Lynching would be classified as a federal hate crime under legislation passed Monday in the House.
The House voted 422-3 to approve the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which would allow crimes to be prosecuted as a lynching if someone is killed or injured in the commission of a hate crime, according to the bill's sponsor Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill.
Republican Reps. Andrew Clyde, of Georgia; Thomas Massie, of Kentucky; and Chip Roy, of Texas, voted against the legislation.
“By passing my Emmett Till Antilynching 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,” Rush said in a prepared statement.
Since 1900, Rush said Congress tried and failed more than 200 times to pass federal antilynching legislation. A previous version of the bill passed the House in February 2020, but it was blocked in the Senate.
Between 1877 and 1950, about 4,400 Black people were lynched in the U.S., according to the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit that offers legal services to those who are wrongly convicted among others.The NAACP counted about 4,700 lynchings between 1882 and 1968, and more than 70% of those killed were Black.
Both organizations, though, noted that the numbers likely were underreported.
More:America has a history of lynching, but it's not a federal crime. The House just voted to change that
The bill is named for Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy whose 1955 murder in Mississippi was among the events that touched off the civil rights movement. Till, from Chicago, was visiting family when witnesses said two white men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, kidnapped him. Till’s body, badly beaten and shot in the head, was found in the Tallahatchie River.
Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, had an open casket funeral for her son.
"By passing this bill today, the House of Representatives has sent a clear message that such violent actions — motivated by hatred and bigotry — will not be tolerated in this country. I thank Congressman Rush for his leadership on this important issue and for his attention to history. The Senate should take up this legislation and send it to President Biden's desk without delay,” said House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., in a prepared statement.
In voting against the bill, Roy said in a prepared statement that lynching is a "heinous crime" but that it raises penalties for existing crimes "including those that are unrelated to lynching — such as gender identity — in an effort to advance a woke agenda under the guise of correcting racial injustice."
Massie said on his Twitter account that he had several concerns about the bill, including that it might infringe on free speech and that some sections could invite overly broad enforcement.
Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
Contributing: USA TODAY reporter Deborah Barfield Berry
