It has finally happened. After failing to be passed over 200 times since the 1900s, The House has passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act.
This act was approved by lawmakers in a 422-3 vote to make lynching a federal hate crime. According to NBC, Thomas Massie, Chip Roy, and Andrew S. Clyde have voted against the measure.
Rep. Bobby Rush introduced that “under this new legislation, a crime can be prosecuted as lynching when a conspiracy to commit a hate crime results in death or serious bodily injury, and perpetrators could face up to 30 years in prison.”
He went on to say, “By passing my Emmett Till Antilyching 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.”
This bill was named after Emmett Till, who at 14-years-old was brutally beaten and killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman in a Mississippi store in 1955.