The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE EMMETT TILL UNSOLVED CIVIL RIGHTS CRIME ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S9353-S9355 on Sept. 24, 2008.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE EMMETT TILL UNSOLVED CIVIL RIGHTS CRIME ACT
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I thank the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid. I thank Senator Coburn of Oklahoma as well. He has had a hold on this bill, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which I coauthored going back some 3 years ago. In fact, Jim Talent, our former colleague from Missouri, was the original author of this legislation. I was his original partner in this effort going back to 2005. He left the Senate and was replaced by Claire McCaskill, a great friend and wonderful Senator from Missouri.
I introduced this bill separately along with Senator Leahy and some 12 other Members of the Senate, including Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. This has been a bipartisan effort that has been tied up for the last couple years, regretfully, but nonetheless that is what it was. Today, the news that this bill has now passed the Senate is good news. I am deeply grateful to the majority leader, again, for sticking with an issue and not walking away from something as important as this is.
Some might argue that this is a long time in coming, others who say it is too little too late. In many ways, I suppose they could be right.
The subject matter, the name on this bill, Emmett Till, dates back 53 years.
Fifty-three years ago, a young boy of 14 was killed for no other reason than the color of his skin. His life was extinguished in the most brutal fashion imaginable.
When Emmett Till's body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River, it had been weighted down by a 75-pound cotton gin fan, tied around the boy's neck with barbed wire. His clothes had been stripped from him and burned. Emmett's body could only be identified by a ring the young boy had been wearing.
At the trial of the two White men who would later confess to the crime, few African-Americans dared to even testify at the trial, such was the atmosphere at the time. The all-White jury acquitted the two men, deliberating for a mere 67 minutes, which one juror reportedly said only took so long because they paused to drink a soda. The rationale for acquittal? That the prosecution had failed to prove that the body recovered from the river was even Emmett Till, so mutilated was his face and body.
A year later, the two defendants bragged about the killing to a magazine for a sum of $4,000.
Believe me when I say: there was no justice in this case--nor in countless other civil rights cases that remain unsolved to this day.
The failures of our legal system to bring to justice those who committed brutal crimes based solely on racial prejudice is not merely sad or tragic--in a country such as ours and at this moment in our history, it is inexcusable.
The sad truth is that for far too long, hate crimes were rarely investigated in this country. For far too long, murderers could walk free as long as they chose the so-called ``right'' victims. And so, whatever the merits of this legislation, The Emmett Till Act cannot erase that memory. It cannot erase even a single year that lapsed between crime and justice.
What it can do is keep even more years from piling on.
If we want to remove the great stain on our justice system that is the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of civil rights-era crimes that remain unsolved, we need to reopen the books on as many as we can.
That is what this legislation would do--bring justice to those who perpetrated these heinous crimes because of racial hatred by creating a mechanism that allows us to pursue them.
Can it bring back and make whole those who have suffered and were murdered by a racist criminal hand? Of course not. But in passing this, this Congress can reaffirm our Nation's commitment to the truth and to making equal justice not a dream but a reality.
As such, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act would give the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation increased resources to reopen Civil Rights-era criminal cases which have gone cold--that is, unsolved civil rights murder cases that occurred prior to 1970.
It would do so by designating a deputy chief in the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ and a supervisory special agent in the civil rights unit of the FBI. These officials will be tasked with spearheading and coordinating efforts by Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors to bring long-time fugitives to justice.
For these purposes, it authorizes $10 million annually for fiscal years 2008 through 2017. This legislation also authorizes $2 million annually for DOJ to make grants to State and local law enforcement and
$1.5 million annually for the Community Relations Service within DOJ to partner with local communities. I know that sounds like a lot of money, but when you talk about $700 billion to take care of some failed institutions verses a few million to pursue these cases, I hope my colleagues would recognize the value.
The time has come to confront the injustices of the past openly and honestly. For some of these crimes, it is too late. Last year, Tallahatchie County in Mississippi officially apologized for the trial in the Emmett Till case in which these two confessed killers lived the rest of their lives in freedom. To be sure, they are now dead and beyond the reach of justice.
But there was some measure of justice for the families of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner--young civil rights workers who participated in the historic Freedom Rides in 1963.
Edgar Ray Killen was allowed to roam free for more than three decades. But his belated conviction in 2005 is proof that we can provide closure and hold those responsible for terrible crimes, even years after they have occurred.
With this legislation, we will launch one of the most exhausting manhunts in the history of our country to pursue those responsible for these acts. We can tell those who committed crimes who still roam this country free that they should never, ever, ever again enjoy a sleep-
filled night; that is, as long as they live, the U.S. Government, our Government, will do everything in its power to apprehend them and bring them to the bar of justice.
That is the message we can convey today, with this legislation, to the families, the friends, and others who have lost loved ones, who put their lives on the line to press for justice and for helping our Nation achieve that ``more perfect Union'' that each and every generation has tried to achieve. Those ideals are at the heart of this effort. We may never be that perfect Union, but, as Abraham Lincoln understood intrinsically, each generation bears the responsibility for bringing us closer to that ideal.
With this legislation, the Senate and this Congress on this date early in the 21st century is saying simply: We will not forget, and we will not yield.
The hour is, obviously, very late. Memories are dimming. Those who can bring some important information to the legal authorities are passing away. This bill may be the last and best chance we will have as a nation to write a hopeful postscript in the struggle for racial equality in our Nation and to provide closure for these families at last.
We all bring a unique commitment to this case. Representative John Lewis, my great and dear friend in the other body who has worked so hard to see this bill become law, was a hero of the civil rights movement--is still a hero, I might point out--who nearly gave his life ensuring that the promise of America can be realized for all of our citizens and in all of our communities. Others may simply recognize when justice has not been served.
I have spoken many times about my father on this floor, in this Chamber, about how in the 1930s he was among the first, as a member of the Justice Department, long before the Civil Rights Division, to prosecute the Ku Klux Klan and other civil rights cases for the Department of Justice. I have spoken about his work as a prosecutor pursuing Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg war trials, where he stood face to face with the men who committed crimes that were so horrifying, so enormous, that few believed they could have possibly happened--
until, that is, my father set out meticulously proving them, step by step, piece by piece. I believe the same is true of civil rights crimes in this country.
His body of work, including his service to this body, never fails to remind us that when we reaffirm our commitment to the rule of law, when we act not out of vengeance but in pursuit of justice, we most live up to the promise as Americans. However tardy that pursuit may be, affirming that enduring commitment is what this effort is about today.
Again, I thank immensely the majority leader and others who have been a part of this effort. We thank Jim Talent, the Senator from Missouri, who originally authored this bill, and I am proud to have joined with him some 3 years ago and proud to have picked up that mantle in this Congress, along with, as I say, 13 of our other colleagues here, to be a part of this effort that has produced this passage a few minutes ago.
I wish to thank the steadfast support of allies and friends such as John Lewis in the Congress, the House of Representatives, who made this possible, and many organizations that helped us shepherd this legislation through the Senate: the NAACP, the Southern Law Poverty Center, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and so many others.
In addition, I thank the Emmett Till Justice Campaign and its president, Alvin Sykes. We heard Senator Coburn talk about this a few moments ago, and I wish to associate myself with his remarks. He is a remarkable individual. Mr. Sykes's determination has helped the Senate get to this historic moment.
I wish to mention Simeon Wright, as I had the pleasure of meeting Simeon Wright and his wife a few weeks ago. Simeon Wright is Emmett Till's cousin, and he was sharing that bed with him that night 53 years ago when his cousin was ripped out of that bed, never to be seen again, except for his mutilated body. Simeon Wright is getting on in years now. But it was an honor to meet him and his wife, and his determination and commitment on behalf of his family helped us arrive at this moment. So to Simeon Wright and his family, the moment has come, and this bill will now become law.
It is vital that we bring to justice those individuals who committed these heinous crimes. It is essential to their families that we reaffirm this Nation's commitment to the rule of law.
I thank all of my colleagues for supporting the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wyoming is recognized.
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