The House of Representatives has finally passed Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which would make lynching a federal hate crime.
Since 1900, lawmakers have failed to pass anti-lynching laws more than 200 times. On Monday, in a 422 – 3 vote, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was officiated passed in the House. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was named after 14-year-old Emmett Till was kidnapped, brutally beaten, tortured and shot in the head by white supremacists in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman.
NBC News reports that a crime can now be prosecuted as lynching when a person tries to commit a hate crime that results in death or serious bodily injury. If found guilty, a person could serve up to 30 years in prison. Three legislators voted against the bill’s passing; those individuals include Republican Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky; and Chip Roy of Texas.
In a statement on Monday, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., who introduced the bill, said he was just eight years old when he saw the image of Emmett’s “brutalized body.”
“That photograph shaped my consciousness as a Black man in America, changed the course of my life, and changed our nation,” said Rush. “But modern-day lynchings like the murder of Ahmaud Arbery make abundantly clear that the racist hatred and terror that fueled the lynching of Emmett Till lynching are far too prevalent in America to this day.”
Of those that have been recorded, Rush says there have been nearly 6,500 lynchings in the U.S. between 1865 and 1950. The bill now goes to to the Senate.
