Congress makes lynching a federal crime
Sixty-five years after 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi, Congress has approved legislation designating lynching as a hate crime under federal law.
The bill, introduced by Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush and named after Till, comes 120 years after Congress first considered anti-lynching legislation and after dozens of similar efforts were defeated.
The measure was approved 410 to 4 on Wednesday in the House and now goes to the White House, where President Donald Trump is expected to sign it. The Senate unanimously passed the legislation last year. It designates lynching as a federal hate crime punishable by up to life in prison, a fine, or both.
Rush, a Democrat whose Chicago district includes Till’s former home, said the bill will belatedly achieve justice for Till and more than 4,000 other lynching victims, most of them African Americans.
Till, who was black, was tortured and killed in 1955 after a white woman accused him of grabbing and whistling at her in a Mississippi grocery store. The killing shocked the country and stoked the civil rights movement.
“The importance of this bill cannot be overstated,” said Rush. “From Charlottesville to El Paso, we are still being confronted with the same violent racism and hatred that took the life of Emmett and so many others. The passage of this bill will send a strong and clear message to the nation that we will not tolerate this bigotry. “
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, called the bill “overdue.”
“Today’s long overdue House passage of this bill makes lynching a hate crime act within federal statute. Just last year an outside Ku Klux Klan group came to Dayton, Ohio, to rally. We came together as a community to rise above their hate. As a country we must acknowledge the deeply hateful past of lynchings, and today’s bill is a step forward in doing so.” Turner said.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who represents the area where Till was murdered, called the anti-lynching bill long overdue, but said: “No matter the length of time, it is never too late to ensure justice is served.”
Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey applauded House passage of the bill, which they co-sponsored in the Senate along with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. The three are the Senate’s only black members.
Congress has failed to pass anti-lynching legislation nearly 200 times, starting with a bill introduced in 1900 by North Carolina Rep. George Henry White, the only black member of Congress at the time.