On Thursday, the US House of Representatives finally passed a bill that will classify lynching as a federal hate crime. The law, called the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, was named for a young boy who was lynched in the 1950s in a racist attack in Mississippi.
Till’s shocking death and brutal treatment by his vicious murderers sparked numerous protests. It helped kick-start the Civil Rights Movement that would come to define the late 50s and most of the 60s. The House passed the bipartisan bill easily, with a vote of 410 to 4. Three Republicans voted against the bill: Thomas Massie, Ted Yoho, and Louie Gohmert. Independent Justin Amash also voted against the bill.
If Massie, Yoho, Gohmert and Amash opposing the bill baffles you, you’re not alone. Defending his decision, Yoho told reporters that he thought the bill was an “overreach of the federal government” and that it somehow “trampled” on state’s rights.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor Tuesday, praising the lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill. “Today Congress has an opportunity to acknowledge its responsibility for its historic failure to confront and end the horror of lynching in America.”
The house passed the bill, which means it’s nearly law. A bill with the same wording has already passed in the Senate. In fact, a version of the bill had already passed the House. But it differed slightly from the version the Senate passed. In order to make the bill law, both chambers of Congress have to vote on the same version of the bill.
In the Senate, three black senators introduced the anti-lynching bill: Tim Scott, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. The bill passed in the Senate, but it has a different name than the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. This means some clerical action will need to happen in Congress before the bill can become law.
While it may sound like strange lawyer advice, the two chambers must ratify the exact same version of a bill for it to become law. This is why many laws don’t pass when the House is Democratic and the Senate is Republican.
The bill states, “The crime of lynching succeeded slavery as the ultimate expression of racism in the United States following Reconstruction…at least 4,742 people, predominantly African Americans, were reported lynched in the United States between 1882 and 1968.”
