Alvin Sykes, longtime advocate for the victims of civil rights era cold cases, will meet with the nation's "top cop," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, to discuss the Department of Justice mandate to solve those cases and bring the killers to justice.
"This is another step forward for us in this criminal manhunt to find these people before time runs out," Sykes told the Kansas City Star. "This will send a chill across country to the perpetrators."
As president of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, Sykes tireless crusading was a primary factor in the U.S. Congress passing a bill last fall that created the DOJ cold case unit. The bill, dubbed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, is named for a 14-year old Chicago teen murdered in 1955 Mississippi. Kidnappers abducted Till from his uncle's home in Money, Miss., accusing him of whistling at a white woman. His beaten, bloated body was later found in the Tallahatchie River, a gunshot to his head.
Sykes reportedly wants family members of other murder victims to join him for his meeting with Holder.
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