The sign that serves as a memorial for Emmett Till was vandalized when it was riddled with bullet holes, CNN reports.
Installed 35 days ago near Glendora, Mississippi, the sign is the third one to go up to mark the spot where Till’s body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River 63 years ago.
“For 50 years, our community lived in silence, and there’s those who want to erase history,” said Patrick Weems co-founder of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center. “We’ve been through that.”
The first sign memorializing Till went up in 2007, was stolen a year later and was never found.
In 2016, the second sign was vandalized when someone shot it with bullets, per CNN.
No arrests have been made regarding the latest act of vandalism, spokespeople for the Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office told CNN.
A Delta State University professor discovered what happened to the sign and told CNN that he’s not sure if the latest incident was motived by race or done out of ignorance, but said it was an “unacceptable” act.
Organizers behind the memorial told CNN that they might not remove the bullet-ridden sign.
“It’s difficult to celebrate anything when you know there’s so much work to go,” he told CNN. “But we still keep coming back to the table.”
