White Sox exec says it was ‘poor form’ to use Emmett Till photo on scoreboard

A White Sox spokesman explained how an image of Emmett Till came to be displayed on the scoreboard during the game Saturday against the Twins.

“It was done as a list of famous and iconic Chicagoans, so the person who did it felt like Emmett Till is an iconic face of kind of the civil-rights movement in Chicago,” said Scott Reifert, the Sox’ vice president of communications. “I pointed out that, probably in retrospect, it’s poor form. We talked about it. He regretted it. Certainly, he admitted it was a mistake. The intent certainly wasn’t to insult anybody, not Emmett Till by any means.”

Till was 14 when he was lynched in 1955 in Money, Mississippi. Despite his body’s decomposed condition, Till’s mother insisted on an open-casket funeral, and his murder was a watershed moment in the civil-rights movement.

Reifert said the employee understood why using Till’s photo was a mistake once Reifert spoke to him Sunday. Till’s picture was displayed between game-show host Pat Sajak and director Orson Welles.

“Although it wasn’t a trivia, again, it wasn’t intended in any way to . . . it wasn’t a celebration in any sense of the word,” Reifert said. “So you regret it. It’s a mistake.”

Reifert said there wouldn’t be any discipline against the employee.

“It was an honest mistake,” Reifert said. “There was no ill will meant by any of it.”

What happened Saturday wouldn’t change any protocol regarding the scoreboard, but Reifert said the employee is sensitive to the issue. Reifert said the employee regretted what happened and apologized.

“I think, when you look at it, it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t pass that test, but it certainly wasn’t done with any sense of pointing . . . I can’t even think of the right word to describe that,” Reifert said. “It was basically a list that he put together of famous Chicagoans, and Emmett Till landed on that list. I said, well, you know, I think in retrospect, it probably [would be] easy to not put him on and nobody blinks, right? But Michelle Obama was on the list, and others were on the list.

“The other point I made with him was, [being] next to Pat Sajak kind of minimalizes [Till]. This is a young man who lost his life and certainly has become an icon of the civil-rights movement, but for not good reasons. He got it.”