Childhood friend of Emmett Till speaking at annual Martin Luther King Banquet
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IDAHO FALLS – As David Snell prepares for the annual Martin Luther King Banquet in Idaho Falls, he reflects on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement.
The Idaho Falls African-American Alliance, which Snell founded in 2006 to “promote understanding and respect among all races,” is hosting the event. It’s happening at the Mountain America Center on Jan. 16.
The theme for this year’s event is “The Power of One,” which Snell says applies not only to MLK’s legacy but also to the banquet’s keynote speaker, Dr. Warren “Pete” Miller.
Civil Rights in eastern Idaho
- During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Pocatello had the largest Black population in the state. Idaho State University history professor Kevin Marsh says that during the 1960s and ’70s, there were between 500 and 600 African-Americans living in the Gate City.
- Segregation was a reality in Pocatello. The Black people lived in a part of town called the Triangle Neighborhood.
- The Ku Klux Klan became active in Pocatello in 1920, according to the Idaho Legislature’s Black history timeline, and it “used intimidation to keep ethnic minorities in the segregated neighborhood.”
- More than a decade before the Civil Rights movement began, many of Pocatello’s citizens held a demonstration of their own.
“In 1952, the YMCA here in town didn’t allow Black children to use their pool. Local people in Black and white communities began marching outside the YMCA, saying, ‘We aren’t going to tolerate this,’” Marsh says. “These types of things were happening on a smaller scale throughout the West before Martin Luther King emerged as a civil rights leader in the South.”
EastIdahoNews.com published an in-depth article on this topic in October. Click here to read it.
Miller is an 81-year-old Chicago native who served as the assistant secretary for nuclear energy from 2009 to 2010 and was a childhood friend of Emmett Till. Emmett’s 1955 abduction and lynching in Mississippi as a 14-year-old boy was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement and the subject of a movie in 2022.
Miller spoke at the MLK Banquet in Idaho Falls more than a decade ago, and Snell says they were unaware of his connection to Till at the time.
“We did not really understand who we had here at the time, so I invited him to come back,” Snell says. “What I remember most about (Miller) was that everybody liked him. He was such a gregarious guy.”
Snell says the development of small modular reactors at the Idaho National Lab is a project that was implemented under Miller’s leadership. This effort, according to Snell, was a “game-changer in the nuclear industry.”
“His ties with the INL are just incredible,” says Snell. “It was just a perfect fit” to have him come back and speak.
Miller has enjoyed his visits to eastern Idaho over the years and is thrilled to be returning to Idaho Falls as the keynote speaker for the banquet.
Miller’s memories of Emmett Till
In a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com, Miller says the memory of Till and King’s sacrifice have been influential throughout his life and it motivated him to respond to the call to serve his country as a leader in the nuclear industry.
“The fact that I served with the first African-American president, and that (Till and MLK’s) sacrifices helped pave the way for his election, was the mosaic that caused me to say ‘If I can make some small sacrifice for our nation, I will do it,'” Miller says.
Miller attended sixth and seventh grade with Emmett on the south side of Chicago in the mid-1950s. Miller describes him as a “light-hearted” boy who laughed a lot. Emmett often stuck up for Miller when bullies were harassing him.
Miller is pictured with Emmett and other classmates in a photo he’ll be showing at the banquet.
At the end of the school year in June 1955, Miller recalls Emmett saying he was going on vacation to Mississippi.
“We wished him well, and he never returned,” says Miller.
The mood was somber when Miller and his classmates returned to school later that fall.
‘I Am More Than a Wolf Whistle’
Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who accused Emmett Till of saying something offensive to her, is partly responsible for Emmett’s death. She died in 2023.
Though she never spoke publicly about the incident, CBS News reported that around 2008, she told a historian that her accusations about Emmett were a lie.
In an unpublished memoir, “I Am More Than a Wolf Whistle,” Bryant reportedly repeated the same story she told in 1955, but did express remorse for Emmett’s death.
Bryant was never charged with a crime.
Miller’s background
After high school, Miller went on to attend West Point. A class he took during his senior year got him interested in nuclear energy.
It was the connection with physics that drew him in.
“I always kind of liked physics, but I didn’t want to be a physicist because … it wasn’t doing something that had an immediate or direct impact on society. Here, I could bring together my interest in physics with engineering and build something,” he says.
Miller was awarded the bronze star for his service in Vietnam before spending the next 27 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He held numerous roles overseeing science and nuclear energy programs. He retired from the lab in 2001.
Miller feels one of his greatest accomplishments as assistant secretary for nuclear energy was helping to provide the initial funding for the development of small modular reactors across the country.
The role of the INL in deploying new technologies to the private sector is a major accomplishment, Miller says, and is an example of the banquet’s theme in action.
“How much of a difference a group of people acting as one can make,” he says.
Identifying how individuals can make a difference will be the focus of Miller’s remarks at the banquet. He invites the community to attend.
The banquet is happening from 6 to 9 p.m. Dinner will be served. To buy tickets or learn more, click here.