On the recordFebruary 26, 2020
Today, I rise in support of H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, a bill that will specify lynching as a hate crime. This bill corrects a longstanding omission from Federal civil rights law. Historically, nearly 200 antilynching bills were filibustered out of existence or just plain ignored. Lynchings were violent and public acts of torture used for nearly a century to enforce racial segregation. This legislation is long overdue. Lynchings were wrong, immoral, and inhumane. This bill is named in honor of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American youth from Chicago who was lynched in my district in 1955 while visiting an uncle in Mississippi. There is a memorial dedicated to Mr. Till in my district. Unfortunately, it is the only memorial in America that has to be bulletproof. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
