Biden Signs Bill That Makes Lynching a Federal Hate Crime

Biden Signs Bill That Makes Lynching a Federal Hate Crime

Biden Signs Bill That Makes Lynching , a Federal Hate Crime.

President Joe Biden signed into law the Emmett Till Antilynching Act during a Rose Garden ceremony on March 29.

Emmet Till, 14, was a Black teenager from Chicago who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in Mississippi in 1959 for allegedly flirting with a white woman.

Between 1882 and 1968, Tuskegee University estimates that nearly 3,500 Black Americans were lynched as a means of perpetuating racial segregation.

Lynching was pure terror to enforce the lie that not everyone ... belongs in America, not everyone is created equal.

, President Joe Biden, via CNN.

Terror, to systematically undermine hard-fought civil rights.

Terror, not just in the dark of the night but in broad daylight.

, President Joe Biden, via CNN.

Innocent men, women and children hung by nooses in trees, bodies burned and drowned and castrated, President Joe Biden, via CNN.

Their crimes?

Trying to vote.

Trying to go to school.

Trying to own a business or preach the gospel.

False accusations of murder, arson and robbery.

Simply being Black, President Joe Biden, via CNN.

In acknowledging the past racial strife in the U.S., Biden was clear that such tensions continue to exist.

From the bullets in the back of Ahmaud Arbery to countless other acts of violence, countless victims known and unknown, , President Joe Biden, via CNN.

The same racial hatred that drove the mob to hang a noose brought that mob carrying torches out of the fields of Charlottesville just a few years ago -- racial hate isn't an old problem.

, President Joe Biden, via CNN.

It's a persistent problem, President Joe Biden, via CNN.

Anti-lynching legislation had come before Congress and failed to pass more than 200 times throughout the history of the law-making body.

Emmet Till's cousin responded Biden's signing of the bill.

My cousin was a bright, promising 14-year-old from Chicago.

My family was devastated that no one was held responsible for the abduction, torture and murder of Emmett.

, Rev.

Wheeler Parker Jr., via CNN.

But we are heartened by this new law, 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, Rev.

Wheeler Parker Jr., via CNN