Douglas Alexander: “I join the Senators from Missouri and Connecticut in introducing the Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. I do so because I…”

“I join the Senators from Missouri and Connecticut in introducing the Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. I do so because I believe that this legislation takes the right approach when dealing with the wrongs of our past. It takes action. It takes positive steps forward to correct injustices. It recommits us to one of our highest ideals as Americans--that justice will not be denied. Specifically, the bill creates a new office within the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division specifically tasked to investigate ``cold case'' murders from the civil rights era. It will commit the resources of the Department of Justice to work in conjunction with State and local law enforcement to aggressively prosecute criminals in those cases. The Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act might well be named in honor of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman--the three civil rights workers who were shot to death by former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen. Forty-one years later, thanks to the efforts of the victims' families, Mississippi State officials, and many others who would not let this crime go unpunished, Killen sits in solitary confinement in a State prison outside Jackson, Mississippi, right where he belongs. Justice will not be denied. And the Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act will see to it that others like Edgar Ray Killen are punished for their crimes.…”