Maybe the purpose of this sorry and tragic error committed in my native Mississippi by two white adults on an afflicted Negro child is to prove to us whether or not we deserve to survive. Because if we in America have reached that point in our desperate culture when we must murder children, no matter for what reason or what color, we don’t deserve to survive, and probably won’t.

William Faulkner (1897-1962) American novelist

“The Art of Fiction,” Interview by Jean Stein, Paris Review #12 (Spring 1956)
    (Source)

Regarding the Emmett Till murder.