memories within the Black and White communities. Many of the magazines and newspapers during the height of lynching, as well as after, do not accurately describe how widespread and accepted lynching was by the dominant culture; therefore, analysis of the visual rhetoric, including postcards and images of lynching, are invaluable. Ohl and Potter (2013) stated, “Rhetorical analysis provides a useful set of tools for exploring the symbolic and 42 42 material consequences of lynching public memory” (p. 188). Many White Americans develop selective amnesia regarding the history of lynching in America. It becomes easier to forget selectively than face the uncomfortable truth that entire White communities participated and documented the barbaric practice (Owens & Ehrenhaus, 2014; Perry, 2013). Traumatic events may leave individuals and societies distressed by what they have witnessed while disenfranchised by a government that refused them equal protection under the law. Porter and Peace (2007) found that “traumatic experiences persisted in subjects’ memories, remaining highly consistent years after their occurrence. Violent experiences (including sexual and physical assaults), which one might assume to be optimal contenders for repression or other impairing mechanics were no exception” (p. 439). The traumatic nature of lynching was manifest through persistent traumatic public memories within the community. Black citizens were traumatized by images of friends, neighbors, and loved ones hanging from the shaded, yielding poplar tree. The knowledge that they could be the next body sexually mutilated and made into a spectacle, ultimately making it into someone’s photo album or post card as a trophy, must have wreaked havoc on the minds of Black men and women alike. Such memories and trauma do not fade over time. According to Porter and Peace (2007), they actually become stronger: “From an evolutionary perspective, memory from a dangerous, perhaps life-threatening experience, should be reliable over time in order to facilitate avoidance of a similar situation in the future” (p. 440). Therein lies the goal of those who murder Black bodies and display their corpses, whether death occurred through lynching or contemporary legalized law enforcement murders. It perpetuates the idea that Black people will be so frightened that they could meet the same end as the decedent that they will comply with White 43 43 supremacy. Further, the shared memory of Black people is that law enforcement does not ensure protection of the Black body, as Black victims are further victimized in death through assassination of their character as a method of legal justification that eclipse the overt racial overtones in the killing. The framing and subsequent public discussion claims that violence against the Black body occurred because of provocation and was therefore justified. Unfortunately, that is still the sad reality for many African Americans in contemporary America. The traumatic experience of seeing a loved one after they have been murdered becomes a salient memory for not just the parent(s) of the decedent; but because of the public memory of violence against Black bodies all Black parents can empathetically feel the anguish and gut-wrenching grief of the loss. As Mamie Till-Mobley viewed her deceased son, she realized that the memory of his disfigured body would haunt her for life. She states, “My first look and my last look at Emmett would forever be fused in my mind” (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003, p. 137). Similarly, after arriving at the hospital and being told that doctors were unable to revive his son, Ronald Davis states, “When I saw Jordan lying on that table, I just grabbed him and I kissed him. They had to tear me away. And then I just sat there with him” (as cited in Millner, 2013, para. 4). In the cases of Till and Davis, both parents used the trauma of their son’s deaths to rally others and used their grief as a platform to associate a name and face with the public memories of Black death. As the visual images of lynching memorialize a dark and violent history of murders of Black male bodies, those images can be used to shape public memory, in order to draw conclusions about images of Black male bodies today. The power of the memory offered by those who lived through, documented, and experienced the days of lynching allows us to extend the collective memory of lynching to a 44 44 present-day form of the practice of the talk. Additionally, Porter and Peace (2007) explain, “Not only were traumatic memories more factually consistent over time than positive memories, but their vividness, quality, and sensory components remained essentially unchanged during follow-up period” (p. 440). The trauma of the practice of lynching is emblazoned in the photos, and thus memories, that memorialize the deaths of so many young Black men and women. The way that historical events are remembered and contextualized has a clear connection to cultural communication phenomena. African Americans have a complex shared history that spans enslavement, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and, presently, the Black Lives Matter movement. Due to institutionalized practices and similarities through time, African Americans have used public memory to refute the myth of a post-racial society. Blatant racism is suppressed in contemporary civil society; however, hidden biases and microaggressions against African Americans are steeped in the tradition of institutionalized racism. The shared memory of African Americans and their experiences are evident in the continued rhetorical exchange of The Talk. The Talk is significantly shaped by the way previous violence against the Black male body is remembered.

CHAPTER 3: METHODS

The epigram from Hughes (1939) offers a fictitious account of an iteration of The Talk between a mother and son. However, to trace The Talk that African American parents have with their sons, this study conducts a rhetorical analysis of two exemplars: 1) a detailed account of Mamie and Emmett Till’s conversation prior to his visit to Money, Mississippi during the summer of 1955, and 2) the life conversations about conduct for young Black men in public that Ron Davis and Lucia McBath had with their son, Jordan, prior to his 2012 murder. These particular texts provide a glimpse at The Talk, from prohibited behaviors and rules for young Black males post-emancipation during the Civil Rights Era in the segregated South to a contemporary rendering of the current constraints regulating young Black men’s behavior in post-Civil Rights America. This analysis uses public memory as a guiding theory to probe how public memory of traumatic Black experiences and Black male disposability has created and maintained the necessity for The Talk to evolve in multiple iterations in most Black families. Public memory provides the most utility as a guiding theory for this study because it provides an opportunity to explore how group consciousness and shared memories are created within social orders and how cultural patterns are created. Hence, a genre emerges. Genre criticism enables critics to examine recurring rhetorical situations, including exigence, content, and context over time. Jamieson (1973) declared, “Existence of standard forms of address guarantees a sense of continuity. It maintains the institution’s identity from century to century” (p. 165). Because The Talk has continually created rhetorical discourse within the Black family, there is indeed a recurring rhetorical situation (Bitzer, 1992; Jamieson, 1973). Due to the 46 46 historic nature of The Talk, genre highlights how it functions as a cultural pattern practiced by most African American parents based on the reoccurring rhetorical exigence of Black death. By using the method of genre criticism, through the examination of the two exemplars, I identify the defining features, responses to the rhetorical situation, and establish The Talk as a genre. A genre is established when similar forms consistently begin to emerge over time among various artifacts (Campbell & Jamieson, 2010). Campbell and Jamieson stated, “A genre does not consist merely of a series of acts in which certain rhetorical forms recur... Instead, a genre is composed of a constellation of recognizable forms bound together by an internal dynamic” (p. 453). The culminating event of the iterative talks that Emmett and Jordan received yielded the same results despite variance in the social conditions. Generic criticism is a common method within the humanities because it considers multiple texts. Genre is very useful in media and literature analysis, for example, as categorizations and genres provide the basis for comparing and contrasting similarities and differences among artifacts. For example, Phillips (2005) used genre criticism to study American horror films. Genre provided Phillips with the means to identify films that are within, and shape, the genre based on content, audience perception, and other similarities. Though genre mainly groups artifacts through similarity, consideration must be given to factors that are not congruent within the genre because it attributes to the variance in the fitting response to the rhetorical situation within the genre. Among those factors include, “human needs and exposure to antecedent rhetorical forms” (Campbell & Jamieson, 2010). Understanding these constraints reinforces the need for considering public memory (antecedents), and allow this study to account for the dramatically different social conditions between 47 47

1955 and 2012, while still making a generic connection through the consistent internal dynamic of The Talk, which answers a persistent human need. Jamieson (1973) contended, “Genres are shaped in response to a rhetor’s perception of the expectations of the audience and the demands of the situation” (p. 163). The expectations are previously established through prevailing memories in most situations, which is the case for each iteration of The Talk. In order to establish a genre, scholars can perform an exhaustive, inductive analysis of multiple texts. However, Campbell and Jamieson (2010) defined genre as a constellation, which offers an alternative to early, inductive genre criticism. Campbell and Jamieson stated, “Clearly, the dynamic of the constellation and the fusion of its forms are more easily recognized when their recurrence is observed, but it is now possible both to isolate the constellation and its dynamic without comparing multiple specimens of the genre” (p. 456). In this rendering of genre criticism, the “dynamic constellation of forms” derived by examining significant exemplars accounts not only for what has happened but projects what may persist as a result (Campbell & Jamieson, 2010, p. 456). Therefore, based on one iteration of The Talk, an exemplary response to the rhetorical situation, one may identify what constitutes the most fitting response of the parent. In this approach, the critic establishes the defining features of the artifact(s). Next, in the critic analyzes the rhetorical situations and responses to establish what characterizes the fitting response. The similarities within the situations and responses then give rise to the defining elements of the genre. The most useful approach for this study is a deductive one. Unlike inductive genre analysis, which looks at multiple texts to identify a genre, a deductive analysis uses a limited number of artifacts (Campbell & Jamieson, 2010). A deductive rhetorical critic identifies a specific exemplar and analyzes it to identify the key elements of the 48 48 genre, which can be used in turn to study subsequent artifacts (Campbell & Jamieson, 2010). In this analysis, Mamie Till-Mobley’s Talk serves as the defining landmark example of The Talk. Lucia McBath and Ronald Davis’s Talk responded to the same reoccurring exigence of Black male mortality, therefore suggesting Till’s Talk can help to illuminate it. For this study, public memory serves as an appropriate umbrella theory. Per Campbell and Jamieson (2010), “The generic perspective recognizes that while there may be few clearly distinguishable genres, all rhetoric is influenced by prior rhetoric. Such a critical perspective emphasizes the symbolic and rhetorical context in which rhetorical acts are created” (p. 457). Rhetorical acts of the past transform an aberration into a “living presence” (Jamieson, 1975, p. 406). Indeed, as the stories of Emmett Till and Jordan Davis are recounted by their parents, their life stories and subsequent deaths become embodied in the public memory. Finally, the details of the content within The Talk requires close evaluation to identify similarities that unify The Talk as a rite of passage mandated by civil society. A generic analysis can reveal that The Talk that Emmett Till and Jordan Davis received rendered them as phobogenic objects because, despite the best efforts of their parents, both were killed (Fanon, 2008). The persistence of this rhetorical situation and the power of the genre in public memory further substantiates the utility of having The Talk with African American young men. Through the combination of public memory and genre criticism, this analysis recognizes the significance of the shared collective and public memory of African Americans, as it affects how rhetoric is created and evolves within the community. Therefore, using genre criticism and public memory allow the critic to further illuminate the unique rhetorical practices that emerge from shared histories and 49 49 memories while considering how they might adapt in the light of shifting cultural influences.

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION FOR EMMETT LOUIS TILL

One of the main reasons Emmett Till remains one of the most salient exemplars of Black death, and therefore fundamental to the discourse of The Talk, is Mamie Till-Mobley. She refused to let America turn a blind eye or deaf ear to what this nation allowed to happen to her son. Through strategic governance and White supremacy, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were acquitted of Emmett’s murder as the White local officials and the all-White jury largely supported the murderers both publicly and privately. An even greater travesty is that their acquittal served as a precedent, making it common for White men to murder Black men and have their crimes be deemed justified. Until her dying day, Till-Mobley ensured that Emmett’s death was not just a statistic in a ledger of the coroner’s office or a small footnote in history. Moreover, Emmett’s disfigured and brutalized body became symbolic of the twisted relationship America has with its community of outside children: the Black community. African American papers were the first to circulate Emmett’s casket photograph. However, the story of Emmett Till has fascinated audiences since those first images emerged in Jet Magazine in 1955, and his story is frequently featured in mainstream media (Pool, 2015). From 1955 through 2008, The New York Times ran the story of Emmett’s murder 53 times (Tell, 2008). It was not simply the murder of Emmett that captured the world by the throat; it was the images of his remains that displayed what hate could do. The spotlight shone on the rural South placed the inhumane treatment of Black citizens on display for the world (Pool, 2015). James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and Bob Dylan all contributed artistic tributes to Emmett’s life and death through poetry and lyrics, emblazoning his tragedy within public memory (Tell, 2008). However, no tribute to Emmett 51 51 was greater than the one his mother, Mamie, made when she declared, “Let the word see what I’ve seen” (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003).

Emmett’s Story Emmett Louis Till made his debut into the world July 25, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. Within the first year of their troubled marriage, Mamie and Louis Till celebrated the birth of their “miracle baby,” followed shortly by an order of protection precluding Louis from contacting his wife and child. After several violations of the order, Louis faced the choice of jail or the military, and selected the latter. By the time Emmett was four years old, Mamie was notified by telegram that Louis had been killed while serving in Italy due to “willful misconduct” (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003, p. 17). Later, Till-Mobley learned that Louis had been killed by the US military after being court-martialed and convicted of rape and murder (Pool, 2015; Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). Ironically, an engraved ring with Louis’s initials were among the possessions the military returned to Till-Mobley. Before leaving for his summer vacation, Mamie gave Emmett his father’s ring, which served as the primary means used to identify his remains (Till- Mobley & Benson, 2003). Emmett survived a traumatic and difficult birth as well as childhood polio, therefore Till-Mobley and her mother were both very protective of and close to him. Emmett had a stutter, and Till-Mobley taught him to almost blow his words to lessen the stutter (West, 2003). Emmett was described as a fun-loving and mischievous child who brought joy to all in his large family, who affectionately called him Bo (Till Mobley & Benson, 2003). Mamie was elated to raise Emmett in the thriving city of Argo, next to Chicago, in contrast to her own upbringing in the Mississippi Delta which was a hot spot of racial injustice, segregation, and 52 52 lynching (Pool, 2015; Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). Emmett’s childhood differed from those experienced by children raised in the South. According to Till-Mobley and Benson, “For Emmett, there had been no danger, no discrimination, no deprivation. He had lived life the way it was supposed to be lived. Without limitation” (p. 100). Like many Black families that moved to booming cities during the Black Migration, Till-Mobley still maintained close relationships with her family in the South. It was common for children living in the city to visit their relatives in the South on school breaks and vacation to enjoy the open air and nature absent from city life (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). Emmett’s great uncle from Mississippi, Papa Mose, had come to Chicago for a visit and talked about the wonderment of Mississippi and the vast fields to run and play in. Emmett loved running and playing outside more than anything, and he begged his mother to let him go to Mississippi with his uncle, especially because his favorite cousin, Wheeler, was going as well. Despite strong protests from both Mamie and her mother, Emmett finally won them over with his quick wit and charm (Till Mobley & Benson, 2003). Till-Mobley feared the South for Emmett because it was so different from his care-free life in Chicago. He had no conceivable clue of how different life in the country was from the city.

Emmett’s Talk Through discussion and identification of her own Talk, Till-Mobley and Benson (2003) reify an identifiable standard that has since come to ground the genre of The Talk. According to Jamieson (1973), “Existence of standard forms of address guarantees a sense of continuity” (p. 165). Having experienced The Talk, as well as an understanding the communal practice of The Talk, Till-Mobley 53 53 could follow a rhetorical blueprint when addressing her son. Furthermore, Till- Mobley and Benson (2003) stated, “I knew I had to have to give him the talk. It was the talk every black parent would have with their child sent down South back then” (p. 100). However, The Talk was not a communicative practice bound to parents of children who lived in the North. By Till-Mobley’s own admission, when living in the South she received The Talk as well; she noted, “Every generation has a cautionary tale” (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003, p. 100). Based on her traumatic memories of living in the South and the public memories created by hatred, Till-Mobley attempted to prepare her son for any scenario that he could possibly encounter once he arrived in Money, Mississippi. The Talk she gave him ranged from “what if” scenarios, to mock conversations about how to address White southerners, specifically White women. According to Till-Mobley and Benson (2003), The Talk included the following instructions: If you’re walking down the street and a White woman is walking toward you, step off the sidewalk, lower your head. Don’t look her in the eye. Wait until she passes by, then get back on the sidewalk, lower your head, keep going and don’t look back. (p. 101) The specificity of such directives made Emmett question if his mother was exaggerating. He could not imagine or fathom the harrowing lived experience of Blacks in the South who could “go missing” at any time only later to be found hanged, brutalized, or shot. Mamie tried to express that the conditions were much worse than he could even comprehend (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). What made The Talk that Till-Mobley was tasked with giving her son different, was that Emmett lacked a personal, social connection to overt racism. Thankfully, Emmett had been raised in the suburbs of Illinois and had not been privy to The Talk to the magnitude he received prior to his trip (Till-Mobley & 54 54

Benson, 2003). Race had never really been an issue for him before, as Till- Mobley and Benson stated: This was the first time I had ever really spoken to Emmett about race. I’m giving him some pretty strong instructions about how to avoid problems …. I wondered if I had done enough to make up for all I had never had to do before. After all, how do you give a crash course in hatred to a boy who has only known love? (p. 102) It was a blessing for Mamie that Emmett was raised in Argo, away from the gratuitous violence of the South; however, it served as a curse in that she had difficulty contextualizing the severity of hatred toward Black bodies in Mississippi. According to Pool (2015), “Before he left, his mother stressed that he was to do anything, including getting on his knees and begging for forgiveness, to avoid White wrath” (p. 414). Mamie continually attempted to explain the social stratification of the South by reiterating to Emmett that he had to follow the laws of segregation to the letter. Also, Emmett had developed a cool and confident air of self-awareness and pride that, although celebrated in Chicago, Till-Mobley feared would anger Whites in the South. Till-Mobley took care to stress humility in his attitude and in his speech. Emmett was a respectable young man who always addressed all adults by “putting a handle” of Sir, Mr., or Mrs. when speaking. Till-Mobley reminded Emmett to make sure to continue with the manners that were engrained within and encouraged him to beg for forgiveness if he made a mistake (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). Further, Till-Mobley and Benson recommended: “If you have to humble yourself… then just do it. Get on your knees if you have to” (p. 101). Even if it meant damaging some of his own pride and self-confidence, Emmett 55 55 was to return home to her, using the skills Till-Mobley provided him to escape any situations with Whites. Black parents talk with their children just as any other parent would. However, although talking is communication, not all communication is The Talk. Per Jamieson (1973), “A genre perpetuates a distinguishable institutional rhetoric by creating expectations which any future institutional spokesmen [sic] feel obliged to fulfill rather than frustrate” (p. 165). The Talk has become a specific genre within the Black family dynamic, that includes anticipated rules and regulations regarding social behavior for Black males. Based on the previous definition, the parent becomes the spokesperson on behalf of the community and is tasked with relaying the survival skills to their own children. Mamie prepared Emmett the best she could. However, it is possible that Emmett’s naiveté to bigotry made him a ripe target for the unbridled hatred unleashed upon Black bodies, especially during that era in the South. On August 20, 1955, Emmett along with his cousin, Wheeler Parker, set out on his adventure with no possible notion about the chain of events that were set in motion once he boarded the locomotive bound for Money, Mississippi (Christian, 2005; Till- Mobley & Benson, 2003).

Murder After Midnight The exact sequence of events that preceded Emmett’s murder have been contested and recounted with variations ranging from major to slight details (Tell, 2008). However, the most agreed-upon amalgamation of events are as follows. A few days into his visit, Emmett and his cousins went to the White-owned Bryant’s Grocery Store and Meat Market. It was alleged that Emmett whistled or made a sexual advance towards the clerk, Carolyn Bryant, the wife of the store owner, 56 56

Roy Bryant (Tell, 2008; Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). According Emmett’s uncle, Papa Mose, a few days later, on August 28, 1955, Roy Bryant and his brother J.W. Milam came armed to the family house where Emmett was staying after 2 o’clock in the morning. The men searched the house until they found Emmett, made him dress, and drove away with him, which was the last time he was seen alive (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). Bryant and Milam kidnapped Emmett with the express purpose of murdering him. The exact order of events is unknown, but Emmett was brutally beaten, shot in the head, stripped of his clothes, and a 100-pound cotton gin was tied about his neck with barbed wire to weigh his mutilated body down as he was dumped in the Tallahatchie River (Pool, 2015; Tell, 2008; Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003; West, 2003). On August 31, 1955, the Tallahatchie divulged its secret inhabitant, as Emmett was expelled from his watery grave and a fisherman alerted the authorities to seeing human feet above the water (Pool, 2015; Tell, 2008). Emmett’s disfigured and mutilated body was unrecognizable and only identifiable to his uncle because the ring, which Emmett’s mother had given him days before he left on his trip, was still on his finger (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). The state of Mississippi attempted to bury Emmett’s remains immediately, but Mamie Till-Mobley would not allow it. She brokered a deal with the local Black mortician, A.A. Rayner, to retrieve her son’s remains for a proper burial in Chicago, which cost $3300 in transport fees. Emmett’s body was locked and sealed, and Rayner had to sign forms declaring he would not open the casket. However, at Mamie’s insistence, she was allowed to view what remained of her beautiful son, whose human form was reduced to the appearance of a science fiction creature (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). The sight of Emmett and the odor of death, caused Till-Mobley’s knees to buckle. Among his mutilated and 57 57 disfigured features was his tongue, which was swollen and rested on his chin as if it had been yanked from his body, his nose appeared to have been sheared off with a meat cleaver, and one eye was plucked completely from his body while the other hazel eye dangled from the cavity, connected only by his optic nerve (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003). Due to Mamie’s insistence that her grief and Emmett’s death be memorialized publicly through photos and interviews, the murder of Emmett Till possibly has had the single greatest effect on the genre of The Talk in the past century. Emmett’s death invigorated the Civil Rights movement, as Rosa Parks said that she was reminded of the image of Emmett 100 days after his death when she refused to relinquish her seat to a White passenger (Christian, 2005). Black parents now had to contextualize The Talk to include ways to possibly resist and stay alive simultaneously as Blacks increasingly participated in marches, boycotts, and sit-ins followed Till-Mobley’s refusal to grieve quietly and privately. This shift in the Talk became necessary especially during the Civil Rights Movement. Confronted with the jarring images Till-Mobley insisted be displayed of the Blacks found the courage to become more vocal and active in the Civil Rights Movement. According to Pool (2015), “Instead of a cautionary tale meant to be whispered and inspire fear, then, Till’s body became a provocative image to be displayed to inspire action against fear” (p. 438). Emmett’s body laid in state for over four days as thousands of mourners viewed his body (Pool, 2015). Some were drawn through empathetically shared grief with Mamie, others by curiosity. Whatever the cause, Till-Mobley made it impossible to forget her son’s face, both before and after, by allowing his image to be published in national publications, virtually controlling the public memory surrounding Emmett’s death. 58 58 Images and Till’s Memory The first step that Mamie took in directing the public memory of her son’s death was taking control of the news media’s presence. Allowing all major Black publications to photograph the body made national publications increase their coverage. Till-Mobley decided that she wanted an open casket so the world would be forced to see the manifestation of hate, stating: Instead of fainting, I realized that here's a job that I got to do now and I don't have time to faint; I don't have time to cry… I've got to make a decision and my decision was that there is no way I can tell the world what I see. The world is going to have to look at this. They're going to have to help me tell the story. (as cited in West, 2003, para. 5) Not only did the world see, but the world remembered, as Emmett’s casket photograph is still widely circulated on television, in magazines, and social media. At the time of Emmett’s murder, images of Black death were not new to the public, as lynching photographs had been a staple in markets and stores throughout the South. However, it is difficult to employ selective amnesia when seeing the before and after photo of a brutally murdered 14-year-old child (Hoerl, 2012; Ohl & Potter, 2013). Moreover, the salience of the public memory associated with the images of Emmett and his humanity emerges from the photos of a round-faced bright-eyed boy as a single subject as depicted in Figure 1. He then morphs into an image that is nearly unrecognizable as human, which resonates with the viewer, possibly transcending race alone to expose the human condition as seen in Figure 2 (Hoerl, 2012). Additionally, Black parents now have a tangible image, person, and story to include in The Talk, moving the content from a hypothetical situation to real, passed down stories; it presents a universal exemplar of what has and can still happen to young Black men. 59 59

Figure 1. Young Emmet Till at 14 years old.

Figure 2. The mutilated and disfigured body of Emmett Till

The images of Emmett were jarring and traumatic when they were released in 1955, and yet they have the same effect on the contemporary viewer. As the images of Emmett become more deeply embedded within public memory, Emmett continues to shape and reshape The Talk. First, the photos and public memory support both the necessity and fallible nature of The Talk. The Talk does not guarantee survival; it is an attempt to aid in maintaining life. Younger generations often question the need for continued vigilance. Similarly, Emmett asked his mother if circumstances in the South were as grim as she described. Second, Till- Mobley’s talk with Emmett reinforces that The Talk is not designed to control a 60 60 young man; on the contrary, it is a talk that comes from love, influenced by memories of others like Emmett Till, which The Talk could not save. Emmett told his mother after constant drilling, “Mama…I know how to act. You taught me how to act” (as cited in Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003, p. 101). Quite frankly, the greatest concern of the Black parent when giving The Talk is not the behavior of their Black sons, but the behavior of the White people who were also taught how to behave by their parents. With White supremacy in civil society, their perceptions will often be deemed correct and the law often protects and reaffirms their actions, whether through law enforcement or ordinary citizens.

Emmett Remembered The life and death of Emmett Till is one of the most prolific memories shared by the Black community and many Americans. Till-Mobley dedicated her life to ensuring that the brutal murder of her only son would never be forgotten (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003; West, 2003). Also, the public memory and numerous memorials are a constant reminder of America’s hatred toward Black males, which is punctuated by the fact that no one ever served time for the murder, as an all-White jury acquitted Bryant and Milam of Emmett’s murder, despite their confessions and witness statements. Blacks are thus able to remember critically and draw similarities to current issues, such as the prison industrial complex, disproportionate sentencing, and police killings of unarmed Black men (Baker, 1994). The lack of resolution and character assassination of the victims is all too familiar. The public memory allows one to recontextualize the trials of George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn, as well as myriad examples of police not being charged, or charged and then acquitted, for killing unarmed Black males. 61 61

There are multiple memorials dedicated to Emmett Till, solidifying his significance in American history. The thirty-mile portion of Highway 49 in Mississippi was renamed the Emmett Till Memorial Highway in July 2003, as it covers the area where he was abducted, tortured, murdered, and dumped (Christian, 2005). This memory is important as it serves as a constant reminder to the people of Mississippi every time they drive that stretch of highway that Emmett Till’s life mattered. Most importantly, the dedication of the highway acknowledges that wrong occurred on that land and honors the sacrifice of his young life. Most significant about this memorial in Mississippi is that it prevents the horrific nature of Emmett’s murder from diminishing and fading. Selective amnesia is virtually impossible with Emmett’s name appearing on maps and signage within the city (see Hoerl, 2012; Kretsinger-Harries, 2014). The city of Money and the State of Mississippi failed Emmett, Mamie, and every Black citizen by allowing his killers to go free. The highway signage does not provide an apology or retribution; however, it causes the public to remember. Those Whites who celebrated the acquittal of Bryant and Milam, Blacks who lived in fear for their lives, and those who learn about Till through stories and The Talk must see and say Emmett’s name when they travel that highway. Perhaps, the memorial that best encapsulates the importance of Emmett Till to The Talk and public memory is the school named after him. Emmett’s elementary school, the former James McCosh Elementary School, was renamed the Emmett Louis Till Math and Science Academy (Christian, 2005). In America, the honor of naming educational facilities after individuals is a distinction often bestowed upon politicians, activists, and fellow educators, like James McCosh, a Scottish-American philosopher who served as the 11th President to Princeton University, for whom the school was originally named (Christian, 2005). 62 62

Renaming Emmett’s elementary school in his honor memorialized his importance to Chicago, as a member of that particular community. Emmett’s seventh-grade teacher and other community members of distinction engaged in the sharing stories of individual memories and ultimately the collective public memory of the community. The school also provides an opportunity for parents, during The Talk, to explain Emmett’s significance and the circumstances surrounding his murder to an entire new generation unfamiliar with the story. The public memory of Chicagoans, who regularly engage with multiple memorials and remembrances for Emmett who was born and raised there, may differ slightly from that of the general public (Browne, 1999). Emmett is one of Chicago’s sons and as his natural mother maintained his memory, his hometown does as well. Finally, although Mamie was instrumental in keeping her son’s memory alive, it is the public who continues to bring relevance to Emmett’s story. The images of Emmett still move the viewer as one cannot help but share thoughts and opinions about every aspect of his life and death. Emmett Till is the cautionary tale around which many parents base The Talk (Till-Mobley & Benson, 2003, p. 100). The significance of the visual rhetoric contributing to Emmett’s story extends beyond the imagery of his corpse. The desperation in the face of Mamie Till-Mobley as she initially weeps on September 2, 1955, upon the arrival of Emmett’s remains and then the anguish in her face as she weeps over what became of her son’s earthly temple cannot help but move parents as depicted in Figure 3 and Figure 4. Eventually, the determination and defiance of Till-Mobley’s face as an activist gave others strength. Those photographs still evoke a strong reaction, inviting parents to empathize, to feel the burden of parenting a Black son, and to be compelled to have The Talk.

63 63

Figure 3. Mamie Till-Mobley receiving the remains of Emmett Till.

Figure 4. Mamie Till-Mobley weeping at the casket of her son.

CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF JORDAN RUSSELL DAVIS

The life and death of Emmett Till serves as a classic iteration of The Talk based on content, recurrent rhetorical situation, and similarity in response. The internal dynamic in Till-Mobley’s talk with Emmett shares the same substance, style, and situational characteristics of multiple Talks Black parents engage in with their sons, thus establishing a generic pattern (Campbell & Jamieson, 2010). As state violence persists against young men of color, there is unfortunately no shortage of contemporary examples of unjustified murders to draw from to establish the continued necessity for parental verbal intervention. Most important to The Talk is the way in which parents draw on previously known and remembered atrocities against other young black men. However, through remembrance, The Talk is both necessary and fallible, as demonstrated by the contemporary case of Jordan Russell Davis.

Murder in Jacksonville Jordan Russell Davis was born 54 years after Emmett Till in the Atlanta suburb of Douglasville. Born into a family with educated and loving parents, Ronald Davis and Lucia McBath, Jordan grew up removed from the urban hustle and bustle of the inner city, in what his mother described as similar to the popular 1980s sitcom, The Cosby Show (Coates, 2014b). Jordan was what his parents identify as their “miracle baby.” After his mother suffered several miscarriages early in her marriage, he was born after virtually 9 months of bed rest (Millner, 2013). Though Jordan’s parents divorced when he was a young child, he had a very present father, as his parents amicably co-parented without anger and strife. In fact, to aid Jordan in the transition of growing from a boy to a man, his father 65 65 welcomed Jordan to Jacksonville, Florida when his mother was stricken with breast cancer for a second time. Jordan’s parents had many hopes and dreams for their son; the most important was that he be happy and give back to the world. Due to Jordan’s ability to organize and learn beyond his years, McBath thought maybe he would become a politician or activist, following in the footsteps of her late father, Civil Rights Activist Lucien Holman (Coates, 2014b). McBath stated, “We always encouraged him to be strong. To speak out…. We tried to teach him to speak what you feel diplomatically” (Coates, 2014b, para. 4). Their Talk was almost prophetic, as Jordan would soon become the catalyst for political activism for them. In the early evening of November 23, 2012, Jordan and three friends occupied a vehicle outside of a Jacksonville gas station (Dickerson, 2015; Hepburn, Nelson, & Silver, 2015; Morial, 2014). The teens had been at the mall and hanging out during Black Friday. Jordan and two of his friends waited in the car as the driver went inside to make a purchase. While in the car, the Black teens were listening to loud hip-hop music when 46-year-old Michael Dunn and his fiancée entered the parking lot. Dunn pulled in next to the car of teens, despite the noise level of the music and the fact there were multiple available parking spaces. Dunn admitted a disdain for rap music and expressed his displeasure by stating to his fiancée, “I hate that thug music” (as cited in Hepburn et al., 2015). According to witness statements, Dunn asked the young men to turn the music level down and one of the passengers complied (Hepburn et al., 2015). However, Jordan became upset, cursed at Dunn, and increased the volume again. After another verbal exchange with Jordan, Dunn opened fire on the vehicle of unarmed teens and continued to fire upon the vehicle as the teens tried to flee to 66 66 safety as seen in Figure 5. During the 3 1/2 minute altercation, 10 bullets were fired into the Dodge Durango, with three striking and killing Davis (Dickerson, 2015; Hepburn et al., 2015). Though the interpretations of the facts differ between Dunn’s account and that of the victims, it is undisputed that after the hail of gunfire Jordan lay dying while Dunn left the scene to return to his motel to eat pizza and rest before heading back home the next day, even after learning that he fatally shot an unarmed teen (Milner, 2013).

Figure 5. The vehicle Jordan was a passanger in after the shooting.

Dunn would later state that Jordan threatened him and brandished a weapon, which caused him to fire upon the vehicle. No weapon was ever found in the vehicle or in any of the surrounding areas where Dunn claimed the teens stashed it (Morial, 2014). McBath vehemently denied that Jordan or any of the occupants of the car would have had a gun because Jordan had a strong dislike for guns, as he and a friend were once held at gunpoint at a convenience store after going off campus for lunch (Coates, 2014a). McBath claimed Jordan said, “I’ve never been afraid of much in my life, but I was just praying to Jesus. I thought I was going to die over my wallet and there was nothing in it” (as cited in Coates, 2014a, para. 25). Perhaps the same despair that Jordan felt at the thought of losing 67 67 his life over an empty wallet was much of what he felt at the prospect of an untimely death over words. A typical teen, Jordan would test the limits as many youngsters often do, but all who knew Jordan claim that he was a funny, giving, and loving person, as seen in Figure 6. Davis said, “I used to tell my son to be home at 10:30, and you know teenagers, they take that to the last minute. So every time at 10:29, I’d hear his keys in the door” (Oluo, 2015, para. 21). By all accounts, Jordan and his friends were good kids with no criminal record. Further, Davis explains his disheartenment, “He wasn’t in a bad neighborhood. He was five minutes away from home. It wasn’t late at night. It was 7:40 in the evening. He was with his good friends, all good boys” (Hepburn et al., 2015). The stark reality that echoes in the hearts and memories of the Black community is: no matter where you go and what you do, the color of your skin does not change. The inherent threat of the repercussions for being Black in America does not change, as the phobia toward blackness persists in American civil society.

Figure 6. Selfie Jordan posted to social media.

This truth once again establishes the need for the Talk with Black male youth within the community. Solidifying the lived reality for Black youth in America, Oluo (2015) stated: 68 68

The story of a White man who became so angry at the impertinence of four Black teens that he fired 10 bullets into their SUV came to horrify the nation. Black parents clutched their children tightly as they watched Jordan’s parents, Ron Davis and Lucia McBath, face the loss both unimaginable and horribly familiar. The whole tragedy served to emphasize the constantly present threat of losing our black children to a world that seems out to get them. (para. 4) The devastation and despair of Black parents who love and lose their children is a pain central to their own personal loss, but it is also shared, mourned, and remembered publicly. The depth of parental mourning and despair becomes possible to weave into the fabric of future iterations of The Talk. If Jordan was guilty of anything on that fateful night, he was guilty of not remembering that he was a Black male in America, as his parents had reminded him many times before.

Jordan’s Talk Jordan’s Talk included prohibited behaviors, and it contained a lot of information regarding how to be a good person and transitioning to a responsible man. The discussion that McBath and Davis had with Jordan were centered around current examples of Black youth being killed by the police and Whites. Admittedly, Jacksonville was much different from the suburban life Jordan lived in his cul-de-sac home in Atlanta. Though his living arrangements in Jacksonville, Florida were as spacious and comfortable as those in Georgia, there was an obvious shift in mentality (Harris, 2016; Milner, 2013). Indeed, there was an openness and acceptance of Black affluence and excellence present in the sprawling suburbs of Georgia that were not present in the “Stand Your Ground” state of Florida. McBath said that she was aware of the normal cautionary rules to 69 69 discuss with Jordan about survival in America as a Black man; however, she was ignorant of the laws that made it increasingly easy to justifiably murder Black men using the controversial Stand Your Ground defenses. Lucia said: I knew what was happening in the country. But I spent more time trying to prepare Jordan to be safe, specifically being a young Black male. I monitored who he was with and what he did. And I had those discussions with him. (as cited in Coates, 2014a, para. 3) Once again, the differences in the treatment of Blacks in America, and specifically males, requires a constant reminder to Black sons that they are Black. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic between Jordan’s Talk and Emmett’s would be the social constraints in which they were constructed. Jamieson (1975) established that the antecedent of a genre is based on the rhetorical constraints, stating, “Indeed, where immediate circumstances may seem clearly to solicit a certain form of rhetorical response, it is sometimes a different, even incompatible form that comes, through stubborn habituation, to rhetorical expressions” (p. 406). With this assumption, one may identify how the genre dictates the rhetoric, informed by the antecedent and not simply the rhetorical situation. Therefore, as Till-Mobley, Davis, and McBath shared access to antecedents defining the generic qualities of The Talk, and fitting response. In a world of seeming progress towards racial healing and tolerance, Jordan was taught to be aware of his Blackness but to take advantage of the ability to stand up and speak for himself (Coates, 2014c). Indeed, unlike Emmett, who was cautioned to remain silent and demure in the presence of Whiteness, Jordan was raised to know he could be and was just as good as anyone else. McBath fears that it was those many talks where she encouraged Jordan to speak out against wrong that may have led to Jordan’s 70 70 subsequent murder, as he was unaware of the social constraints when addressing White people (Coates, 2014b). Yes, Jordan indeed did mouth off to Dunn; however, it was not a crime to play loud music, nor was it a crime to verbally argue with someone else. However, the life-ending mistake that Jordan made was daring to stand up for himself against someone who felt he was entitled and due respect. Teaching Jordan to speak up for himself during The Talk haunts McBath, who shared: In my mind I keep saying, “Had he not spoke back, spoke up, would he still be here?” I don't know. But I do know that Jordan was Jordan to the end. I think Jordan was defending his friends. “We’re not bothering you. We don’t know you. You don’t know us. Why can’t we play our music as loud as we want?” (as cited in Coates, 2014b, para. 7) Till-Mobley and McBath might have differed in specifics of the Talk content, however, the historic positionality of Black males in America resulted in feelings of guilt and eternal questions that will never be resolved for McBath, who failed to caution Jordan about being too outspoken. Till-Mobley also felt guilty for not talking with Emmett about racism as a result of being complacent because they lived in Chicago. Jordan’s mother is not left alone to replay The Talk that Jordan was given on a continual loop in her mind. Ronald Davis is haunted by what may have been his son’s final thought during his dying, shallow breaths. Davis engaged in multiple conversations with his son about his hopes, dreams, and future aspirations, all while encouraging Jordan to embrace manhood and his personal potential without dwelling on his Blackness. He urged Jordan to remain aware and vigilant in the face of it (Hepburn et al., 2015). Davis wondered: 71 71

At some point after he was drawing his last breaths, he probably thought about what Dad was saying to him. “Watch what you say. Take care of yourself because there are people out there that will do things that they should not do.” (as cited in Hepburn et al., 2015) What a horrible reality for Davis. Instead of wishing that his son was not in pain as he lingered between mortality and death, he is haunted by what must have been the echoes of conversations past about what can happen to Black men in America that troubled Jordan’s dying soul. Near the end of Jordan’s life, much of The Talk was centered around the memories and death of another 17-year-old Floridian, Trayvon Martin, and the acquittal of his murderer, George Zimmerman (Coates, 2014c; Hepburn et al., 2015). Davis said that Jordan was deeply affected by Martin’s death and even thought he bore an uncanny resemblance to Trayvon when placing a hoodie on his head. McBath said: Jordan kept saying, “Mom, that could have been me. Mom, that could have been me.” We talked at length… He said, “He didn't even do anything wrong.” And I told him, “Jordan, you don’t have to be doing anything wrong. You are a young black male and they [there] are certain people who will never give you respect.” (as cited in Coates, 2014c, para. 19) When McBath used the word “never,” it is interwoven with a public memory of continued disrespect for the simple humanity that Black men should inherently possess. Casey (2004) stated, “Subject to revision and even replacement a given public memory may be, some significant such memory will always persist” (p. 30). Consequently, the public memory of Black male mortality is so salient to the Black community that one is lead to believe historically it is the acceptable practice and will continue to be. 72 72

Coming from an environment where Blacks were affluent and difference and “otherness” of the black body was celebrated could have potentially been the downfall for Davis. Perhaps the failure of Jordan to comprehend and/or remember that his outspokenness was acceptable and appreciated in Atlanta, but unwelcome in Florida, may have cost him the ultimate price. Coates (2014b) stated, “I thought of Emmett Till, who was slaughtered for not comprehending the rules. For failing to distinguish Chicago, Illinois, from Money, Mississippi. For believing that there was one America, and it was his country” (para 16). The conflict over whose America we live in rages on today and continues to shape Black public memory, producing uncertainty about the future.

The Second Death: Character Assassination As the murder of Jordan Davis gained traction in the local and national headlines, once again the fragile, ever-active fault lines of race in America began to quake. The news media framed the murder of Jordan Davis as “The Loud Music Case”; however, one cannot ignore the fact that Davis was an unarmed Black teen and Dunn was an adult White man. Adding to the exasperation and despair of the family of Jordan Davis and outraged Black community was the callousness of Dunn and his lack of remorse or empathy. Even after the police established that the teens were unarmed with clean records, Dunn still insisted that the boys were gangsters and fatherless, both racist and incorrect generalizations (Hepburn et al., 2015). It is impossible to ignore the vital role that television, social media, and print media played in the aftermath of Jordan’s murder. Dunn’s defense team attempted to deflect claims of race being a factor in the shooting, and legally, race could not be argued during the trial, as was the case with the trial of Zimmerman 73 73 in 2013 (Hepburn et al., 2015; Obama, 2013). The framing of the murder by news media presented a conundrum for the public. According to Oliver et al. (2004), “It is important to keep in mind that media consumption is an active process, with viewers’ existing attitudes and beliefs playing a large role in how images are attended to, interpreted, and remembered” (p. 89). Some chose to focus on the altercation over music, yet others could not escape the similarities between the circumstances of Jordan’s murder and Trayvon Martin’s. Many Whites and Blacks alike connected the most recent death of Martin to more classic examples of unjustified violence against Black men that cannot be erased from the annals of public memory. The influence of news media was evident in the characterization the victim and villain in this tragic story, but ultimately, traumatic race memories prevailed and the majority of the public rejected any narrative of Jordan’s murder where race was absent (Kligler-Vilenchik et al., 2014; Porter & Peace, 2007). How can Blacks escape the prevailing public memory of justification of Black death by White assailants when it keeps reoccurring? After the hung jury in Dunn’s first trial on the count of murder, Weathersbee (2014) claimed: What the verdict says is that in this nation, in the 21st century, some White men still believe they have the right to intrude into the space of young black men and make demands. And if a young black man is unarmed — with no weapon except his words —those White men can still [emphasis added] kill him and call it self-defense. (para. 22) Once again, Weathersbee established the ongoing practice of White men being acquitted of killing Black men for talking back, as in the case of Milam and Roy Bryant, George Zimmerman, and initially Michael Dunn. It is impossible to ignore Dunn’s insolence even after being convicted of Jordan’s murder in a second trial. Dunn claimed: 74 74

It’s absurd! Everything is absurd! It’s like I’m the fucking victim here! It’s 100% on, uh, Jordan. 100%. I, I don’t even take a half a percent. I mean, he-he made that happen. But – you know, maybe – maybe he would have killed somebody if it hadn’t been me. (as cited in Hepburn et al., 2015) Dunn failing to understand that, regardless of guilt or blame, a young man’s life was needlessly taken is indicative of the deep-rooted privilege and entitlement he has as a White male. Vilifying Jordan in death is a means to absolve himself of the treachery of his own acts (Ohl & Potter, 2013). The murders of both Emmett and Jordan remove age from the conversation and focus on purported wrongdoing by the decedents to further dehumanize them in death and distract from the heinousness of their deaths. Institutionalized oppression deepens the racial divide in America when society fails or refuses to acknowledge practices that further alienate marginalized communities. Obama (2013) acknowledged the push and pull of racial harmony in America stating: I don’t want us to lose sight that things are getting better. Each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race. It doesn’t mean we are in a post-racial society. It doesn’t mean racism is eliminated. (para. 36) It is unfair to assume that race is always at the heart of conflict between blacks and Whites; however, to assume it is not is an equal mistake.

Remembering Jordan Like Till-Mobley, Davis and McBath found the importance of keeping their son’s name alive through a memorial. By establishing the Walk with Jordan Scholarship Foundation, McBath and Davis are encouraging the public, 75 75 specifically young Black males, not to forget what happened to Jordan (Gerber, 2007). McBath says she seeks to mentor young men similar to Jordan, who may not be headed to Ivy League colleges but are genuinely good kids. She shared, “Like Jordan — average kids who may never receive funding and mentoring to become champions in the making. That’s Jordan’s legacy. The biggest teacher I’ve ever had about how to walk out my faith has been my child” (as cited in Harris, 2016, para. 26). Part of the healing process is altering a part of the public memory of their son through the foundation, not simply focusing on how Jordan died but on how he lived. They had no control over how Jordan died, but McBath and Davis are influencing the way he is remembered. The Walk with Jordan Foundation is extremely significant when considering the mode of memorial being used. The foundation provides myriad services to young black males, as McBath and Davis are agents within a coalition motivated by bringing awareness to gun laws, legislative issues, and Black male mortality. Unlike a static memorial that is stationary, the foundation, through its website, has a greater reach and is a constant reminder not to forget all of the unjust practices within America that are implicated in Jordan’s death. Also, the memorial allows Jordan’s parents to reclaim the memory of their son from mainstream media depictions presenting him as a victim, transforming the memory to feature their kind-hearted son. Through the memorial foundation, McBath has reached out to and come in contact with many young men. Though McBath is the biological mother of one, she now mothers many through the foundation. The young men that she befriends as she travels the country fill a void in McBath. McBath says, “They call for advice and encouragement. I feel like I’m drafting them and helping them find the space to do what they need to do the way they need to do it, but to help preserve 76 76 their lives” (as cited in Harris, 2016, para. 26). In essence, “Mama Lucy,” as she is affectionately called by the young surrogates, continues to provide The Talk to other young Black men as she did for Jordan. Now, McBath and Davis maintain the genre of The Talk influenced by the antecedent of Till-Mobley but adding their own personal loss and tragedy to their cautionary tales.

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

Implications Technological power and domination have been the fundamental tools of control by the dominant culture. According to Foucault (1995), He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection. (p. 202) Consequently, everyone in civil society in America is not inherently bad; however, they possess privilege that sometimes even they do not understand. In conjunction, there are those who are fully aware of their power to name and subjectively objectify others, as is the case with the early architects of American government and society. According to Fanon (2008), “The Negro enslaved by his inferiority, the White by his superiority alike behave in accordance with neurotic orientation” (p. xxvii). The dominating founders created social and governmental structures within America that began by establishing who was allowed to speak, be heard, and even who could be identified as a human being. The African American is expected to maintain and function within those original pre-proscribed structures. America was never structured for African American males to converse with Whites as equals, which is the fundamental reason for The Talk. The Talk has been, and will always be, needed because civil society is unwilling to address the systemic root cause of Black positionality in America (Wilderson, Spatzek, & von Gleich, 2016). Civil society does not accept responsibility for its actions that have caused trauma and influenced public 78 78 memory. Full acknowledgment of the historical legacies of oppression and maltreatment of African Americans could possibly open a door to talking about ways to counter institutionalized racism, disproportionate sentencing, and racial profiling. For example, when African Americans began to cry “Black Lives Matter” in response to brutality against bodies of color and systematic oppression, the response was to counter with “All Lives Matter.” In contrast, if the response were to affirm Black Lives Matter, civil society would acknowledge that Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddy Gray, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling, Walter Scott, and Philando Castile, among many others, all mattered and their murders were unjustified. Once again, civil society has usurped controls of knowledge and power, as they attempt to refocus the discussion from the reason why the slogan was needed to a game of semantics. Furthermore, The Talk is necessary because civil society, which regulates knowledge and “truth,” often engages in selective amnesia; yet it propels what matters in public memory. We are asked to remember American lives lost serving the country and the September 11th terror attacks. However, the response to African Americans who remind others of America’s mistreatment of African Americans during slavery, though Jim Crow, and into contemporary times are often encouraged not to dwell on the past and move forward. It is dangerous to forget America’s propensity for violence against black bodies. The danger in forgetting the brutality of lynching and murder of black men is manifested in police unleashing militarized tanks on the people Ferguson, Missouri and Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which disproportionately favors Whites over Blacks. Moreover, The Talk is always necessary because the Black body is perpetually the site of violence (Wilderson, 2003). A young Black man does not have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to be killed. Walking down the 79 79 street in his own neighborhood, Trayvon Martin was murdered. Riding in the car with his fiancée and young daughter, Philando Castile was murdered. While in church and teaching Bible study, Reverend Clementa Pickeney was murdered. Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Shawn Bell, Amir Brooks, Ezell Ford, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Dante Parker, Akai Gurley, Jermal Reid, Eric Harris, Freddie Gray, Sean Bell, John Crawford III, Oscar Grant and Ramain Brisbon were all unarmed Black men murdered by police (Quah & Davis, 2015). Unfortunately, that list is not nearly exhaustive. Like Emmett and Jordan, none of these Black men were seeking to find death on the days they were murdered, but death found them with the assistance of White men who took their lives, each feeling justified in doing so. As the parent of a Black man, the burden becomes telling your son that he can be killed without doing anything because, for some, simply his Black skin is a violation.

The Talk Enumerated The internal dynamic binding The Talk is the content of the communicative exchange, which is rooted in the need of self-preservation for African Americans. The need for self-preservation is the rhetorical thread that recurs within Black communities throughout time. Though there is not a particular script The Talk must follow, this study finds the three following defining features within The Talk:  Concern for the person. It was quite evident that Till-Mobley loved her son, just as Davis and McBath loved Jordan, which motivated The Talk. Although parents ordinarily initiate The Talk with their children, grandparents, teachers, clergy, mentors, and friends may also reiterate the content of The Talk. Anyone within the Black community may 80 80

initiate The Talk with an individual based on true concern for their life, health, and well-being. After Emmett and Jordan were murdered, their parents continued to give The Talk to others, concerned that others could meet the same fate as their sons.  A cautionary tale. Parents often include an exemplar of someone that was hurt or killed as a result of making a life-ending social violation. Till-Mobley included the cautionary tale that her parents provided her with in her talk with Emmett. Jordan often engaged in conversations with his parents regarding the death of Trayvon Martin, which was his cautionary tale. Consequently, Emmett and Jordan are used as cautionary tales to others with the hope that their tragic lives prevent others from making the same violations.  Potential violations. The Talk must identify and clearly name the social violations that should not be broken. This portion of The Talk is often contextualized as a list of violations not to be breached, personal conduct directives, or a list of “dos and don’ts” for African American interactions within American civil society. For example, Till-Mobley clearly told Emmitt not to address White women. Similarly, Jordan’s father often reminded him to be careful of what he said to others. Additional directives may include but are not limited to: do not wear a hoodie, never ask questions when pulled over by the police, always comply when under arrest, and never leave a store without a bag and receipt after making a purchase. 81 81 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research The scope of this study is limited to two exemplars of The Talk. There are many iterations of The Talk, including numerous contemporary ones considering the alarming number of Black males being killed by law enforcement and ordinary White citizens engaging in racial profiling. Possibly, the circumstances and constraints for each iteration may have an effect on the subsequent analysis. Next, the analysis is rhetorical analysis of antecedent exemplars. Other modes of inquiry could further illuminate the genre of The Talk. Interviews, participant studies, and questionnaires would provide more empirical results. Participant information could provide additional contextualization for The Talk and identify other generic markers, based on individual responses. Additionally, this analysis focuses on Black males only. This analysis establishes The Talk as a genre; however, does not address daughters who also receive The Talk, yet it is a foundational conversation within the family and not limited to male children. The Black body is perpetually the site of violence, and that body is not gendered but rather objectified; violence may be enacted on any Black body regardless of color or gender. (Fanon, 2008). Further study is needed regarding how The Talk manifests with Black female children; women were lynched, as in the case of Mary Turner, and recent victims of murder by White people, as is the case of Renisha McBride. This study focusses on public memory; future research on collective memory may provide more information when understanding how an entire group of people function within society based on collective trauma. For example, when exploring the Civil Rights Movement, depictions of church bombings, water hoses, and dogs being released upon African Americans shaped the social 82 82 memories made within the community that may not be a part of public memory as a whole. Finally, the focus of this analysis is on African American parent-child discussions only. It does not seek out practices of other marginalized communities to determine if there are similar discussions that occur. This study has established that civil society enacts power and control through legal practices, leading to institutionalized racism that would affect African Americans, but also anyone who is not White. Future research could extend the analysis to include one or more marginalized groups, based on race or self-identification, to add depth. Most importantly, comparing and contrasting experiences from many people can illuminate the experience of one.

Closing Thoughts Talk is an established and long-running practice within the African American community. However, there has been very little scholarly research and analysis conducted on the practice. African American communication phenomena deserves more in-depth study. By better understanding the influence of history and culture on African Americans, scholars could account for variance within empirical research and contextualize the variation in data from African American participants, transforming them from an outlier to a qualifier within the results. According to Festinger (1956): Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief, that he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong: what will 83 83

happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. (p. 3) This fundamental Black communication practice needs to be studied. The mainstream acknowledges the legitimacy and cultural significance of The Talk, and it is time for academia to follow suit. The Talk was birthed out of necessity as a way to negotiate the gratuitous violence enacted up the Black body as a means of domination and control. Wilderson et al. (2016) stated, “What the slave receives is a kind of violence that is necessary not to produce a certain kind of behavior, but to give the other people not receiving this gratuitous violence a sense of stability in their own lives” (p. 14). The Talk will always be a necessity, as when Whites feel their power challenged, they maintain balance by dominating the Black body. Such was the case for Michael Dunn when Jordan Davis dared to stand up to him and not comply, and with Roy Bryant and J.W. Milan when they alleged that Emmett Till whistled at Carol Bryant. The Talk does not encourage African American males to become subservient to Whites in an attempt to stay alive, though that may have been part of the intentions for the earliest iterations of The Talk. However, African Americans now live in a society that has made many strides toward racial justice, but African Americans have never historically, nor currently, been equal to Whites. Because the eternal thread that America was first stitched with was spun using White supremacist spindles, The Talk will be needed as long as America exists. Times may change, but the color of a Black man’s skin will not; the dominant ideology will change, but it may never fully eradicate racism or the comparative disposability of the Black body, as all people live embodied within not just our skin but our experiences (Dyson, 2016). 84 84

Currently, African American parents are presented with the quandary of rendering The Talk amid purported racial progress, while being ever mindful of the reoccurring situation of Black death. Coates (2014b) addressed the conundrum that The Talk presents for African American parents: I think these talks that we have with our sons — how to address the police, how not to be intimidating to White people, how to live among the singularly plundered — kill certain parts of them which are as wonderful as anything. I think the very tools which allow us to walk through the world, crush our wings and dash the dream of flight. (para. 1) However, if African American parents discontinue The Talk with their sons, the risk of someone else killing their physical body is far greater than the parent possibly extinguishing the idealized naiveté within their existential spirit. African Americans cannot forget the memories that pervade their existence in this America, just as they cannot escape the color of their skin. African American parents do not have The Talk with their sons to live in the past; they talk with their sons because even if others refuse to acknowledge it, their lives have value. Race is an issue in America not because African Americans have made it one, but because others have.

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