Keepin' It Real

Keepin' It Real

In his forward to Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case, author Chris Crowe reveals that, for decades, he had never heard of Emmett Till. That’s more than a little strange. You don’t have to look very deeply into civil rights history to find the name, Emmett Till. 

Crowe, a Brigham Young University English professor, goes on to document the enormous amount of national and international attention Till’s case garnered. Incorporated into his text are several primary sources which prove that the events surrounding the 14-year old Black child’s murder were so hotly discussed and debated in the media that the case -- as Crowe himself concludes -- "galvanized Blacks all over the United States and set the stage for the civil rights movement to begin."

So at some point, Professor Crowe had to have found it strange that, somehow, he remained oddly in the dark about the most infamous act of racial violence in American history. But obviously, Crowe was not so disturbed by the disconnect that it altered his plan to tell Emmett Till's story.

Nonfiction, as a metacognitive catalyst, is distinct from fiction, principally due to its authority – that is to say, the trust and "willing suspension of disbelief" required for the direct conversation a nonfiction author has with his or her reader.

  
Everyone is free to make up their own story and sell it to the highest bidder. Either people buy it and find truth in it, or they don’t. But who has the right to relay the truth of a story that really happened? Who has the right to sell someone else’s life story? Do I even have the right to sell my own life story – if the plot involves naming names and making other people look bad?

These and other QUESTIONS guide my examination of Chris Crowe's narrative nonfiction book and the larger issues surrounding adolescent nonfiction.

Should literary critics, award judges and other
book evaluators separate YA nonfiction from
YA fiction – in the same way that documentaries
are judged differently than dramatic films?

Nonfiction activates metacognition in a very different way than fiction. While the aesthetic pleasure of poems and novels prompt interaction with concepts (strategies), nonfiction appeals to the utilitarian aesthetic of the efferent reader, inviting interaction with process (tactics). In A Universe of Information: The Future of Nonfiction, Betty Carter speaks of "the nonfiction books that guide the reader's thinking through a particular pattern."

Carter observed in her research that teens used nonfiction texts as "models for structuring their own thinking." In this way, while reading a book about card tricks, a teen may come to understand something about friendship. A book on football can provoke a realization about human behavior. The best of YA nonfiction is written with this metacognitive potentiality in mind. "Aware of the kinds of personal connections youngsters search for in their reading," Carter explains, "fine nonfiction authors foster associations between writer and reader by providing direction for thinking or doing."

Having reviewed Chris Crowe’s Getting Away with Murder, I'm forced to ask: What was he thinking?

While Crowe says his book serves to inform young people about a critical moment in the history of the American civil rights struggle, it must simultaneously serve as a model of how research is properly organized, analyzed and synthesized to create a convincing narrative of the truth -- that’s where Crowe falls short. Despite the well-written prose and glossy photos, Crowe’s facts are what lead to his nuanced narrative.  If his facts are wrong, then his narrative belongs in the category of fiction.

Considering the specific vulnerabilities and
developmental needs of teens and young adults,
should creative narrative nonfiction – as opposed
to traditional nonfiction formats and standards --
be acknowledged and approached as a wholly
separate type of YA literature?

Young people are often painfully aware of the social world and their place within it. Nonfiction books can be a life-line to America’s increasingly multicultural youth. Nonfiction addresses the central -- "Who Am I?" -- adolescent developmental marker in a way that novels, comic books and poetry simply cannot. The challenge of course, is to present valid, scholarly subject matter using inventive language and formats that will appeal to teenagers.

From cookbooks and Karate manuals to sex education texts, personal development and how-to nonfiction can be particularly effective in addressing the insecurity and feelings of vulnerability associated with adolescence. Along with books that build confidence through practical explanation -- histories, biographies and other sorts of general nonfiction can provide a young person with an empowering sense of expertise.

When a nonfiction teen publication is factually
incorrect, purposely misleading, poorly researched
or culturally incompetent -- do librarians, literary
critics, and other YAL-connected professionals have a
responsibility to recognize errors and reject the book?

Getting Away with Murder contains several factual errors. On page 47, Crowe captures the excitement of Emmett Till’s train ride to Mississippi with his Uncle Moses Wright and cousin, Curtis Jones. However, that's not what happened. By all credible accounts, Till traveled with Moses Wright and Wheeler Parker -- not Curtis Jones. Researcher, Devery Anderson notes: "Moses and Wheeler would take the train together, and Curtis would come the following week."

Considering decades of controversy about Jones, his exact date of arrival in Mississippi is certainly an important detail in the telling of Emmett Till’s story.

On page 55, Crowe recounts how Curtis Jones was sitting in front of Bryant’s Grocery Store playing checkers with an old man who, in response to Emmett Till’s misbehavior, yelled at the boys, saying Carol Bryant would "blow your brains out." However, since Jones traveled to Mississippi several days after Emmett Till, he cannot have witnessed Till’s supposed "wolf whistle" or inappropriate words. Jones did not hear an elderly bystander yell in reaction to Emmett Till’s alleged misbehavior.

Crowe misidentifies some key trial participants in the photograph on page 119 -- and throughout the book, he misspells the last name of A. A. Rayner, a funeral director who figures prominently in the story, repeatedly referring to him as "Rainer."

In this new information age, the traditional
gatekeepers are gone. Who or what will take
their place? And how does this affect the future
of YA nonfiction literature?

Chris Crowe readily acknowledges his multiple errors, and in a recent email exchange, Crowe explained his mistakes:

"Thank for catching these errors.  I'm especially embarrased [sic] by the misspelling of 'Rainer.'  . . . There are some additional errors in the text, some that I couldn't have known when I was working on the book because the full story of the crime and trial weren't available then."

Professor Crowe published his True Story of the Emmett Till Case in 2003. Curtis Jones publicly recanted his statements in 1985. A quick search using Google located an interview that Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, gave to the Chicago Tribune in 1999. She is quoted saying, "Curtis Jones had not yet even arrived in Mississippi . . . Every statement he made about being on the scene was a falsehood."

The truth is, until a few years prior to writing Emmett Till’s story, Chris Crowe had never heard it. He was so caught off guard by his total ignorance of this seminal event – he set out to repeat the story, presumably to spare others the embarrassment of not knowing about the 14-year-old that changed a nation. Unfortunately, Crowe is repeating lies.

If the full story was not available to Crowe, it's strange he chose to tell it. But it goes way beyond weird that this university researcher in Utah chose to tell the tale of a Black teenager in Mississippi using the emotion-provoking format of a story -- filling in factual blanks with his own conclusions. This level of cultural incompetence -- printed, published and permanently placed on library shelves -- borders on slander.

In truth, there is no evidence to prove, nor any reason to believe Emmett Till let out with a suggestive "wolf whistle," or that the happy-go-lucky boy grabbed or threatened Carol Bryant in any way. Crowe however, seems to accept the "wolf whistle" as fact. This is not a minor point. It goes to the truth of Emmett Till’s upbringing, his good sense, and the truth of his character.

Similarly, Crowe seems to trust the word of Emmett Till’s murderers when they describe the boy’s behavior during their kidnapping. Crowe’s lengthy Look Magazine quote of killers, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam -- depicting Till as combative and defiant throughout the violent ordeal -- goes unchallenged in the book. Not only is such behavior out of character for the Emmett Till described in Crowe’s own pages, it’s difficult to believe any child would continue to bait his tormentors throughout hours and hours of abuse. It’s far more likely the confessed killers were attempting to blame the victim for the crime -- essentially suggesting that Emmett Till committed suicide by maintaining an uppity attitude, relentlessly mouthing off, and daring the men to kill him.

"I've forwarded all these to my editor for insertion in a new edition," Crowe offers. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure when a new edition will come out.  It might make sense to release an updated and corrected edition on the 10th anniversary of the book in a couple years."

No, waiting for the 10th anniversary of getting away with falsehoods in a book sold as YA nonfiction does not make sense. Emmett Till is a larger than life, legendary folk hero and holds a special place in the hearts of scores of African Americans. Born July 25, 1941, had he survived to tell his own story, Till would be celebrating his 70th birthday next month.

While I appreciate Crowe’s stated purpose -- to keep alive the memory of Emmett Till – that does not justify the telling of a story by someone who does not know it. Considering his admirable writing skills, I would look forward to reading Chris Crowe’s investigation into why he had never become aware of such a pivotal case, how he got the research so wrong once he had become aware, and the insights his new critical analysis reveal about the true story and true character of Emmett Louis Till.

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