BY EMMA HUERTA
On February 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a monumental bill to support racial equality. Bill H.R. 35, more commonly known as the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, has now made lynching a hate crime under federal law. It was named in honor of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African American boy who was brutally beaten and lynched in 1955 after a white woman accused him of whistling at her in a grocery store.
Yes, you read that right. The almost medieval-style practice of lynching, a form of informal public executions used to terrorize African Americans after the Civil War, was just now made federally illegal. After nearly 200 past tries. In the 21st century.
That’s not even the worst part. Although the illegalization of this 8th and 14th Amendment violation– cruel and unusual punishment and due process, respectively– was evidently necessary, it was still voted against by some. An astonishing 410 representatives voted in favor, yet four voted against the passing of the bill– Louie Gohmert (R) of Texas, Thomas Massie (R) of Kentucky, Ted Yoho (R) of Florida and Justin Amash (I) of Michigan.
As a result of this, the bill is making national headlines for more than its monumental motion towards civil rights after ages of legal white supremacy. It also has caused massive criticism of lawmakers for both taking so long and still slightly turning their back on racial inequalities, all inherently shedding light on how broken the American judicial system is.
In fact, the bill’s sponsor, Bobby L. Rush (D) of Illinois, stated that the bill will “send a strong message that violence, and race-based violence in particular, has no place in American society.”
What this bill stands for is not solely to prevent any more deaths from lynching itself, but also to represent the evolution from a period in America that facilitated the mistreatment of the African American community. The practice of lynching symbolized the continuation of a form of indirect, yet legal, slavery in which whites could’ve basically stripped Black people of their rights at their own discretion, as well as the toleration of abuse from organizations such as the infamous Ku Klux Klan. So, one would argue that the banning of this practice is incredibly serious.
In fact, the bill’s sponsor, Bobby L. Rush (D) of Illinois, stated that the bill will “send a strong message that violence, and race-based violence in particular, has no place in American society.”
Stated plainly, the fact that some lawmakers could not bring themselves to vote to condemn the outdated and violent practice of lynching is just flat-out disgusting.
Although Amash, one of the representatives against H.R. 35, tried to defend his position on the matter, his explanation just reeks of ignorance of the institutional racism within the U.S. judicial system that has– and still does– affected multitudes of African Americans. He claims that the complete banning of lynching would later allow the unconstitutional banning of punishments perhaps necessary to criminal justice.
However, that completely twists what the bill is all about, and honestly makes an unnecessary conspiracy over legislation that was long overdue years ago for the protection of a ruthlessly targeted demographic.
Regardless of its unwarranted opposers, the 410-4 passing of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act marks a historical event for civil rights, and avenges those who– like the bill’s namesake– faced this horrid punishment. Hopefully, this will be one step closer to really making America the “free” country so many claim it to be, and can be followed by more progress in this right direction.
Photo courtesy of Bobby L. Rush’s website
