MEMPHIS, Tenn. — There's no time like the present.
Since 1918, Congress has tried 200 times to pass anti-lynching legislation. On Monday, it finally happened. The Senate passed it unanimously, and all but three Republicans voted for it in the house.
The bill is called the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. It's in honor of the 14-year-old who was lynched in Mississippi in the 1950s. He was accused of offending a white woman by whistling at her, and his killers got off, even though after the trial, they admitted to it.
Fast forward to 2022, and you might be asking why do we need to make lynching a federal hate crime? After all, lynching is against the law in all 50 states. Murder is also illegal.
Here's why: just because it's illegal, police and prosecutors in some states still wouldn't seek federal charges. Now, federal prosecutors have a tool that allows them to step in when racism gets in the way.