On the recordFebruary 28, 2022
Madam Speaker, this bill would, incredibly and tragically, for the first time make lynching a Federal hate crime in America. Despite more than 200 attempts to pass antilynching legislation through Congress over the past 120 years, lynching has never been designated as a Federal crime. And this isn't just a horror of the past. Unfortunately, we still see these horrible instances. This is reality still today because murders are prosecuted at the local level, this historical injustice meant that 99 percent of lynching perpetrators escaped punishment. This bill is long overdue. Today I will be voting for Representative Bobby Rush's antilynching bill to finally close this dark chapter of our history. We cannot bring back Emmett Till or the thousands of others whose precious lives were lost in the horrible acts of racial terror, but passing this antilynching act is a historic step forward justice and a signal that our Nation will finally reckon with this dark chapter of our history.
