CNN: ‘Emmett Till Moment’ Needed on Kids Killed By ‘Automatic Weapons’

On Thursday’s CNN Newsroom host Ana Cabrera and pediatric trauma surgeon Dr. Chethan Sathya claimed the country needs “an Emmett Till moment” in order to do something about “these automatic weapons.”

A column in The Times referred to Till Washington Post from former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, which Cabrera read from, “in order for change to happen, we need an Emmett Till moment. Johnson writes in part this — and I’m quoting here – ‘I lack the moral standing to tell a parent to accept and approve for the greater good the public display of photos of his or her dead child, nor do I suggest the release of any images in particular, but something graphic is required to awaken the public to the real horror of these repeated tragedies.’”

Till suffered a brutal dismemberment and was dismembered during a racist attack. His body was then left to sink into a river. Here, Johnson and CNN are talking about punishing innocent people for someone else’s crimes.

Cabrera then introduced Sathya and declared “This is such an important discussion” and asked “What do you think about what the secretary there wrote about this idea of people seeing with their own eyes what it looks like, a gunshot wound in a child? Do people need to see what you see?”

Sathya did agree, “One hundred percent. This has been something that we’ve been seeing as physicians, trauma surgeons for decades, right? We are now referring to mass shootings. We’re talking about children being killed. This is something we see on a daily basis.”

 He also claimed that “the devastation that these automatic weapons cause, these assault rifles, is just, you know, — it’s harrowing.”

CNN can advocate for policies if they have basic terminology right. But they did not do this by referring to automatic weapons.

CNN is trying to make Americans feel ashamed by promoting gun control and gore.

CNN also managed to be somehow worse than MSNBC’s segment on the same topic. Andrea Mitchell interviewed Johnson, and she did manage to show him a clip of Parkland dad saying that he doesn’t want any photos of his daughter. Johnson was unable to answer other questions.

Sponsor of this segment: AARP.

The transcript from the June 2, 2012 show is available here:

CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera

6/2/2022

12:00 PM ET

ANA CABRERA: A new op-ed by Jeh Johnson, former Homeland Security Secretary, argues that for real change, there must be an Emmett Till moment. Johnson wrote in part that he doesn’t have the moral authority to instruct parents to display photos of their deceased child for public good. I don’t recommend releasing any particular images, but it is necessary to make the public aware of the horrors of repeated tragedies.

Chethan S. Sathya will be joining us. Dr. Chethan Sathya is a pediatric trauma doctor at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York. He serves as the Director of Northwell Health’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention.

Dr., thank you so much. This discussion is so important. You do so much work. It’s a great honor to be in your service and offer so much experience.

How do you feel about the letter that was written by the secretary about people seeing what a gunshot wound looks like in children’s eyes? Is it necessary for people to be able to see exactly what they see?

CHETHAN SATHYA : 100 percent. This has been something that we’ve been seeing as physicians, trauma surgeons for decades, right? We are now referring to mass shootings. We’re talking about children being killed. We see this every day.

Just even at our hospital here in New York, we’ve seen more kids with bullet wounds this year than any other previous year in history. This is just terrible. It is important to remember that trauma surgeons are often called upon by parents who bring their children with them, bleed from bullet wounds in their bodies, and then have their bodies dismembered. These assault rifles and their automatic weapons can cause such devastation, it is, well, just awful.