The Emmett Till Antilynching Act appeared and passed before the House today, marking a historic vote against the human rights crime of lynching.
Today on February 26, 2020, the US House of Representatives voted to make lynching a federal hate crime. The legislation, named the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, passed with wide bipartisan support at 410 votes to 4.
This successful passing of this act is historic. Why?
Within the past 100 years, Congress has attempted nearly 200 times to pass antilynching legislation into law...and has failed EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.
Now though, President Trump is expected to sign this act into law within the next four days.
About the Act
The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is named after the young boy Emmett Till who was murdered in 1955 by a racist attack which ended with the 14 year old boy being lynched. Why did a mob of white people condemn the child to death? Emmett had been accused of offending a white woman while in a grocery store. His violent death was the final straw that brought the Civil Rights
movement to the forefront of the nation.
The legislation states:
"In the 20th century, lynching occurred mostly in southern states by white southerners against black southerners... Mass, mob-like lynchings were barbaric by nature, characterized by members of the mob, mostly white southerners, shooting, burning and mutilating the victim's body alive." "To heal past and present racial injustice, Congress must make lynching a federal crime so our nation can begin reconciliation,"
House Representative Bobby Nash the Act's frontrunner, had this to say on the matter:
“For too long federal law has remained conspicuously silent.” “Many think lynching is a relic of the past but recent events have shown us this is not the case,” Rush said. “Instead we have seen a rise in racist violence that has culminated in events like the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia or the racially motivated shooting in El Paso, Texas.”
It's far past the time where this legislation should have been enacted, but it's better late than never considering the rise in racism, xenophobia, and white supremacy motivated crimes rising in the US.