Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I, along with Senator Leahy, Senator McCaskill, and Senator Blunt, will introduce the reauthorization of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. To give a little bit of history for my colleagues on this, this really stems from 1955, and it was the summer of 1955 when a young 14- year-old left Chicago, IL, and traveled to Mississippi to visit relatives. While on that trip, he made a grave mistake. He whistled at a White woman. Because of that, Emmett Till was killed. The investigation that resulted from his death culminated in a 67-minute deliberation by a jury that found both men and acquitted them. Both individuals, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam confessed to the murder in 1956. In our criminal justice system, when you are found not guilty, you can't be retried. There was an injustice that was done. In this particular case, the injustice was done to Emmett Till, a 14-year-old. Without an understanding of how many people might have been affected by the same lack of justice applied equally, there was a self-taught individual that became an activist. His name was Alvin Sykes. Alvin Sykes became a civil rights advocate. He was a cold case researcher. Through the frustration of trying to get a bill to the U.S. Senate that my good friend Tom Coburn held up, Alvin Sykes did what most people don't do in this town. Rather than hold a press conference to talk about a civil rights bill, he called Tom Coburn and said: I would like to see you.…”