Mo. activist pushes FBI to probe hate crimes cases

By Sheila EllisJuly 13, 2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City man who was the driving force behind an effort to bring civil rights-era offenders to justice is preparing to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder to jump-start efforts to find criminals because “people are dying and memories are fading.”

Alvin Sykes is widely credited with the idea behind the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which authorized up to $135 million over 10 years for investigations of civil rights-era killings and established a permanent cold case unit in the Justice Department.

The law is named for the black 14-year-old boy from Chicago who was lynched for whistling at a white woman while visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955. Sykes persuaded the Justice Department to re-investigate Till’s case in 2004. No one has been convicted.

Sykes plans to meet with Holder to urge him to focus more energy on finding witnesses, victims and evidence before it’s too late. The meeting with Holder had been set for Tuesday, but the two sides are rescheduling because Holder will be traveling.

“People are dying and memories are fading,” Sykes said in an interview last week with The Associated Press. “The president of the United States and the U.S. attorney general need to step up to the plate and tell this country that we mean business and that this is not just show.”

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Globe Reporter On Covering Gates' Arrest: 'Dobbs Caught Me Off-Guard'

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The higher-education beat at The Boston Globe produces its fair share of weighty stories as the economic crisis eats away at university endowments and the specter of swine flu casts a shadow on handshake-laden commencement ceremonies. But the last thing that Tracy Jan, a higher education reporter at the Globe, expected to fall onto her beat was the explosive controversy that followed the arrest of Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

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Obama admits racial inequalities in the U.S.

The 100th year anniversary of the oldest Civil Rights organization was definitely a milestone for our nation. But I think the question I have have and many other young Black Americans have is now what? What is next for this organization who fought for our rights? What are the new issues plaguing minorities today and what is the NAACP's role in coming up with solutions?

Pres. Obama addressed these concerns eloquently during his address to the NAACP earlier this month.

Watch Obama's speech to the NAACP at their 100th year anniversary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW1qo1jdEVI&feature=player_embedded



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/opinion/l27naacp.html