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The family of Emmett Till is reaching out to Lil Wayne over questionable rap lyrics about the murdered civil rights figure.
Weezy came under fire last week after a sexually explicit reference to Till turned up in the remix to the track "Karate Chop" by fellow rapper Future. On Wednesday, VIBE.com published an open letter to Lil Wayne from Till's family.
The family feels lyrics like Wayne's are "destroying the preservation and legacy" of Till. The black teenager was murdered in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi.
Till's family says Wayne's verses about Till left them "in awe with [their] hearts in [their] mouths wide open." In order to make amends for his lyrics, the family asks that Lil Wayne join the effort to educate people about Till. They say such a deed could help restore Emmett's name.
Meanwhile, Wayne's silence on the subject has not gone unnoticed by Till's family. While they admit that his silence could be interpreted several ways, the family refuses to believe that he intends "to injure the hearts" of Till's relatives.
Emmett Till's murder helped galvanize the Civil Rights movement. An all-white jury later acquitted the men charged with the Chicago teen's murder.
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