Steve Penn: Till bill a major achievement for local justice-seeker
The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act appears, finally, to be hitting the fast track to passage by Congress.
That means the bill, backed and pushed by local justice-seeker Alvin Sykes, president of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, could become law soon.
Sykes said Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, called recently to tell him that the Senate probably would vote Thursday on the bill. Sykes said he would leave Wednesday with Till’s family for Washington to be on hand for the big moment.
Passed by the House last year, the Till bill would authorize funding for the Justice Department to hire investigators to solve civil rights-related murders that took place before 1970. The FBI estimates that about 100 such murders remain unsolved.
What it will mean to the suspects when the legislation finally passes?
“It will strike fear in the hearts of old men who thought long ago that they could get away with this and otherwise live a respectful life,” Sykes said. “It lets them know that they’ll be prosecuted or will die in fear of being the next one they come for.”
The bill is a major achievement for Sykes.
“It represents a realization of my life’s mission and the fulfillment of my responsibility as a professional human-rights worker,” he said. “This one is for the ancestors.”
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She’s confident.
The Aug. 5 election will determine whether she had a right to be.
I’m talking about Andria Simckes, a St. Louis area lawyer and Democrat who is waging a viable bid to become the next Missouri state treasurer, replacing Sarah Steelman.
Simckes is running against Rep. Clint Zweifel of Florissant, Mark Powell of Arnold (the 2004 Democratic nominee), and Charles Wheeler, former Kansas City mayor and former state senator.
Simckes is the only woman and minority candidate. If she were to win the primary and achieve victory in November, Simckes would go down in Missouri history as the first African-American winner of a statewide election.
“The campaign is going quite well right now,” Simckes said earlier this week.
Simckes explained that her daughter had a lot to do with her candidacy. When her daughter returned from her first year of college, she told her mother that she didn’t want to move back to Missouri.
“She told me it’s not diverse enough and it’s not progressive enough,” Simckes said.
“I felt like I could actually help change things in Missouri. I want to make sure that Missouri becomes the place where our children — my children and your children — and grandchildren want to return.”
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Liberty Bank is up and operating in the area.
Now bank officials want to celebrate their arrival with a grand opening party from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The guest list includes politicians, community leaders and bank customers.
Sidney King, regional president for the New Orleans-based bank, said the get-together would be an effort to acquaint the public with the bank, which has three local branches.
“We want to interest potential customers in our products and services as well as the support that we provide communities in which we serve,” King said. “We feel that the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area deserves the financial strength and stability that Liberty Bank brings to the marketplace.”
People who want to attend should call 913-233-7014.
To reach Steve Penn, call 816-234-4417 or send e-mail to spenn@kcstar.com.
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