by Mary Rupert
The U.S. Senate passed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Reauthorization Act of 2016 last night.
The bill passed by unanimous consent, said Alvin Sykes, a human rights activist in Kansas City, Kan., who has been working for its passage. Next, it will go to the House in September, where U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-3rd Dist., will be a co-sponsor.
Sykes, president of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, was involved in the passage of the original Till bill, which went into effect in 2008 and allows federal prosecutors to investigate and prosecute unsolved racially motivated crimes from the civil rights era, pre-1969. That bill expires after 10 years.
The new Till bill extends the law and makes it permanent, according to Sykes. The 1969 time limit on investigating unsolved crimes that are racially motivated also is removed, he said, and racially motivated crimes from any time can now be investigated if it passes.
“We certainly believe that the bill is going to pass ultimately,” Sykes said today.
Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri put a lot of energy into this bill, Sykes said. The bill had almost equal bipartisan cosponsorship, he added.
“I look at it as a reflection about the power of dialogue, and when you couple that with getting beyond partisanship and working toward common ground, that you can achieve just about anything,” he said.
In a time when there is so much partisan polarization, to be able to get this through in a bipartisan way with a statement of unanimous consent is very encouraging and inspiring, Sykes said.
The Emmett Till bill was named after a Chicago, Ill., teen who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman. Unlike 1955, federal investigators will be able to become involved in investigating racially motivated crimes.
“The (Till) family was very happy,” Sykes said. “It’s another example of how the poison that came out of Emmett Till’s death nearly 60 years ago continues to turn into the medicine of justice for countless people throughout the country.”
I am very happy to see that Sen. Claire McCaskill and her supporters had the fortitude to initiate this much needed legislation. For too long many of us have heard of the horror stories of blatant, inhumane, injustices to which our fore parents and other descendants were subjected during and since the reconstruction era.
My great-grandfather was murdered by a white man who, as reported by the local newspapers, shot him in the back with buck-shots as he passed by riding on a mule, following a disagreement they had about a the white man’s goat who was said to have been killed by one of my great-grandfather’s sons after the goat would get into my great-grandfather’s field each day to eat his vegetables. The newspapers reported that there was much sympathy for the white man, whose trial was postponed two or three times; however, there was no mention of any sympathy for my great-grandmother and her 13 children who was forced to leave the property since she was unable to make provisions to pay for and maintain it after great-grandfather’s murder.
We have had the most difficult time and we are unable to find out the final disposition of the case of the self-admitted murderer. Reportedly, he spent a few weeks in jail awaiting trial but we can find no records that he even came to trial. If he did come to trial, we would like to know the final disposition. Unfortunately for us, the officials of the local county jurisdiction said we are welcome to go to the basement of the county courthouse to see if we can find what we’re looking for in the disorderly, jumbled records they keep there.
I can understand that the county archivist may not be required to keep the records in a system of order to my liking, but since there is no statute of limitation on the crime of “murder,” especially in this particular state, I can’t understand why those local county officials wouldn’t be required to provide the documentation pertaining to the final disposition of the arrest/detention/trial of the murderer.
The Attorney General of the particular state thus far has not been helpful. I’m left wondering if I should seek assistance from the U. S. Attorney General, or the State or U.S. Senator/Representative for that local jurisdiction.
My family seeks genuine, bona-fide assistance from anyone who may offer it.