President Joe Biden has signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, which now makes lynching a federal hate crime for the first time in U.S. history.
Now, a crime could “be prosecuted as a lynching when death or serious bodily injury results from a conspiracy to commit a hate crime,” per the Huffington Post, with those convicted facing upwards of 30 years in prison.
“This afternoon, I’m signing the long overdue Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law — making lynching a federal hate crime, Biden tweeted.
“Living up to our founding principles as a nation means coming to terms with the sins of our past. Today, we take another step toward that more perfect union,” he added.
Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Till’s cousin who was with him when he was murdered by white men in 1955, attended the Tuesday signing and said in a statement that his family “was devastated that no one was held responsible for the abduction, torture, and murder of Emmett.” Till’s death during the civil rights era, and his open-casket funeral, shined a light on racism in the U.S. nearly 70 years ago, and lawmakers themselves have tried to pass nearly 200 anti-lynching bills since 1918.
“But we are heartened by this new law, which shows that Emmett still speaks in powerful ways to make sure that no one can get away with a racist crime like this ever again,” Parker said.
Rep. Bobby Rush, who led the bill in the House, shared in a statement that he was thinking of “Emmett Till and the countless other victims of this brutal crime whose names we do not know,” and called the signing “a victory for the City of Chicago, a victory for America, and a victory for Black America in particular.”
“His lynching … had a ripple effect that we still feel today; it began a movement to reckon with freedom, justice, and equality all around the world,” Rush added.
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