WASHINGTON, May 10, 2004 -- Cong. Charles Rangel today hailed the decision by the Justice Department to reopen the investigation into the death of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black teenager whose brutal murder in 1955 riveted the nation's attention on the issue of Southern racism.

In today's announcement, R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, said the decision to reopen the case resulted from the discovery of several surviving individuals who were involved in the killing.

"I am extremely pleased that the family of Emmett has another chance at seeing justice done after all the pain and suffering inflicted on them and their son," Cong. Rangel said.  "While nothing can bring him back, the family and all Americans can have the satisfaction of knowing what had been a mockery of justice might now be rectified."

Last month, Congressman Rangel and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York issued a joint public appeal to Attorney General John Ashcroft to reopen the case.

New information on the case was brought to light by filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, who produced the public television documentary, "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till." His work revealed that, in addition to the two white men originally charged and acquitted of the murder, up to seven other surviving individuals were involved with the Chicago teenager's abduction and murder.

The two accused killers who were acquitted by an all-white jury in Mississippi, where the abduction and murder occurred, later confessed to the crime in an article in Look magazine.  Federal authorities, including President Eisenhower and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, nevertheless, refused to reopen the case.

Due to the five-year statute of limitations in effect at the time on federal offenses, any possible new charges would have to be brought by the state of Mississippi.  According to the Justice Department, the FBI and Justice Department prosecutors will work on the case jointly with the District Attorney for Mississippi's 4th Judicial District.

"There are few crimes that have horrified the nation in the way that Emmett Till's murder did.  The brutal mutilation and murder of an innocent young man unmasked the depth of racism in this country that only African-Americans understood.  The atrocity unleashed a wellspring of anger that ignited the Civil Rights Movement and changed the country. And now, almost fifty years later, we have a chance to have justice done for Emmett Till," Cong. Rangel said.