To say it’s been a long time coming would most definitely be an understatement; but here we are almost a century later and congress has officially identified the horrific act of lynching a federal hate crime once and for all!
The Daily News reports that legislation has approved the new bill, which will be named after the late Emmett Till.
Till is identified as a 14 year old child from Mississippi ultimately toured and killed in 1955 by two towns men upon false accusations. Reports read that the House vote consisted of a landslide win of 410-4.
It is a well known fact that civil rights leaders and advocates have worked vigorously to make this law a reality over 100 years ago.
It has been indicated that Senate passed a somewhat similar bill last year, however the house version has to be approved by the higher ups before it’s officially signed off by Donald Trump.
“The importance of this bill cannot be overstated, Emmett Till Antilynching Act,” states Illinois Representative Bobby Rush.
“From Charlottesville to El Paso, we are still being confronted with the same violent racism and hatred that took the life of Emmett and so many others.”
Rush continues, “The passage of this bill will send a strong and clear message to the nation that we will not tolerate this bigotry.”