Human rights activist Alvin Sykes is calling for the expansion of the Emmett Till Act.
Passed in 2007, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act will expire in 2017. Sykes, who helped get the first law passed, is working with an effort to extend it and make it a permanent law.
A native of Kansas City, Kan., Sykes is recognized as a force that helped reopen the Emmett Till murder case, and he was instrumental in the passage of the Till bill.
Sykes, president of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, will attend the 60th anniversary Commemorative Celebration of the Legacy of Emmett Till this weekend, Aug. 28-30, in Chicago, Ill. Sykes is the special guest of the Mamie Till Mobley Foundation.
He is expecting the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton to be in attendance at the event.
Sykes, who served from 2002 as Mamie Till Mobley’s official victim’s advocate to law enforcement agencies involved in her son’s unsolved murder case, is scheduled to participate as a panelist for the YOUth EmPOWERment Day sessions held at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. The panel, “Emmett Till Lives – The Power of a Mother’s Story” will also include U.S. Congressman Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), Wheeler Parker (Emmett’s cousin who was with him the night he died), author Christopher Benson, and filmmaker Raymond Thomas, among others.
Benson, who co-authored the book, “The Death of Innocence – The Story of the Hate Crime that Changed America” with Till’s mother, stated, “Alvin connected with Mrs. Mobley the last week of her life and in that short experience has been able to continue to keep her story alive, and has inspired a strong, positive social policy.”
As part of his presentation, Sykes will discuss plans for the drafting and introduction of legislation for a proposed newly named “Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights and Federal Crimes Act (“Till Bill 2”) to become a permanent law with no sunset provision.
The bill would, in part, expand the scope of the current Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act to include some unsolved federal crimes, in addition to unsolved civil rights crimes, and would provide funding for grants to states and local law enforcement agencies to investigate or prosecute said unsolved crimes.
The expanded bill would also provide justice grants to governmental and non-governmental organizations that help investigations, raise public awareness and support through media outlets, social media, and public event activities to find potential cases, evidence and witnesses.
“The overall lessons learned from our successful campaigns to reopen Till’s murder case and for passage of the Till Act leads us to the conclusion that there exists an urgent need nationwide for a permanent cold case infrastructure to augment state and federal law enforcement efforts in partnership with community-based justice-seeking efforts to solve certain lingering, unsolved crimes,” Sykes said. “The passage of time can no longer serve as effective get-away accomplices to the perpetrators of these terrible crimes.”
Other planned commemorative activities during the weekend include the Till Family Wreath-Laying Ceremony at the gravesites of Emmett Till, Mamie Till Mobley and Alma Spearman at Burr Oak Cemetery from noon to 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28,followed by the “Legacy Lives – Emmett Till Remembrance” Dinner at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Plaza.
A special “Gospel Regeneration” church service will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ. Special guests include the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Father Michael Pflager of St. Sabina and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Alvin Sykes
Sykes is self-taught, and has won many honors and cases. He was most recently named a Scholar in Residence at the Kansas City, Mo., Public Library, where he has spent countless hours in public libraries reading and researching.
He has reopened two civil rights cold cases, one the high-profile murder of Chicago teenager Emmett Till, and the 1980 murder of Kansas City musician Steve Harvey. His work has changed state and federal civil rights laws.
His research into unsolved civil and human rights abuses has earned Sykes a reputation nationally and internationally. In 2007, he testified in Congress in support of what would become the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act – a law that allowed the authorities to re-open cold cases.
Details of the proposed “Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights and Federal Crimes Act” (referred to as Till Bill 2)
Changes to a reauthorized “Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007” would include, but not be limited to:
– Revise name to read “Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights and Federal Crimes Act.”
– Become a permanent law with no sunset provision.
– Have no time limit for potential cases that can be investigated in the past or future.
-Not be jurisdictionally limited to racially motivated murders, instead will expand to cover selected potential federal crimes which the statute of limitations has not expired or potential federal crimes for which the statute of limitation has expired but there exists a potential state crime where the statute of limitation has not expired.
-Funding for grants to state and local law enforcement agencies who choose to investigate or prosecute any unsolved crime under its jurisdiction and the statute of limitation has not expired.
-Provide justice grants to governmental and non-governmental organizations, private investigative agencies, educational institutions, documentary filmmakers, investigative reporters, and others that will help in investigations and raise public awareness and support through media outlets, social media, and public event activities to find potential cases, evidence and witnesses.
– Continue authorization for federal Inspector Generals to provide assistance to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with their backlog of unsolved cases.
Emmett Louis Till
Aug. 28 is the 60th anniversary of the death of Emmett Louis Till. When he was 14 years old, in 1955, Till was murdered after he reportedly whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. His murder was an important event in the civil rights movement.
Till, from Chicago, was visiting relatives in Mississippi at the time. He was dragged from his bed by Roy Bryant, the husband of the woman, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam. They beat him and gouged out an eye, then shot him and threw him in the Tallahatchie River weighted down.
When his body was returned to Chicago, having been discovered after three days, Emmett’s mother held a public funeral service. She wanted the world to know about the brutality of Emmett’s death. The case gained national and worldwide attention.
Acquitted of Till’s kidnapping and murder using a defense that the body could not be positively identified, Bryant and Milam could not be tried again because of double jeopardy protections. They admitted killing Till in an interview with Look magazine.
The case was reopened in 2004 by the U.S. Justice Department, long after the deaths of Bryant and Milam. Sykes was active in urging the reopening of the case. After reopening the case, a positive identification of Till was made.