Re: Flames. On the side of my face.
This. Again, not forgiving sexism (I myself am not fond of it), but if Till did whistle, he was almost certainly parroting what he saw other boys and older men doing all the time. Fourteen year-olds aren't always the best at analyzing their actions for social and moral implications. Who knows: Till may well have matured and grown into a thoughtful defender of women's rights.

But we'll never know. Because he was murdered.

Also (and I guess this is a minor point, but still) I'm irked that totalreadr--a white male, who will never actually know what it feels like to be whistled at on the street or feel intimidated by aggressive sexual advances--is using this as a justification for his lack of empathy about racial violence. I'm not saying that men can't be feminists, or feminist allies, but part of being sensitive to the struggles of other marginalized groups is knowing that you don't have the authority to make proclamations about what's the "worst" kind of prejudice, or which kinds of prejudice negates another. Now that I think about it: it's a bit like when a white woman says to a woman of color that they're not sympathizing with the correct Harry Potter character, because the white woman actually knows better which characters' issues are applicable to the woman of color's experience with racism.