National monument honoring Emmett Till at risk of removal from Trump's DEI initiatives, budget cuts
Tallahatchie County, Mississippi — There are 138 National Monuments across the U.S., but for the first time in nearly 100 years, they're eligible to be sold for parts.
This Juneteenth, some of the protected lands in jeopardy commemorate important moments in American civil rights history, including some newer monuments like the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument.
"We are seeing this effort to erase and reverse history and historic preservation," said historian Alan Spears, senior director of cultural resources and government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association. "This is turning quickly into a dream deferred."
Spears advocated for years, alongside several community members, to get federal protections for the areas in Mississippi and Chicago that tell the story of Emmett Till — a 14-year-old Chicago boy who was kidnapped in the middle of the night and brutally lynched in 1955 after reportedly whistling at a White woman while visiting family in Mississippi.
"His badly decomposed body was taken from the water, and officials in this area wanted to have him buried immediately to sort of get rid of the evidence," Spears explained. "His mother insisted that he'd be sent back to Chicago, where they had an open casket funeral. And images of Till's badly decomposed body in that open casket really sparked the modern civil rights movement."
Protections to preserve this history finally came in 2023, when a monument consisting of two sites in Mississippi and one in Illinois, was designated by former President Joe Biden.
One site is located at Graball Landing along the Tallahatchie River near Glendora, Mississippi, where Till's body was found. The second is at the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where his confessed killers were found not guilty by an all-White jury. The third is located at Chicago's Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, where Till's funeral was held.
Spears says he and his colleagues have been working to expand the monument, not remove or shrink it.
"Let's make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else's son ever again," Spears said.
But just as the stroke of a president's pen preserved these areas, it could now take them away.
A legal opinion released by the Justice Department earlier this month gives presidents the ability to revoke or shrink certain national monuments for the first time since the 1930s. The opinion comes as part of a movement against diversity, equity and inclusion, with some land reportedly under consideration to be used for mineral extractions.
It's not just national monuments that are at risk. Under newly proposed budget cuts for the National Park Service of nearly $1 billion, Spears says more than 300 park sites would be forced to shut down. Those budget cuts could also potentially see the closure of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, according to Spears and former National Park Service Director Chuck Sams.
"It's like amputating an arm for a hangnail. It's a complete overreaction," Spears says.
Sams says the agency has lost 13% of its staff already since he left his post earlier this year.
Sams was involved in the designation of five different National Monuments signed by Biden, including the Till monument. He says if the monument were to close, it would be "very sad and egregious."
"People don't like to look at their past when it shows a negative light of who we are, and I can understand that nobody likes to look at their own personal past that may have a negative light, but we also know that in order to learn from our own history, we also have to learn from our past mistakes,' Sams told CBS News. "And we, as Americans, have never been actually scared to do so, and I don't think we should be now. We look at our past, and we know that from our past mistakes that we have become stronger."
Currently, the Chuckwalla National Monument and Sáttítla Highlands National Monument — both located in California — are under consideration for revocation or being sold for parts.
The Baaj Nwaavjo I'tāh Kukveni–Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument is also under consideration reportedly due to its uranium supply.
Judy Cummings is touring America's national monuments this summer with her daughter and granddaughter.
They drove from Wisconsin to see the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument sites in North Mississippi.
Asked about the potential for sites like this to close, Cummings said, "it makes me want to weep and it makes me furious at the same time."
When asked about the potential removal of national monuments, White House spokesperson Anne Kelly told CBS News in a statement, "Under President Trump's leadership, Secretary Burgum is keeping our parks ready for peak season, ensuring they are in pristine condition for visitors, and restoring truth and sanity to depictions of American history in line with the President's Executive Order. The President is simultaneously following through on his promise to 'Drill, Baby, Drill' and restore American energy dominance."
And in a separate statement provided to to CBS News, the Department of Interior said: "Under President Trump's leadership, we're advancing strategic reforms to maximize resources and improve park operations. These efforts will make our parks more efficient, better maintained, and more enjoyable for the American people, while keeping conservation efforts strong and effective. By modernizing how we manage assets and facilities, we're ensuring our parks can serve future generations even better."
"You can't just do away with more than two-thirds of the National Park System because it makes sense from a government efficiency standpoint," Spears said. "That's not what we want."
According to a recent study, about half of the current National Parks first began as National Monuments, including the iconic Grand Canyon.
According to Spears, every $1 invested in a National Park site returns about $15 to the communities that it is located in.
"That's an enormous, enormous return on investment," Spears said.
It is also an investment in the visitors too.
"I don't really have words," said Nicole Cummings, Judy's daughter. "I just kind of get goosebumps and it's just really powerful."
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