Biden Signs Emmett Till Act Making Lynching A Federal Hate Crime
March 29, 2022 11:30PM EDT
Young Emmett Till wears a hat. Chicago native Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi after flirting with a white woman.
President Biden has signed off on a bill that makes lynching a federal hate crime.
The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is named for the teen whose lynching death in Mississippi in 1955 was a key moment in the Civil Rights movement.
Historic records show more than 4,400 Black Americans were murdered by lynching between 1877 and 1950.
Biden tweeted “Living up to our founding principles as a nation means coming to terms with the sins of our past. Today, we take another step toward that more perfect union.”
Why did it take so many years for a law like this to be passed?
