Riviera Beach, Fla. – At 91 years of age, the oldest living relative of Emmett Till said she still vividly recalls everything about her cousin. She recalls when he was born, and when he died a gruesome death in Mississippi at the age of 14 in 1955.

“When he was born, I pinned diapers on him,” said Mother Thelma, as she’s affectionately called. “I was right there with Mamie (Till), his mother.

And when he died, everything stopped. I cried and cried and cried.”

Edwards honored her cousin’s legacy as the Juneteenth guest of honor at New Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Riviera Beach, where Emmett was inducted into the church’s Black Lives Matter movement parking lot with a red concrete parking stop bearing his name.

Edwards unveiled the stop by pulling off the brown paper thereby revealing the name. Others who have been similarly honored in the church’s BLM cor-

ridor include the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and Corey Jones. The parking stops’ red color signifies the blood shed in their brutal deaths.

It was the bed at Edwards’ father’s house from which Emmett was abducted, shot in the head, beaten and lynched. It was her father, Moses Wright, who also testified at the trial and pointed out the two White men who burst into his house and kidnapped Emmett.

Mother Thelma, then 24, was still living in Chicago, where Emmett was residing prior to his mother sending him to Mississippi for the summer. That’s where the teenager was murdered, reportedly for whistling at a White woman in a grocery store.

“It seems to be so much hate in this world,” said the soft spoken, demure Mother Thelma. “And it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.”

She resides in Ocala, but said she still travels widely speaking on behalf of Emmett’s legacy. She took a fall recently, slipping on a bathroom floor and therefore is a bit slower, she said, but has no plans to stop. “I really am so blessed,” she added regarding her health.

Riviera Beach Mayor Ronnie Felder issued a proclamation declaring “Emmett Till Day on Behalf of Thelma Wright Edwards.” State Sen. Bobby Powell issued the same from his office, as did the Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners. State Rep. Jervonte Edmonds, the keynote speaker, noted that despite the passing of the years, the world is filled with brutal murders, particularly of Black men and some Black women. That, he said, must change.

There was poets, rappers and others on the program to greet Edwards. She was also presented with a commemorative blanket emblazoned with a picture of her and Emmett.

Attorney Varisa Dass, Port of Palm Beach Commission candidate, said it was an honor to present the personalized blanket. Bishop Harold Calvin Ray, founder of Redemptive Life Palm Beach church, spoke on behalf of Palm Beach County Clergy. A handful of political candidates also were on hand or gave remarks.

Bishop Thomas Masters, senior pastor, host and founder of the project, said it was important to have Emmett Till enshrined in the BLM parking lot.

“It was a historical day,” said Masters, who alluded to President Joseph Biden’s March 29 signing of the Emmett Till Antilynching Law making lynching a hate crime.

“In the backdrop of the signing of the Emmett Till bill, in the backdrop of Juneteenth, and in the backdrop of Father’s Day, this was among one of the nation’s greatest occurrences ever, right here in Riviera Beach at New Macedonia,” Masters said. He added that Black lives mattered when Till was lynched in 1955 just as they matter today.

Mother Thelma told a local TV station that her message to Till today would be to “keep looking up. Change is going to come. It’s going to take time."