Congress approved a bill on Monday that would make lynching a federal hate crime for the first time in US history.
The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act – named for the black teenager who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955 – is one of some 200 bills that have been introduced in the past century to ban lynching in the US.
“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,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.
The House overwhelmingly approved a similar measure in 2020, but it was blocked in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Last week, the House overwhelmingly approved a revised version and the Senate passed the bill unanimously late Monday, sending it to President Biden’s desk to sign into law.
The bill allows the federal government to prosecute a crime as a lynching when a conspiracy to commit a hate crime results in death or serious bodily injury. The maximum sentence under the Anti-Lynching Act is 30 years.
With Post wires
