Lynching is officially classified as a federal hate crime.
On Monday, The House of Representatives voted 422-3 to approve the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. According to Rep. Bobby Rush (Dem. Ill), this will allow crimes to be prosecuted as a lynching if someone is killed or injured in the commission of a hate crime.
“By passing my Emmett Till Antilynching Act, the House has sent a resounding message that our nation is finally reckoning with one of the darkest and most horrific periods of our history, and that we are morally and legally committed to changing course,” Rush said in a prepared statement.
Since 1900, Rush said, Congress has tried and failed more than 200 times to pass federal antilynching legislation. An earlier version of the bill passed the House in February 2020, but it was blocked in the Senate.
Republican Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky; and Chip Roy of Texas voted against the legislation.
The bill is named after Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy who was murdered by two white men in Mississippi in 1955. The young boy, who was from Chicago, was visiting family when witnesses say they saw Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam kidnapped him.
According to reports…a white woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, accused Till of whistling at her. Years later it was revealed in a book that she confessed to lying.
Till’s body, severely beaten and shot in the head, was later found in the Tallahatchie River.
His mother, Mamie Till Mobley, opted for an open-casket funeral for her son so that the public could see what was done to him.
Till’s murder sparked a big civil rights movement and is still making a huge impact.
“By passing this bill today, the House of Representatives has sent a clear message that such violent actions – motivated by hatred and bigotry – will not be tolerated in this country. I thank Congressman Rush for his leadership on this important issue and for his attention to history. The Senate should take up this legislation and send it to President Biden’s desk without delay,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (Dem. NY) said in a statement.
