in fact, it was through the dedicated efforts of my friend jerry mitchell, an award-winning journalist at jackson mississippi clarion ledger that these unsolved civil rights cases even got a second look. it was when the state of mississippi opened closed files of a jim crow era state commission that jerry discovered that it might be possible to reopen several unsolved cases, including the cases of med emperors and vern damer. when those cases resulted in convictions, law enforcement officers and communities around the south began to reexamine so many of the unsolved crimes, including the bombing of the 16th street baptist church. today there are more than 100 unsolved civil rights criminal cases out there. many of them are 50 years old or older. some were investigated a little. some were investigated a lot. but because these were state, not federal, crimes, most were never really investigated at all. while it's certainly never too late for justice, years of delays can create serious and sometimes insurmountable obstacles. memories fade or are lost to death. evidence disappears. potenti