Kansas City civil rights activist Alvin Sykes has become a frequent visitor to Washington and he'll be back Friday.
He’ll be in town to attend the swearing in of the new Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Thomas Perez.
That’s because Perez will be tasked with implementing the new law which creates a “cold case squad” inside the Justice Department to look into old, unsolved civil rights cases.
It took several years of effort, but Sykes played a key role in persuading Congress to pass the bill last year.
It was named after Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black youth from Chicago, who, while visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955, was found murdered after whistling at a white woman. The case remains unsolved.
Perez served as second-in-command of the Civil Rights Division during the Clinton administration.
“It was a good selection,” Sykes said. “He will be the top person in the country to implement this law. We want to see the criminal manhunt pick up the pace.”
