Bacon urges Senate action on bill making lynching a federal hate crime

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act should be brought to the U.S. Senate floor for a vote, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) wrote in a May 13 letter sent to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“With more details emerging about the tragic killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County, Georgia this past February, Congress must set aside partisan politics and pass this legislation,” Rep. Bacon wrote. “This is the closest any anti-lynching legislation has ever come to becoming law and we must work to get this legislation over the finish line.”

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act, H.R. 35, includes language from the bipartisan Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2019, H.R. 3536, which Rep. Bacon sponsored in June 2019 to establish a new criminal civil rights violation for lynching.

“H.R. 35 amends the United States Code to criminalize lynching and provide for enhanced sentencing under existing federal hate crime statutes,” Rep. Bacon wrote. “The bill recognizes that a lynching offense is a tool used to intimidate and deny civil rights based on personal prejudices, while increasing the penalties for completed violations from five years, to 10 years.”

The language in H.R. 35 from Rep. Bacon’s bill received Senate approval in February 2019 as part of the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, S. 488, introduced by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and now under consideration in the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

Likewise, the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 26 approved H.R. 35 on a 410-4 vote and sent it to the Senate for action.

In his letter to Sen. McConnell, Rep. Bacon noted that to get his bill’s language signed into law, H.R. 35 needs to pass the Senate again before it can be sent to the president for signature.

“We are so close to making lynching a federal hate crime,” wrote Rep. Bacon. “Only one easy legislative step remains before the president’s desk.”