In a long-awaited win, the House of Representatives passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which would make lynching a federal hate crime. Yes, for those of you who did not know: Lynching was not a federal hate crime before. The bill passed Monday night, 422 votes to 3. The legislation would have passed with unanimous support if it weren't for three Republicans who voted against the bill, Reps. Andrew Clyde, Thomas Massie, and Chip Roy.
The bill aims to amend Section 249, Title 18 of the U.S. Code to specify lynching as a hate crime act. According to the bill, anyone who conspires to commit such an act resulting in death or serious bodily injury shall be punished by up to 30 years in jail.
Rep. Bobby L. Rush, who introduced the bill, issued a statement following the bill’s passage. He recalled the killing of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy after whom the bill is named. Till was killed in 1955 by a group that accused him of flirting with a white woman.
“I was eight years old when my mother put the photograph of Emmett Till’s brutalized body that ran in Jet magazine on our living room coffee table, pointed to it, and said, ‘This is why I brought my boys out of Albany, Georgia,’” Rush said. “That photograph shaped my consciousness as a black man in America, changed the course of my life, and changed our nation.”
Rush also called out Clyde, Massie, and Roy for their votes against the bill. He added that one of the lawmakers previously described lynching as “an example of justice.”
Of course, they don’t even feel bad. Massie took to Twitter to explain his “no” vote, claiming that penalties for “hate” impact and endanger other liberties, such as freedom of speech. He also argued that lynching is illegal in all states already, so the bill was not needed.
Roy followed suit and issued a statement Tuesday explaining his decision, as well.
“Lynching is an unspeakably heinous crime,” he said. “But this bill doesn’t have anything to do with lynching, other than its name.” He called the bill “an effort to advance a woke agenda under the guise of correcting racial injustice” and said it is a “matter for the states.”
Roy is not new to backlash due to his ignorant and racist comments. Last year, during a hearing about AAPI hate crimes, the GOP legislator said: “We believe in justice. There’s old sayings in Texas about ‘find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree.’ You know, we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys. That’s what we believe.”
Lawmakers and others alike condemned his comment, calling it a dog whistle.
But despite this GOP opposition, the bill passed—making it the first time Congress codified lynching as a hate crime. While several anti-lynching bills have been introduced to Congress since 1918, they have always been stopped by a Senate filibuster.
According to the NAACP, at least 4,743 lynchings occurred in the U.S. between 1882 and 1968. The number of actual lynchings is expected to be higher, as many went unreported. Approximately 72% of all lynching victims were Black, followed by other people of color.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted that the passing of the bill was made possible by "generations of brave activists," including Rush. "Nearly seven decades later, the brutal murder of Emmett Till is forever seared into our collective memory," Pelosi said.
"Sadly, hateful attacks are not yet a relic of the past: from the scourge of police violence to assaults on houses of worship. That is why the Democratic Congress is hard at work empowering our legal system with more tools to bring perpetrators to justice."