In the year after their acquittal, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam told their story to William Bradford Huie in a piece for Look magazine. According to Huie, the two admitted to killing the teenager. Upon abducting Till at the home of his great-uncle Mose Wright, Milam recalled asking him: "You the nigger who did the talking?" "Yeah," Till answered. "Don't say 'Yeah' to me: I'll blow your head off.'"27 In his account, Milam continued to characterize the incident as a legitimate effort to maintain white-black social hierarchy. Blaming an unrepentant Till for his own murder, Milam explained, "He was hopeless. I'm no bully; I never hurt a nigger in my life. I like niggers in their place. I know how to work 'em. But I just decided it was time to put a few people on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, niggers are going to stay in their place."28
The fact they molested, mutated and killed a goof-off black boy with no bodily strength or power to fight back, just in an effort to "how blacks where they belong" is discusting and horrifying.