(ThyBlackMan.com) Four federal house members, last week, voted against a bill seeking to make lynching a federal hate crime. As a freelance journalist having written about the atrocities perpetuated on Blacks during the civil rights era this writer is amazed and astonished at their immoral act! This bill has been introduced more than 100 years since the first such measure was introduced into Congress. To help put this in perspective; research shows that least 4,742 people, mostly Blacks, were recounted as lynched in the United States from 1882 to 1968 in all but four states in America. Ninety-nine percent of the culprits escaped state or local retribution, how sad!
Three Republican lawmakers, Louie Gohmert from Texas, Ted Yoho representing the state of Florida, and Thomas Massive of Kentucky, voted against the bill. A Former Republican lawmaker, who switched to become the only Independent politician in the chamber, who voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump, Justin Amash, of Michigan, also voted vehemently against the bill.
Nevertheless, the bill, which passed 410-4, had bipartisan support, notwithstanding that sixteen lawmakers didn’t vote at all. The measure’s passage comes after lawmakers tried, and failed, to pass anti-lynching bills nearly 200 times.
The opposing Republicans condemned this legislation, which seeks to exclude lynching as a criminal act, civil rights violation or contemp of court; citing that it as an overreach and encroachment of the federal government on states’ rights (a term usually associated with racism of the old south).
In a statement published by Newsweek, Thomas Massive stated that the constitution already specifies which crimes are federal crimes, and leaves the rest at the prerogative of individual states. He stressed that this bill, which expands the already existing federal “hate crime” laws, makes it seem like hate crimes are more significant crimes than other kinds of crimes, and deserve harsher penalties. Massive also expressed concerns that this bill may pose a threat to freedom of speech and other fundamental rights.
In his reaction, Ted Yoho inelegantly clarified that lynching is a horrific act, which he passionately condemns, and believes its perpetrators should be severely punished. However, his main misgiving about the bill is that it takes the power from states and puts it into the hands of the federal government.
The retiring lawmaker opines that the bill infringes on the principles of federalism. Using his home state, Florida, where hate crimes are punishable up to death as an instance, Yoho stated that hate crime falls under state jurisdiction, and that 46 states already have statues in place to that regard.
While opposing the bill, Louie Gohmert asked the house to allow states to detect the most suitable punishment for perpetrators of lynching according to the laws of the individual states.
Amash’s reasons for opposing the bill were similar to those of his Republican colleagues. He posted a tweet pointing out that the legislation was redundant, and seemed like an attempt at federalizing criminal law. He also expressed concerns that this legislation could give undue powers to unelected federal officials, who the American voters can’t hold accountable.
He further inaccurately explained that if passed into law, this bill would give states and local governments; that are already limited by their meager budgets- a leeway to shift blame and responsibility to the feds for certain crimes that fall under their jurisdiction.
Since 1990, Congress has made several unsuccessful attempts to pass similar bills into law. In February 2019, the Senate approved a similar version that seeks to punish violators with fines and jail terms. The legislation, however, hasn’t gotten presidential approval due to some discrepancies that require house votes.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, over 4,000 blacks have been lynched in Texas, Virginia, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
According to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, although the bill- termed Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act- may not wipe off the effects of lynching and racist violence, it will address the injustices of the past which has hurt a large number of Americans. Pelosi stressed that the act would foster tolerance and peaceful coexistence, heal the nation, and contribute to building a safer country for the next generation.
It would be educed that this legislation was written in response to the civil right actions that followed the racist murder of Emmett Till, a black teenager brutally beaten murdered and lynched in a small town in the deep southern state of Mississippi in 1955; after he allegedly whistled at a white woman at a grocery store. He was 14 years old at the time. Till’s accuser, Carolyn Bryant Donham, acknowledged in the year 2017 that Emmett Till did not make the sexual advances toward her she previously stated, contradicting her earlier testimony.
Protected against double jeopardy, the two men suspected of murdering Till; Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam publicly admitted in a 1956 interview with Look magazine that they had killed Till. Although Milam and Bryant were charged with murdering Till; they were acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury.
Till’s murder was witnessed as a promoter of the critical next platform of the civil rights movement.
My final question: Given the untimely death of Emmett Till; how can any person in good conscious not vote for such a responsible historic bill that at least symbolically; seeks to set the record straight with a view to lynching?
Staff Writer; Stanley G. Buford
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