Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to applaud the Senate's passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act, bipartisan legislation that I introduced in April with Congressman John Lewis. We were joined in this effort by Senators Leahy, McCaskill and Blunt, as well as Representative Jim Sensenbrenner. The goal of this legislation is simple and noble: to bring truth to light and bring justice to the victims of racially motivated murders. The original bill was championed by Representative Lewis and civil rights activist and cold case researcher Alvin Sykes in 2007, and it aimed to ensure that those who had quite literally gotten away with murder during the civil rights era were prosecuted under the law. And recognizing that while many of these civil rights era cases can't be prosecuted due to legal challenges, the investigation of these cold cases is important to revealing the truth about the injustices committed against African-Americans and the failure of the legal system to protect them. Uncovering and confronting this dark part of our nation's history is invaluable to strengthening our rule of law. Mr. President, it was important to pass this bill today because on August 28--a day that will arrive during the Congressional recess--the Till family and others in the civil rights community will remember the murder of Emmett Till.…”