[Pages H1197-H1203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

EMMETT TILL ANTILYNCHING ACT

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 35) to amend section 249 of title 18, United States Code, to
specify lynching as a hate crime act, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 35

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Emmett Till Antilynching
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) The crime of lynching succeeded slavery as the ultimate
expression of racism in the United States following
Reconstruction.
(2) Lynching was a widely acknowledged practice in the
United States until the middle of the 20th century.
(3) Lynching was a crime that occurred throughout the
United States, with documented incidents in all but 4 States.
(4) At least 4,742 people, predominantly African Americans,
were reported lynched in the United States between 1882 and
1968.
(5) Ninety-nine percent of all perpetrators of lynching
escaped from punishment by State or local officials.
(6) Lynching prompted African Americans to form the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(referred to in this section as the ``NAACP'') and prompted
members of B'nai B'rith to found the Anti-Defamation League.
(7) Mr. Walter White, as a member of the NAACP and later as
the executive secretary of the NAACP from 1931 to 1955,
meticulously investigated lynchings in the United States and
worked tirelessly to end segregation and racialized terror.
(8) Nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in
Congress during the first half of the 20th century.
(9) Between 1890 and 1952, 7 Presidents petitioned Congress
to end lynching.
(10) Between 1920 and 1940, the House of Representatives
passed 3 strong anti-lynching measures.
(11) Protection against lynching was the minimum and most
basic of Federal responsibilities, and the Senate considered
but failed to enact anti-lynching legislation despite
repeated requests by civil rights groups, Presidents, and the
House of Representatives to do so.
(12) The publication of ``Without Sanctuary: Lynching
Photography in America'' helped bring greater awareness and
proper recognition of the victims of lynching.
(13) Only by coming to terms with history can the United
States effectively champion human rights abroad.
(14) An apology offered in the spirit of true repentance
moves the United States toward reconciliation and may become
central to a new understanding, on which improved racial
relations can be forged.
(15) Having concluded that a reckoning with our own history
is the only way the country can effectively champion human
rights abroad, 90 Members of the United States Senate agreed
to Senate Resolution 39, 109th Congress, on June 13, 2005, to
apologize to the victims of lynching and the descendants of
those victims for the failure of the Senate to enact anti-
lynching legislation.
(16) The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which
opened to the public in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 26,
2018, is the Nation's first memorial dedicated to the legacy
of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching,
African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim
Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary
presumptions of guilt and police violence.
(17) Notwithstanding the Senate's apology and the
heightened awareness and education about the Nation's legacy
with lynching, it is wholly necessary and appropriate for the
Congress to enact legislation, after 100 years of
unsuccessful legislative efforts, finally to make lynching a
Federal crime.
(18) Further, it is the sense of Congress that criminal
action by a group increases the likelihood that the criminal
object of that group will be successfully attained and
decreases the probability that the individuals involved will
depart from their path of criminality. Therefore, it is
appropriate to specify criminal penalties for the crime of
lynching, or any attempt or conspiracy to commit lynching.
(19) The United States Senate agreed to unanimously Senate
Resolution 118, 115th Congress, on April 5, 2017,
``[c]ondemning hate crime and any other form of racism,
religious or ethnic bias, discrimination, incitement to
violence, or animus targeting a minority in the United
States'' and taking notice specifically of Federal Bureau of
Investigation statistics demonstrating that ``among single-
bias hate crime incidents in the United States, 59.2 percent
of victims were targeted due to racial, ethnic, or ancestral
bias, and among those victims, 52.2 percent were victims of
crimes motivated by the offenders' anti-Black or anti-African
American bias''.
(20) On September 14, 2017, President Donald J. Trump
signed into law Senate Joint Resolution 49 (Public Law 115-
58; 131 Stat. 1149), wherein Congress ``condemn[ed] the
racist violence and domestic terrorist attack that took place
between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville,
Virginia'' and ``urg[ed] the President and his administration
to speak out against hate groups that espouse racism,
extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy;
and use all resources available to the President and the
President's Cabinet to address the growing prevalence of
those hate groups in the United States''.
(21) Senate Joint Resolution 49 (Public Law 115-58; 131
Stat. 1149) specifically took notice of ``hundreds of torch-
bearing White nationalists, White supremacists, Klansmen, and
neo-Nazis [who] chanted racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-
immigrant slogans and violently engaged with counter-
demonstrators on and around the grounds of the University of
Virginia in Charlottesville'' and that these groups
``reportedly are organizing similar events in other cities in
the United States and communities everywhere are concerned
about the growing and open display of hate and violence being
perpetrated by those groups''.
(22) Lynching was a pernicious and pervasive tool that was
used to interfere with multiple aspects of life--including
the exercise of Federally protected rights, as enumerated in
section 245 of title 18, United States Code, housing rights,
as enumerated in section 901 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968
(42 U.S.C. 3631), and the free exercise of religion, as
enumerated in section 247 of title 18, United States Code.
Interference with these

[[Page H1198]]

rights was often effectuated by multiple offenders and
groups, rather than isolated individuals. Therefore,
prohibiting conspiracies to violate each of these rights
recognizes the history of lynching in the United States and
serves to prohibit its use in the future.

SEC. 3. LYNCHING.

(a) Offense.--Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following:

``Sec. 250. Lynching

``Whoever conspires with another person to violate section
245, 247, or 249 of this title or section 901 of the Civil
Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3631) shall be punished in the
same manner as a completed violation of such section, except
that if the maximum term of imprisonment for such completed
violation is less than 10 years, the person may be imprisoned
for not more than 10 years.''.
(b) Table of Sections Amendment.--The table of sections for
chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by
inserting after the item relating to section 249 the
following:
``250. Lynching.''.

SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall
be determined by reference to the latest statement titled
``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act,
submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such
statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Nadler) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.

General Leave

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act is long
overdue legislation that would criminalize lynching for the first time
under Federal law.
The term ``lynching'' generally refers to premeditated acts of
violence often resulting in death carried out by a mob in order to
punish an alleged transgressor or to strike fear among a targeted
group.
H.R. 35 is named in honor of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African
American youth from Chicago, who was lynched in particularly gruesome
fashion while visiting an uncle in Mississippi in 1955. His murder and
the antilynching movement that followed set the stage for the creation
of the civil rights movement that we recognize today.
Generally, they could not rely on law enforcement to protect them,
because they understood that the lynchings occurring throughout the
South were a very deliberate campaign to subjugate our Black
population. And this very deliberate campaign was started in the 1870s
by the Ku Klux Klan and carried on right up to the present day through
terrorism and forced Jim Crow.
Because they realized this, African Americans mobilized their own
efforts to combat the terror of lynching and the threat of racial
violence through grassroots activism and the founding of integrated
social justice organizations.
During the period between the Civil War and World War II, thousands
of African Americans were lynched in the United States, mostly in the
South, but not entirely, as a means of racial subordination and
enforcing white supremacy. These violent incidents were largely
tolerated by State and Federal officials, in fact, often promoted by
State and Federal officials. They profoundly impacted race relations
and shaped the geographic, political, social, and economic conditions
of African American communities in ways that are still evident today.
Although the civil rights conspiracy statute does not specify the
offense of lynching as a Federal crime, this section has been used by
the Department of Justice to prosecute civil rights-era crimes and hate
crimes that were described as lynching in public discourse.
It remains important, however, to enact Federal antilynching
legislation to acknowledge this shameful chapter in American history
and to send a clear message that such violations, such violent actions
motivated by hatred and bigotry will never again be tolerated in this
country.
The first Federal antilynching legislation was introduced in 1900,
almost 120 years ago, by Congressman George Henry White, the only
African American member of Congress at that time. Unfortunately,
neither his bill nor any other antilynching bills managed to pass the
Congress. Antilynching bills were routinely defeated on this floor.
Today, we act to correct this historical injustice that should rest
heavily on the conscience of Members of Congress. I thank the gentleman
from Illinois (Mr. Rush) for his leadership on this important issue and
for his attention to history. I also thank the gentleman from Nebraska
(Mr. Bacon) for his support of this legislation and the many cosponsors
of this bill who helped pave the way for its passage today.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. This
act recalls a horrible period in our Nation's history. In fact, many
can claim this bill is a century too late. After all, the first
antilynching bill was introduced, as was just said by the chairman,
over 100 years ago, but it never became law.
Back then, lynchings were a popular atrocity committed by the Ku Klux
Klan against the Black community, Catholics, and Jews, among others.
Lynching, which is used to intimidate a certain populous, is the
practice of murder by a group of people by extrajudicial action.
Today, while not eliminated, and we are all striving for that, groups
on all sides need to understand that this kind of intimidation of
groups is not tolerated. That is why today these influences have been
diminished but they are not resolved, and we want to continue to fight
against this. This is why I support H.R. 35.
There is one thing I would like to make a little clearer and probably
more to the point, and that is that I believe H.R. 35, this measure,
will ensure that those who engage in mob violence that results in death
are dealt with appropriately in the Federal system. I think it would
have been more appropriate to actually place a certain penalty in this
bill as well, such as a defined number of years for committing this
offense since the justice for such a heinous act should be swift and
certain. They should know what they are getting.
I agree we can move forward with this, but I will disagree with my
Democratic colleagues that we chose not to put that in this bill. I
think that is something we can look forward to in the future. But this
is a good bill. It needs to move forward.
I am proud to support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support
H.R. 35.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush), the sponsor of this bill.
Mr. RUSH. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want
to say to the chairman, I am just so delighted and thankful and
grateful for all of his work on behalf of this bill.
Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise today in support of my bill, H.R.
35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act.
Lynching, Madam Speaker, plain and simple, is an American evil. This
atrocity is comparable to the French use of the guillotine, the Roman
Empire's use of crucifixion, and the British use of drawing and
quartering as a tool of terrorism. And for too long, Madam Speaker,
Federal law against lynching has remained conspicuously silent.
In 1918, 102 years ago, a Congressman from Missouri, Leonidas C.
Dyer, introduced the first antilynching legislation to actually pass
the House, a bill that would subsequently die in the Senate.
Therefore, I am pleased that the language that we are voting on today
has already been approved by the Senate, and I am exceptionally hopeful
that it will face no further obstacles on its path to the President's
desk.
Madam Speaker, many may consider lynching to be a relic of the past,
but as we all know, unfortunately, recent

[[Page H1199]]

events have shown us that this is not the case. Instead, we have seen a
rise in race-based violence that has culminated in events like the
white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, or the racially
motivated mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
That is why, Madam Speaker, it is so important that we stand united
today as a body and as a Congress to pass this bill. In passing this
bill today, we send a resoundingly strong message about what we are as
a Nation, our country's values and, more importantly, what we as
Americans stand for and what we will tolerate and what we will not
tolerate.
Today, Madam Speaker, we send a strong message that violence and
race-based violence, in particular, has no place in American society.
That is why I am so proud to have introduced this bill, and I am even
prouder that we are considering it on the floor today.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman
from Illinois (Mr. Rush) and his passion there with that speech.
It is my privilege now to introduce someone who has a similar passion
and also has worked on this bill and done a great deal for it.
Madam Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bacon).
Mr. BACON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank
Chairman Rush for his leadership, his heart for this bill, and I thank
the chairman and the ranking member for giving me a chance to speak and
for their comments.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 35, the Emmett Till
Antilynching Act. I am pleased to see the House take steps in finally
addressing this issue. Like many, despite our Nation's ugly history of
lynchings, I was shocked to learn that there was no law making lynching
a Federal crime.
My hometown area of Omaha is not unlike many other towns across the
country with a gruesome past of lynching. George Smith was murdered in
October 1891, and this past fall marked the 100th anniversary of the
murder of Will Brown on the steps of the Douglas County Courthouse
during the Red Summer. The hands of lawless and angry mobs in Omaha
beat and lynched these men in what only can be characterized as racial
terrorism.
We cannot simply wash away the past, but in order for our Nation to
heal from past racial injustice, Congress must specify criminal
penalties for the crime of lynching or any attempt or conspiracy to
commit lynching.
With at least 5,000 lynchings in our Nation's history, this bill is
important to the acknowledgment that evil did occur, that millions felt
fear in their houses, their homes, and their communities, that many
feared for the lives of their dads, their husbands, and sons, and that
this formal acknowledgment will help facilitate reconciliation.
Last year, I was approached by local African American community
leaders from Omaha to look into the antilynching legislation, and I
felt that the language from Senator Harris' bill that passed with
overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate was the right way to
proceed. It is because of these reasons I was honored to introduce the
Senate-passed language in the House 8 months ago.
The bill we are voting on today contains the language of my bill that
I introduced 8 months ago verbatim, but I do not complain because in
the end I want results. We want results. We are closer than we have
ever been to making lynching a Federal crime. This is an historical
event.
This action is long overdue, going back 200 attempts since 1918, and
today we are going to get it done. We are going to make history.
It has been my privilege to be an advocate on this issue. I applaud
Senator Harris and Congressman Bobby Rush, who have been championing
this for years. We will finally get this to the President's desk to be
signed into law in order to close one of the ugliest chapters in our
history once and for all.

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Bass).
Ms. BASS. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 35.
Today, the House will pass the Emmett Till Antilynching Act and
designate lynching as a hate crime under Federal law. But we must
admit, it is a travesty that it has taken 120 years for the U.S.
Government to address this crime. In fact, the first bill to outlaw
lynching was introduced in 1900.
Make no mistake, lynching is terrorism. It is terrorism directed at
African Americans. Lynching was commonly used for 256 years during the
period of enslavement and for almost 100 years after slavery, well into
the 1950s.
And, frankly, even today, periodically you will hear news stories of
nooses being left on college campuses, in work locker rooms to threaten
and terrorize African Americans, a vicious reminder that the past is
never that far away. In fact, the last known victim of lynching was
just 25 years ago, and for the first time in history, the perpetrator
was actually convicted and executed.
We often like to only talk about the glorious parts of our history,
and it is difficult for us to hear some of the ugly parts, but it is
important that we do hear and understand our history in full. This form
of terrorism was used to kill Black people and terrorize and terrify
those who were not murdered into understanding they were not considered
as humans.
Today, in Montgomery, Alabama, there is the National Memorial for
Peace and Justice, and I hope that everyone has an opportunity to see
that because it is the only place in our country that actually
documents in every State where known lynchings were taken place and in
every county.
Lynchings were advertised in newspapers as recreational events that
families would attend. They would have picnics while they watched
brutal murders take place.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.

{time} 1230

Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentlewoman.
Ms. BASS. Madam Speaker, I want to leave with a 1930 editorial in the
Raleigh News and Observer that noted the elation of the audience
witnessing a lynching as follows: ``Men joked loudly at the sight of
the bleeding body. . . . Girls giggled as the flies fed on the blood
that dripped from the Negro's nose.''
Lynchings were brutal, violent, and savage public spectacles. As I
said, they were advertised in newspapers, and postcards were sold.
Souvenirs were made from victims' remains.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I would inquire of the
gentlewoman, Ms. Bass, if she needs some more time.
Ms. BASS. Madam Speaker, I do not need additional time.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I was going to give the
gentlewoman some of my time, but she is done. I just wanted to make
sure.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Green).
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairperson, and the
ranking member as well, for bringing this legislation to the floor
today. I also thank the majority leader, who happens to be in the room.
Madam Speaker, this piece of legislation is more than 100 years in
the making, and it does deal with lynching, but truth be told, more
than a lynching took place.
Emmett Till's body was mutilated. He was shot in the head, and he was
thrown in the Tallahatchie River. His mother insisted on an open
casket. This was the thing that sent shock waves across this country,
causing people to rethink what was happening in the South.
Yes, he was lynched. Yes, this is the unfinished business of this
House. And we have much more unfinished business.
Madam Speaker, I do want to commend Congressman Bobby Rush for the
outstanding job that he has done, as well as his cosponsors, in
bringing this legislation to the floor. It is time. In fact, it is past
time. And I am grateful that this House is taking up this legislation.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from

[[Page H1200]]

Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished majority leader of the House.
Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
The previous speaker, Mr. Green from Texas, said that it is time,
that it is past time. But it is never too late to do the right thing.
I am pleased that this will be a bipartisan vote.
This is about Emmett Till. It is about lynching. It is about
violence. It is about hate. But in a larger sense, this is about who we
are as a country, who we are as a country that said: ``We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.''
Surely, our Founders today would have said all men and women are
created equal.
But in the eyes of two murderers, Emmett Till was neither equal nor a
fellow human being, but a dehumanized being, undeserving of protection
or of decency.
To the surprise, I think, of probably many Americans, Madam Speaker,
lynching has not been described as a hate crime. We will do that today.
Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Collins and Chairman Nadler for bringing
this bill to the floor. The House will make that determination today. I
am proud to bring this legislation to the floor as majority leader.
A broadcaster in our area, Joe Madison, came up to me some year and a
half ago and said: Why can't you pass lynching legislation?
I had no answer, so I went to the chair of the Congressional Black
Caucus, who spoke just earlier, Karen Bass, the former speaker of the
California Assembly, one of the leaders in this House. I said to her:
``Karen, I want to make sure that we get lynching legislation on the
floor.''
I talked to my friend, Bobby Rush, who I have been a close friend
of for more than two decades, a leader in this House, a leader on the
Energy and Commerce Committee and in this House. I talked to him about
it. I talked to him about his legislation.
Two Senators also had legislation. I am glad that they were able to
come together and that we have this legislation before us.
Bobby Rush represents the district in which Emmett Till lived.
Emmett Till took a summer vacation to Mississippi. It was his last
vacation. He came to be, and continues to this day to be, a symbol of
the terror and hate and atrocities and prejudice directed against
American citizens whose color of skin was different than some others.
This should be a lesson to us all.
Then you see movies like ``Hidden Figures,'' the heroine of which
just died a few days ago at the age of 101, or ``The Help,'' or
``Harriet,'' Harriet Tubman from my State, to see the violence that was
visited on our fellow human beings because of the color of their skin.
If Elijah Cummings, my colleague, were alive today, he would say:
``We are better than this.''
That is what this legislation is saying: We are better than this.
Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Rush, Chairman Nadler, Ranking
Member Collins, the Congressional Black Caucus, Chairwoman Karen Bass,
and the CBC itself for their work on this bill.
The Senate passed a similar bill last year, and, Madam Speaker, I
thank Senators Booker and Harris for their work.
I hope we can get this to the President's desk and signed quickly.
It is very fitting that this legislation will be named in memory of
Emmett Till, the 14-year-old whose brutal lynching in 1955 marked a
turning point in America's history.

Many Americans might associate the term ``lynching'' with hanging,
but if you go to the dictionary, it has a broader definition: the
premeditated, extrajudicial killing by a mob or group of people in
order to instill fear, to intimidate, to subjugate populations and
individuals, and to enforce a social order on people, contrary to the
concepts out of which America was born.
According to the Tuskegee Institute, by the time of Emmett Till's
murder, it had recorded more than 4,700 victims of lynching in America
since the 1880s.
We had a Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, and still,
from 1870 to the 1960s, there were people who thought, with impunity,
they could take the lives or brutalize others--with impunity.
Even today, we continue to see the memory of lynchings used to
instill fear and threaten minority populations, from nooses being
displayed as hate speech to threats of political violence using imagery
of lynching. We still live with its dark legacy.
Madam Speaker, I say to my colleagues, as we continue to observe
Black History Month throughout February, let us resolve to commemorate
that history by doing our part to correct its injustices.
I paraphrase Martin Luther King when he said: Do not worry so much
about the voices of your opponents as you worry about the silence of
your friends.
Madam Speaker, this day, the House of Representatives shall not be
silent. Vote ``yes.''
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, 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.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 1
minute.
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding an additional minute.
In years past, the signs have been stolen, thrown in the river,
replaced; shot, replaced again; shot again; defaced with acid; and had
``KKK'' spray-painted on them.
The signs were placed near the spot where Mr. Till's body was pulled
from the Tallahatchie River in 1955.
The 14-year-old was tortured and killed by two White men after false
accusations that he flirted with a White woman.
His death became an important catalyst in the civil rights movement.
With the passage of this bill, we hope to heal the past and present
racial injustice. Our country is in need of reconciliation.
Lynching claimed the lives of an immeasurable number of African
Americans, yet the perpetrators were never held accountable.
Conversely, official inaction has left lasting scars on our
communities.
Today, I represent Mississippi's Second Congressional District, which
includes the area where Emmett Till was lynched. His murderers were
never held accountable for what they did.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has again expired.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Collins very
much for yielding.
This is kind of emotional for me, because I knew this young man's
mother before she died, a very wonderful lady who suffered an
unfortunate tragedy at the hands of some dastardly individuals.
But more importantly, we are a better country than what that deed
dictates.
I support Congressman Rush's bill. It is a bill that is long overdue.
But just as important, we have to commit ourselves to making this
country a better country.
In the little town of Glendora, where the fan that was attached to
young Emmett's body that sank in the Tallahatchie River was found,
there is

[[Page H1201]]

a little museum dedicated not only to Mr. Till, but to the atrocities
that have occurred in my district over time.
Madam Speaker, I compliment those individuals for putting the museum
together and also for dedicating themselves to letting the world know
what happened, but also recommitting ourselves to try not to let it
happen again.
So we must pass this legislation, Madam Speaker. We must pass it to
correct the inactions of those before us. The inaction of others does
not relieve one of the obligation to do what is right.

{time} 1245

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis).
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, let me thank the
gentleman for yielding, and, of course, I come to join with all of
those who have extolled the virtues of this bill and urge its passage.
I also reflect on the fact that I grew up in the State of Arkansas.
My father, who was a tremendous historian, would often point to
places and show us sites in trees where lynchings were supposed to have
taken place. The fact that we are now saying that any lynching activity
should be a Federal crime is one that I concur with.
I want to thank the Reverend Jesse Jackson because that is really who
called me one day and said: You know, we need to do something about
this.
So I was pleased to interact with Congressman Rush and say: Let's do
something about this.
I want to thank Congressman Rush for taking the leadership on this
bill. I want to thank the Judiciary Committee for passing it.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of
my time.
Madam Speaker, this is a bill that is long past due. It should have
been done many years ago, and it was not. It is now time to get this
done.
As was said by the majority leader and others, this was a heinous act
done by a mob for one purpose besides the killing: It is also to
intimidate and to put fear into others.
In my State of Georgia, it not only happened because of the color of
someone's skin, but by the creed of Catholic and Jews it had taken
place as well.
This should never happen again. This is a good step forward. I think
it is something that is long overdue. I urge all my colleagues to
support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
In his farewell address to Congress, Representative George Henry
White lamented the failure of his antilynching bill of 1900 to pass by
observing that: ``During the last session of this Congress, I took
occasion to address myself in detail to this particular measure, But
with all of my efforts, the bill still sweetly sleeps in the room of
the committee to which it was referred. The necessity of legislation
along this line is daily being demonstrated. The arena of the lyncher
no longer is confined to Southern climes, but is stretching its hydra
head over all parts of the Union.''
Lynching no longer terrorizes African American communities as it once
did, but we owe it to the memory of its thousands of victims to outlaw
this racist and gruesome practice once and for all.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this
legislation.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I want to just commend the
chairman for a moment on bringing this bill up. I think there have been
a lot of things that we have disagreed on and there have been many
places where we have seen that--we probably will do it again this
afternoon--but just to have this time, I think, to reflect and, I
think, from my State of Georgia and from New York and all over.
The gentleman made a statement, and I wanted to commend the gentleman
for that, that this was happening all over.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, the gentleman is talking too fast. I can't
understand him.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, the gentleman has been saying
that for a year, so I will go slow.
I thank the gentleman for bringing this forward and thank him for
being a part, and also the discussion among many of the Members here.
This is a discussion not limited to one area. It was highlighted by
the Emmett Till death, but it was also something that America needed to
deal with. By bringing this forward today, I think that is a testament
to both of our committees being able to work together and both of us
being able to bring something together that Americans can understand.
Lynching was far beyond a murder. It was also an intimidation method
that we saw used in many States in many areas. So I just want to
commend Madam Speaker for that, and also commend the chairman.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman
very much. I certainly agree with the distinguished ranking member, and
I appreciate his support for this bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the House.
Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and
thank him and the ranking member for bringing this legislation to the
floor. It is so appropriate that it is bipartisan because it is about
American values. I rise to join you in passing H.R. 35, the Emmett Till
Antilynching Act, which finally explicitly designates lynching as a
Federal hate crime.
More than a century ago, the first antilynching legislation was
introduced and later passed by this House ``to assure to persons within
the jurisdiction of every State the equal protection of the laws and to
punish the crime of lynching.'' But over 100 years and 200 attempts
later at passage, it is still not law.
I salute Congressman Bobby Scott--excuse me, Bobby Rush. I know
Bobby Scott had something to do with this as well, but, in this case,
the leadership of Bobby Rush--a lifelong civil rights champion in the
Congress and in our country, for his leadership on H.R. 35, which will
right this historic wrong.

I thank Chairwoman Karen Bass of the Congressional Black Caucus for
her commitment and that of the entire Congressional Black Caucus for
bringing this legislation to the floor.
I thank Chairman Nadler and Ranking Member Collins for their
leadership as well, and Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris for
leading this legislation in the Senate.
Today, Congress has an opportunity to acknowledge its responsibility
for its historic failure to confront and end the horror of lynching in
America. We must begin by acknowledging the heartbreaking truth that
racially motivated acts of terror have long been a part of American
history and that they remain a stain on our Nation's soul today.
We must never forget:
The massacre in Wilmington, North Carolina, 122 years ago in which 60
Black Americans were brutally murdered;
The race massacre in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, 100
years ago next year, called the single worst incident of racial
violence in American history;
The mutilation and murder of Emmett Till--for whom this legislation
is named, a 14-year-old boy--65 years ago, one of the most appalling
acts of racial violence in our history, forever seared in our
collective memory;
And we must remember the victims of more than 4,000 other lynchings
and countless other acts of racial terror perpetrated throughout our
Nation's history.
As recent events remind us, racially motivated violence and other
forms of violence and hate targeting vulnerable communities are not a
relic of the past.
When a white supremacist guns down nine parishioners in Charleston,
South Carolina, at Mother Emanuel, one of America's oldest African
American congregations; when neo-Nazis and white nationalist mobs
carrying tiki torches march through Charlottesville in broad daylight,
taking an innocent

[[Page H1202]]

life; when a domestic terrorist murders 22 innocent souls in El Paso
after penning a racist, anti-Latino screed on the internet; and when an
anti-Semitic murderer kills 11 innocent men and women engaged in
peaceful prayer at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh we cannot
deny that racism, bigotry, and hate still exist in America.
As Members of Congress and as Americans, we have a responsibility to
acknowledge the horrors of the past so that we can never have them
occur again.
As Ida B. Wells, the crusading journalist, antilynching advocate, and
founding member of the NAACP said: ``The way to right wrongs is to turn
the light of truth upon them.''
This legislation will not erase the stain of lynching and racist
violence, but it will help shine the light of truth on the injustices
of the past so that we can heal our Nation and build a better, safer
future for all of our children.
In just over a week, many Members will travel to Selma, Alabama, to
observe 55 years since the march for freedom. With the passage of this
bill, we can make that pilgrimage--praying at the Brown Chapel AME
Church and marching over the Edmund Pettus Bridge--with dignity,
respect, and honor.
Madam Speaker, I urge a unanimous vote for H.R. 35.
Again, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their
leadership.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in enthusiastic support
of H.R. 35--the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. This bill amends section
249 of title 18, United States Code, to specify lynching as a hate
crime under federal law. It corrects a longstanding omission from
Federal civil rights law. It is without question that this legislation
is long overdue and needed even today.
The legacy of lynching is a stain on our nation's history, and the
racism that motivated lynchings continues to fuel acts of hate today.
This legislation should pass with strong and eager bipartisan support.
This bill is named after Emmett Till who was only 14 years old when
he was lynched in 1955 in Mississippi. A lynching is an extrajudicial
killing by a mob, and is not limited to deaths by hanging. He was so
badly tortured that he was left unrecognizable. This was done here in
America by Americans during a Jim Crow era in a segregated fragmented
society. Now in 2020, this hateful legacy is unfortunately raising its
head again forcing us to defend our basic values. While we celebrate
our freedom here in the United States and abroad, we must continue to
be diligent in remembering our true history.
The legacy of lynching in Texas can never be erased. The families and
communities of victims are still impacted today. Even in my hometown of
Waco, Texas, Jesse Washington, a seventeen-year-old farmhand was
mutilated and burned to death, on May 15, 1916, in what became one of
the most well known documented cases of lynching. Sadly, in Texas,
there are hundreds of others.
The designation under federal law is important and most relevant
because state law did not protect the rights of the victims of
lynchings. Horribly true, many of the lynchings were carried out either
by officers and representatives of the law or with the blessings of
local law enforcement. African Americans and other people of color did
not receive the same protections under the law that every American
should have received. That is why this designation of lynching as a
hate crime under federal law is critical even today.
I ask my colleagues to support this bill, improve federal law and
protect the rights of every person in the United States.
Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I strongly support the Emmett Till
Antilynching Act. I will be proud to vote in favor of it on the House
floor today. I have continuously fought against racial violence and
racial discrimination, and this legislation is an important step
forward.
This bill recognizes the federal role in directly confronting this
type of racial violence. In his case, Emmett Till, an innocent African
American boy, lost his life. His death came to symbolize the continual
threat of violence that hung over the African American community and
helped spark the Civil Rights Movement. But this bill, named for Till,
goes beyond his circumstances. It also provides some modicum of justice
for the victims of the People's Grocery Lynching in Memphis. Thomas
Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart were falsely accused and killed
in Memphis on March 9, 1892. These three men were killed because they
``were becoming economic competitors to whites.'' For my district and
the country, this vote is recognizing all the men and women who were
lynched and never received any justice.
In passing this bill, the House of Representatives will clearly say
these types of actions--this type of hate--have no place in our
country.
Unfortunately, this isn't a historic phenomenon. Now, in the year
2020, we still struggle with bias motivated crimes, racial violence,
and vigilantism. We see the continuation of racial violence directed at
African Americans and other minorities today.
I will continue to fight for equality and racial justice. I am proud
to support this legislation and thank Rep. Bobby Rush, Speaker Pelosi,
Leader Hoyer, and Chairman Nadler for their leadership.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 35,
the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which amends 18 U.S. Code 249, to
establish the act of lynching as a federal hate crime.
I thank our colleague, Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois, for his
work in shepherding this legislation and acknowledging the
unfathomable, barbaric history of lynching.
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 is the closest our country has ever come
to adopting antilynching legislation.
The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is necessary legislation, intended
to bring justice to victims of lynching, to heal past and present
racial injustice and prevent these wretched, gruesome acts from
continuing to occur.
Ida B. Wells, the renowned educator, investigative journalist, and
Civil Rights activist advocated tirelessly from 1886 to 1931 for the
passage of antilynching legislation and collected data to show the vast
scope of racial tensions and hate crimes.
In October 1892, Ms. Wells published research on lynching in a
pamphlet entitled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases and
continued to write, speak and organize for the recognition of lynching
as a crime and for civil rights until her death in 1931.
She traveled internationally, teaching foreign audiences about the
intensity and severity of American racial tensions.
Ms. Wells' contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and American
political discourse are still immensely influential and we look to her
as a leader and role model to this day.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that its research uncovered
approximately 75 other people who died violently between 1952 and 1968
under circumstances suggesting that they were victims of racial
violence.
For most of them, the reason their names were not added to the
Memorial is because not enough was known about the details surrounding
their deaths.
Sadly, the reason so little is known about these cases is because
they were not fully investigated or, in some cases, law enforcement
officials were involved in the killings or subsequent cover-ups.
And because the killings of African Americans were often covered up
or not seriously investigated, there is little reason to doubt that
many slayings were never even recorded by the authorities.
The reason justice had not been served was the callous indifference,
and often the criminal collusion, of many white law enforcement
officials in the segregated South.
The all-white, all-male jury acquitted Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for
the murder of Emmett Till, with the two men posing for photographs and
lighting cigars after the verdict was announced.
There simply was no justice for African Americans during the civil
rights era.
The entire criminal justice system--from the police, to the
prosecutors, to the juries, and to the judges--was perverted by racial
bigotry.
African Americans were routinely beaten, bombed and shot with
impunity.
Sometimes, the killers picked their victims on a whim.
Sometimes, they targeted them for their activism.
Many times, prominent white citizens were involved and no
consequences flowed.
Herbert Lee of Liberty, Mississippi, for example, was shot in the
head by a state legislator, E.H. Hurst, in broad daylight in 1961.
It is, of course, fitting and proper that this legislation bears the
name of Emmett Till, whose slaying in 1955 and his mother's brave
decision to have an open casket at his funeral stirred the nation's
conscience and galvanized a generation of Americans to join the fight
for equality.
Sadly, hundreds of them were killed in that struggle, and many of the
killers, like those of Emmett himself, were never successfully
prosecuted.
Madam Speaker, over the past half century, the United States has made
tremendous progress in overcoming the badges and vestiges of slavery.
But this progress has been purchased at great cost.
Examples of unsolved cases include the 1968 ``Orangeburg Massacre''
at South Carolina State University where state police shot and killed
three student protesters; the 1967 shooting death of Carrie Brumfield,
whose body was found on a rural Louisiana road; the

[[Page H1203]]

1957 murder of Willie Joe Sanford, whose body was fished out of a creek
in Hawkinsville, Georgia; the 1946 killing of a black couple, including
a pregnant woman, who was pulled out of a car in Monroe, Georgia, and
dragged down a wagon trail before being shot in front of 200 people.
Solving cases like these is part of the unfinished work of America.
Madam Speaker, 53 years ago, Medgar Evers was murdered in Jackson,
Mississippi; justice would not be done in his case for more than twenty
years.
But that day was foretold because the evening before the death of
Medgar Evers, on June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy addressed the
nation from the Oval Office on the state of race relations and civil
rights in America.
In his historic speech to the nation President Kennedy said:
``We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the
scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.
``One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln
freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free.
They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet
freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its
hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens
are free.''
H.R. 35 will help ensure that justice is received by those for whom
justice has been delayed.
In doing so, this legislation will help this Nation fulfill its hopes
and justify its boast that in America all persons live in freedom.
Madam Speaker, I strongly support this legislation and urge all
Members to join me in voting for its passage.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 35, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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