Emmett Till cousin on inquiry: 'What is the holdup?'
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The government is still investigating the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a black teenager whose death helped spur the civil rights movement more than 60 years ago.
Till, who was from Chicago, was abducted and beaten to death hours after he whistled at a white woman while visiting Mississippi. His body was found in a river days later.
The investigation, closed in 2007, was reopened after a book published two years ago indicated a key witness had lied.
A cousin who was with Till the night he was abducted said he was encouraged that the case is still under review but anxious for a resolution.
"We want them to go ahead and do something," said the Rev. Wheeler Parker, 80. "What is the holdup?"
The Justice Department refused comment in emails sent Monday and Tuesday.
The department has closed its investigations into six other apparently racially motivated killings dating from 1940 to 1973 because authorities have been unable to make any headway in them, according to the report, which was posted to a Justice Department website with no announcement. In each case, suspects or witnesses died or the law prohibited charges against people who had already been tried and acquitted.
The government's report is required under a law named for Till, whose slaying incensed the nation and has been credited with helping build support for civil rights.
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