It’s been decades since the tragic death of Emmett Till took place at the hands of a group of white men. Earlier today (March 29th), President Joe Biden made moves to rectify the infamous murder by signing the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, which officially makes lynching a federal hate crime for the first time in U.S. history.
As HuffPost notes, a crime can now “be prosecuted as lynching when death or serious bodily injury results from a conspiracy to commit a hate crime.” Anyone convicted could reportedly face upwards of 30 years in prison for their crimes.
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Earlier this afternoon, POTUS tweeted, “This afternoon, I’m signing the long-overdue Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law – making lynching a federal hate crime.”
“Living up to our founding principles as a nation means coming to terms with the sins of our past. Today, we take another step toward that more perfect union,” he concluded.
Till’s cousin, Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. was with him at the time of his death, and also happened to attend Biden’s Tuesday signing. In a statement, he shared that his family “was devastated that no one was held responsible for the abduction, torture, and murder of Emmett.”
It’s been noted that lawmakers have spent the last century trying to pass nearly 200 anti-lynching bills, but didn’t find success until today. “We are heartened by this new law,” Parker Jr.’s statement went on.
“Which shows that Emmett still speaks in powerful ways to make sure that no one can get away with a racist crime like this ever again.”