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Emmett Till relative meets with attorney general

FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2015, file photo, Deborah Watts, of Minneapolis, speaks in Jackson, Miss., about the slaying of her cousin, Emmett Till. Family members of Emmett Till pushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions March 28, 2017, to move forward with a law that that allows prosecutors to reinvestigate old civil rights murder cases. Watts, co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation and Alvin Sykes, a member of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, met with Sessions before going down to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture afterward to view Till’s casket, which is one of the centerpieces of the museum.(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File) FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2015, file photo, Deborah Watts, of Minneapolis, speaks in Jackson, Miss., about the slaying of her cousin, Emmett Till. Family members of Emmett Till pushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions March 28, 2017, to move forward with a law that that allows prosecutors to reinvestigate old civil rights murder cases. Watts, co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation and Alvin Sykes, a member of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, met with Sessions before going down to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture afterward to view Till’s casket, which is one of the centerpieces of the museum.(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

By Associated Press March 28, 2017 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Family members of Emmett Till are pushing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to push for enforcement of a law that allows prosecutors to reinvestigate old civil rights murder cases.

The meeting between Sessions and members of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation and the Emmett Till Justice Campaign happened Tuesday.

Deborah Watts is Till’s cousin and co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation. She says Sessions was receptive to working on pushing for enforcement, and they hope to get an advisory panel named to choose cases prosecutors should go after.

The Emmett Till Civil Rights Crimes Act allows prosecutors to investigate crimes committed before 1980. In August 1955, Till was kidnapped, tortured, shot and mutilated.

Watts visited the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture afterward to view Till’s casket.