The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi

The general point made by William Bradford Huie in his work The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi is that people approve of things that would disapproved being done as long as they are done to people that are different than they are.  More specifically, Huie suggests that because Emmett Till was a black boy and therefore was different than “everyone else” that it was accepted as just and correct that he was killed for simply making a pass at a white woman.  He writes, “Once Roy Bryant knew, in his environment, in the opinion of most white people around him, for him to have done nothing would have marked him for a coward and a fool”  (page 604).  In this passage, Huie is suggesting that because of the culture that Roy Bryant lived in, in which blacks were looked down upon as a lower class of people, that him not going after Emmett for making a pass at his wife would have been seen as inappropriate.  In conclusion, it is Huie’s belief that when people are different than we are we do not give them the same rights that we would give to people that are similar in appearance and behavior to ourselves.

            In my view, Huie is right because we are constantly confronted by people who are different from ourselves, whether in appearance or in beliefs, and we often treat them differently based upon those differences.  For example, for much of our own American history we have shown our intolerance of those who are different from ourselves by looking down upon those people and refusing them many of the rights we give to those like ourselves.  Although Huie might object that this is not true for all cultures throughout the world, I maintain that we are very similar in our biases as humans and we all treat those who our different than we are often rather intolerantly.  Therefore, I conclude that we should all attempt to set aside our cultural and personal biases towards those who are different than ourselves and try to become more willing to accept those differences and realize the benefits of the diversity we have in society.

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