Anti-lynching legislation supported by Bacon, Turner passes House

U.S. Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Mike Turner (R-OH) commended passage this week by the U.S. House of Representatives of bipartisan legislation that would denounce lynching as a federal hate crime.

“Today’s long overdue House passage of this bill makes lynching a hate crime act within federal statute,” said Rep. Turner on Feb. 26. “As a country we must acknowledge the deeply hateful past of lynchings, and today’s bill is a step forward in doing so.”

“Today’s vote is a historical one that acknowledges the evil of the 5,000 lynchings in our nation’s history; the fear that African-Americans felt in their homes and communities; and [it] will help with healing and reconciliation,” Rep. Bacon said on Wednesday.

Both lawmakers had a hand in two separate bipartisan bills that came together to specify that an offense involving lynching is a hate crime act and any violator is subject to criminal penalties — a prison term, a fine, or both.

Rep. Bacon in June 2019 introduced the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, H.R. 3536, with lead cosponsor U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) to establish a new criminal civil rights violation for lynching.

H.R. 3536 is the identical bill to the same-named S. 488, which the U.S. Senate approved in February 2019 and then sent to the House, where a subcommittee has been reviewing both versions.

Ultimately, language from the measure was included in the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, H.R. 35, which Rep. Turner cosponsored with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) to specify lynching as a deprivation of civil rights. The House on Wednesday passed the bill, 410-4, and sent it to the Senate on Thursday.

“As a cosponsor of this bill, I am committed to recognizing lynchings for what they are: hate crimes,” Rep. Turner said. “Just last year an outside Klu Klux Klan group came to Dayton, Ohio, to rally. We came together as a community to rise above their hate.”

“I am thrilled the House passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, to include the verbatim language that was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate and that was in my original bill,” said Rep. Bacon. “Omaha has a gruesome chapter in our history with the lynchings of Will Brown and George Smith, who were both sadistically murdered at the hands of angry lawless mobs in Omaha.”