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"After more than 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching, Congress is finally succeeding in taking a long-overdue action by passing the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act," declared Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. It took 244 years but the United States has finally recognized lynching as a federal hate crime. With the bill passing both the House and Senate, it will go to President Biden’s desk where he will sign it into law.
The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was sponsored by a bipartisan group of Senators including Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey and Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act makes conspiracy to commit certain pre-existing hate crimes illegal and punishable by up to 30 years in prison if the crimes result in death or serious bodily injury. It amends the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and prior hate crime laws to define lynching as any bias-motivated offense which results in death or bodily injury. The bill is named after a 14-year-old African American boy who was lynched by two white men after being accused of whistling at a white woman at a grocery store.
"Lynching is a longstanding and uniquely American weapon of racial terror that has for decades been used to maintain the white hierarchy," Senator Bobby Rush of Illinois said in a statement Monday evening. "Unanimous Senate passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act sends a clear and emphatic message that our nation will no longer ignore this shameful chapter of our history and that the full force of the U.S. federal government will always be brought to bear against those who commit this heinous act." According to Senator Rush, the absence of anti-lynching laws has meant 99% of lynching perpetrators escaped punishment.
www.independent.co.uk
The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was sponsored by a bipartisan group of Senators including Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey and Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act makes conspiracy to commit certain pre-existing hate crimes illegal and punishable by up to 30 years in prison if the crimes result in death or serious bodily injury. It amends the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and prior hate crime laws to define lynching as any bias-motivated offense which results in death or bodily injury. The bill is named after a 14-year-old African American boy who was lynched by two white men after being accused of whistling at a white woman at a grocery store.
"Lynching is a longstanding and uniquely American weapon of racial terror that has for decades been used to maintain the white hierarchy," Senator Bobby Rush of Illinois said in a statement Monday evening. "Unanimous Senate passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act sends a clear and emphatic message that our nation will no longer ignore this shameful chapter of our history and that the full force of the U.S. federal government will always be brought to bear against those who commit this heinous act." According to Senator Rush, the absence of anti-lynching laws has meant 99% of lynching perpetrators escaped punishment.
US finally votes to classify lynching as a hate crime after over a century of trying
Effort spearheaded by bipartisan group of legislators
www.independent.co.uk
