[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1197-H1203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      EMMETT TILL ANTILYNCHING ACT

  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 35) to amend section 249 of title 18, United States Code, to 
specify lynching as a hate crime act, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 35

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Emmett Till Antilynching 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) The crime of lynching succeeded slavery as the ultimate 
     expression of racism in the United States following 
     Reconstruction.
       (2) Lynching was a widely acknowledged practice in the 
     United States until the middle of the 20th century.
       (3) Lynching was a crime that occurred throughout the 
     United States, with documented incidents in all but 4 States.
       (4) At least 4,742 people, predominantly African Americans, 
     were reported lynched in the United States between 1882 and 
     1968.
       (5) Ninety-nine percent of all perpetrators of lynching 
     escaped from punishment by State or local officials.
       (6) Lynching prompted African Americans to form the 
     National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 
     (referred to in this section as the ``NAACP'') and prompted 
     members of B'nai B'rith to found the Anti-Defamation League.
       (7) Mr. Walter White, as a member of the NAACP and later as 
     the executive secretary of the NAACP from 1931 to 1955, 
     meticulously investigated lynchings in the United States and 
     worked tirelessly to end segregation and racialized terror.
       (8) Nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in 
     Congress during the first half of the 20th century.
       (9) Between 1890 and 1952, 7 Presidents petitioned Congress 
     to end lynching.
       (10) Between 1920 and 1940, the House of Representatives 
     passed 3 strong anti-lynching measures.
       (11) Protection against lynching was the minimum and most 
     basic of Federal responsibilities, and the Senate considered 
     but failed to enact anti-lynching legislation despite 
     repeated requests by civil rights groups, Presidents, and the 
     House of Representatives to do so.
       (12) The publication of ``Without Sanctuary: Lynching 
     Photography in America'' helped bring greater awareness and 
     proper recognition of the victims of lynching.
       (13) Only by coming to terms with history can the United 
     States effectively champion human rights abroad.
       (14) An apology offered in the spirit of true repentance 
     moves the United States toward reconciliation and may become 
     central to a new understanding, on which improved racial 
     relations can be forged.
       (15) Having concluded that a reckoning with our own history 
     is the only way the country can effectively champion human 
     rights abroad, 90 Members of the United States Senate agreed 
     to Senate Resolution 39, 109th Congress, on June 13, 2005, to 
     apologize to the victims of lynching and the descendants of 
     those victims for the failure of the Senate to enact anti-
     lynching legislation.
       (16) The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which 
     opened to the public in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 26, 
     2018, is the Nation's first memorial dedicated to the legacy 
     of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, 
     African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim 
     Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary 
     presumptions of guilt and police violence.
       (17) Notwithstanding the Senate's apology and the 
     heightened awareness and education about the Nation's legacy 
     with lynching, it is wholly necessary and appropriate for the 
     Congress to enact legislation, after 100 years of 
     unsuccessful legislative efforts, finally to make lynching a 
     Federal crime.
       (18) Further, it is the sense of Congress that criminal 
     action by a group increases the likelihood that the criminal 
     object of that group will be successfully attained and 
     decreases the probability that the individuals involved will 
     depart from their path of criminality. Therefore, it is 
     appropriate to specify criminal penalties for the crime of 
     lynching, or any attempt or conspiracy to commit lynching.
       (19) The United States Senate agreed to unanimously Senate 
     Resolution 118, 115th Congress, on April 5, 2017, 
     ``[c]ondemning hate crime and any other form of racism, 
     religious or ethnic bias, discrimination, incitement to 
     violence, or animus targeting a minority in the United 
     States'' and taking notice specifically of Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation statistics demonstrating that ``among single-
     bias hate crime incidents in the United States, 59.2 percent 
     of victims were targeted due to racial, ethnic, or ancestral 
     bias, and among those victims, 52.2 percent were victims of 
     crimes motivated by the offenders' anti-Black or anti-African 
     American bias''.
       (20) On September 14, 2017, President Donald J. Trump 
     signed into law Senate Joint Resolution 49 (Public Law 115-
     58; 131 Stat. 1149), wherein Congress ``condemn[ed] the 
     racist violence and domestic terrorist attack that took place 
     between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, 
     Virginia'' and ``urg[ed] the President and his administration 
     to speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, 
     extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy; 
     and use all resources available to the President and the 
     President's Cabinet to address the growing prevalence of 
     those hate groups in the United States''.
       (21) Senate Joint Resolution 49 (Public Law 115-58; 131 
     Stat. 1149) specifically took notice of ``hundreds of torch-
     bearing White nationalists, White supremacists, Klansmen, and 
     neo-Nazis [who] chanted racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-
     immigrant slogans and violently engaged with counter-
     demonstrators on and around the grounds of the University of 
     Virginia in Charlottesville'' and that these groups 
     ``reportedly are organizing similar events in other cities in 
     the United States and communities everywhere are concerned 
     about the growing and open display of hate and violence being 
     perpetrated by those groups''.
       (22) Lynching was a pernicious and pervasive tool that was 
     used to interfere with multiple aspects of life--including 
     the exercise of Federally protected rights, as enumerated in 
     section 245 of title 18, United States Code, housing rights, 
     as enumerated in section 901 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 
     (42 U.S.C. 3631), and the free exercise of religion, as 
     enumerated in section 247 of title 18, United States Code. 
     Interference with these

[[Page H1198]]

     rights was often effectuated by multiple offenders and 
     groups, rather than isolated individuals. Therefore, 
     prohibiting conspiracies to violate each of these rights 
     recognizes the history of lynching in the United States and 
     serves to prohibit its use in the future.

     SEC. 3. LYNCHING.

       (a) Offense.--Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, 
     is amended by adding at the end the following:

     ``Sec. 250. Lynching

       ``Whoever conspires with another person to violate section 
     245, 247, or 249 of this title or section 901 of the Civil 
     Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3631) shall be punished in the 
     same manner as a completed violation of such section, except 
     that if the maximum term of imprisonment for such completed 
     violation is less than 10 years, the person may be imprisoned 
     for not more than 10 years.''.
       (b) Table of Sections Amendment.--The table of sections for 
     chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
     inserting after the item relating to section 249 the 
     following:
       ``250. Lynching.''.

     SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

       The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
     complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall 
     be determined by reference to the latest statement titled 
     ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, 
     submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the 
     Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such 
     statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Nadler) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act is long 
overdue legislation that would criminalize lynching for the first time 
under Federal law.
  The term ``lynching'' generally refers to premeditated acts of 
violence often resulting in death carried out by a mob in order to 
punish an alleged transgressor or to strike fear among a targeted 
group.
  H.R. 35 is named in honor of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African 
American youth from Chicago, who was lynched in particularly gruesome 
fashion while visiting an uncle in Mississippi in 1955. His murder and 
the antilynching movement that followed set the stage for the creation 
of the civil rights movement that we recognize today.
  Generally, they could not rely on law enforcement to protect them, 
because they understood that the lynchings occurring throughout the 
South were a very deliberate campaign to subjugate our Black 
population. And this very deliberate campaign was started in the 1870s 
by the Ku Klux Klan and carried on right up to the present day through 
terrorism and forced Jim Crow.
  Because they realized this, African Americans mobilized their own 
efforts to combat the terror of lynching and the threat of racial 
violence through grassroots activism and the founding of integrated 
social justice organizations.
  During the period between the Civil War and World War II, thousands 
of African Americans were lynched in the United States, mostly in the 
South, but not entirely, as a means of racial subordination and 
enforcing white supremacy. These violent incidents were largely 
tolerated by State and Federal officials, in fact, often promoted by 
State and Federal officials. They profoundly impacted race relations 
and shaped the geographic, political, social, and economic conditions 
of African American communities in ways that are still evident today.
  Although the civil rights conspiracy statute does not specify the 
offense of lynching as a Federal crime, this section has been used by 
the Department of Justice to prosecute civil rights-era crimes and hate 
crimes that were described as lynching in public discourse.
  It remains important, however, to enact Federal antilynching 
legislation to acknowledge this shameful chapter in American history 
and to send a clear message that such violations, such violent actions 
motivated by hatred and bigotry will never again be tolerated in this 
country.
  The first Federal antilynching legislation was introduced in 1900, 
almost 120 years ago, by Congressman George Henry White, the only 
African American member of Congress at that time. Unfortunately, 
neither his bill nor any other antilynching bills managed to pass the 
Congress. Antilynching bills were routinely defeated on this floor.
  Today, we act to correct this historical injustice that should rest 
heavily on the conscience of Members of Congress. I thank the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Rush) for his leadership on this important issue and 
for his attention to history. I also thank the gentleman from Nebraska 
(Mr. Bacon) for his support of this legislation and the many cosponsors 
of this bill who helped pave the way for its passage today.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I rise in support of H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. This 
act recalls a horrible period in our Nation's history. In fact, many 
can claim this bill is a century too late. After all, the first 
antilynching bill was introduced, as was just said by the chairman, 
over 100 years ago, but it never became law.
  Back then, lynchings were a popular atrocity committed by the Ku Klux 
Klan against the Black community, Catholics, and Jews, among others. 
Lynching, which is used to intimidate a certain populous, is the 
practice of murder by a group of people by extrajudicial action.
  Today, while not eliminated, and we are all striving for that, groups 
on all sides need to understand that this kind of intimidation of 
groups is not tolerated. That is why today these influences have been 
diminished but they are not resolved, and we want to continue to fight 
against this. This is why I support H.R. 35.
  There is one thing I would like to make a little clearer and probably 
more to the point, and that is that I believe H.R. 35, this measure, 
will ensure that those who engage in mob violence that results in death 
are dealt with appropriately in the Federal system. I think it would 
have been more appropriate to actually place a certain penalty in this 
bill as well, such as a defined number of years for committing this 
offense since the justice for such a heinous act should be swift and 
certain. They should know what they are getting.
  I agree we can move forward with this, but I will disagree with my 
Democratic colleagues that we chose not to put that in this bill. I 
think that is something we can look forward to in the future. But this 
is a good bill. It needs to move forward.
  I am proud to support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support 
H.R. 35.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush), the sponsor of this bill.
  Mr. RUSH. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want 
to say to the chairman, I am just so delighted and thankful and 
grateful for all of his work on behalf of this bill.
  Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 
35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act.
  Lynching, Madam Speaker, plain and simple, is an American evil. This 
atrocity is comparable to the French use of the guillotine, the Roman 
Empire's use of crucifixion, and the British use of drawing and 
quartering as a tool of terrorism. And for too long, Madam Speaker, 
Federal law against lynching has remained conspicuously silent.
  In 1918, 102 years ago, a Congressman from Missouri, Leonidas C. 
Dyer, introduced the first antilynching legislation to actually pass 
the House, a bill that would subsequently die in the Senate.
  Therefore, I am pleased that the language that we are voting on today 
has already been approved by the Senate, and I am exceptionally hopeful 
that it will face no further obstacles on its path to the President's 
desk.
  Madam Speaker, many may consider lynching to be a relic of the past, 
but as we all know, unfortunately, recent

[[Page H1199]]

events have shown us that this is not the case. Instead, we have seen a 
rise in race-based violence that has culminated in events like the 
white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, or the racially 
motivated mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
  That is why, Madam Speaker, it is so important that we stand united 
today as a body and as a Congress to pass this bill. In passing this 
bill today, we send a resoundingly strong message about what we are as 
a Nation, our country's values and, more importantly, what we as 
Americans stand for and what we will tolerate and what we will not 
tolerate.
  Today, Madam Speaker, we send a strong message that violence and 
race-based violence, in particular, has no place in American society. 
That is why I am so proud to have introduced this bill, and I am even 
prouder that we are considering it on the floor today.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Rush) and his passion there with that speech.
  It is my privilege now to introduce someone who has a similar passion 
and also has worked on this bill and done a great deal for it.
  Madam Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bacon).
  Mr. BACON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank 
Chairman Rush for his leadership, his heart for this bill, and I thank 
the chairman and the ranking member for giving me a chance to speak and 
for their comments.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 35, the Emmett Till 
Antilynching Act. I am pleased to see the House take steps in finally 
addressing this issue. Like many, despite our Nation's ugly history of 
lynchings, I was shocked to learn that there was no law making lynching 
a Federal crime.
  My hometown area of Omaha is not unlike many other towns across the 
country with a gruesome past of lynching. George Smith was murdered in 
October 1891, and this past fall marked the 100th anniversary of the 
murder of Will Brown on the steps of the Douglas County Courthouse 
during the Red Summer. The hands of lawless and angry mobs in Omaha 
beat and lynched these men in what only can be characterized as racial 
terrorism.
  We cannot simply wash away the past, but in order for our Nation to 
heal from past racial injustice, Congress must specify criminal 
penalties for the crime of lynching or any attempt or conspiracy to 
commit lynching.
  With at least 5,000 lynchings in our Nation's history, this bill is 
important to the acknowledgment that evil did occur, that millions felt 
fear in their houses, their homes, and their communities, that many 
feared for the lives of their dads, their husbands, and sons, and that 
this formal acknowledgment will help facilitate reconciliation.
  Last year, I was approached by local African American community 
leaders from Omaha to look into the antilynching legislation, and I 
felt that the language from Senator Harris' bill that passed with 
overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate was the right way to 
proceed. It is because of these reasons I was honored to introduce the 
Senate-passed language in the House 8 months ago.
  The bill we are voting on today contains the language of my bill that 
I introduced 8 months ago verbatim, but I do not complain because in 
the end I want results. We want results. We are closer than we have 
ever been to making lynching a Federal crime. This is an historical 
event.
  This action is long overdue, going back 200 attempts since 1918, and 
today we are going to get it done. We are going to make history.
  It has been my privilege to be an advocate on this issue. I applaud 
Senator Harris and Congressman Bobby Rush, who have been championing 
this for years. We will finally get this to the President's desk to be 
signed into law in order to close one of the ugliest chapters in our 
history once and for all.

  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Bass).
  Ms. BASS. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 35.
  Today, the House will pass the Emmett Till Antilynching Act and 
designate lynching as a hate crime under Federal law. But we must 
admit, it is a travesty that it has taken 120 years for the U.S. 
Government to address this crime. In fact, the first bill to outlaw 
lynching was introduced in 1900.
  Make no mistake, lynching is terrorism. It is terrorism directed at 
African Americans. Lynching was commonly used for 256 years during the 
period of enslavement and for almost 100 years after slavery, well into 
the 1950s.
  And, frankly, even today, periodically you will hear news stories of 
nooses being left on college campuses, in work locker rooms to threaten 
and terrorize African Americans, a vicious reminder that the past is 
never that far away. In fact, the last known victim of lynching was 
just 25 years ago, and for the first time in history, the perpetrator 
was actually convicted and executed.
  We often like to only talk about the glorious parts of our history, 
and it is difficult for us to hear some of the ugly parts, but it is 
important that we do hear and understand our history in full. This form 
of terrorism was used to kill Black people and terrorize and terrify 
those who were not murdered into understanding they were not considered 
as humans.
  Today, in Montgomery, Alabama, there is the National Memorial for 
Peace and Justice, and I hope that everyone has an opportunity to see 
that because it is the only place in our country that actually 
documents in every State where known lynchings were taken place and in 
every county.
  Lynchings were advertised in newspapers as recreational events that 
families would attend. They would have picnics while they watched 
brutal murders take place.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the 
gentlewoman.
  Ms. BASS. Madam Speaker, I want to leave with a 1930 editorial in the 
Raleigh News and Observer that noted the elation of the audience 
witnessing a lynching as follows: ``Men joked loudly at the sight of 
the bleeding body. . . . Girls giggled as the flies fed on the blood 
that dripped from the Negro's nose.''
  Lynchings were brutal, violent, and savage public spectacles. As I 
said, they were advertised in newspapers, and postcards were sold. 
Souvenirs were made from victims' remains.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I would inquire of the 
gentlewoman, Ms. Bass, if she needs some more time.
  Ms. BASS. Madam Speaker, I do not need additional time.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I was going to give the 
gentlewoman some of my time, but she is done. I just wanted to make 
sure.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Green).
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairperson, and the 
ranking member as well, for bringing this legislation to the floor 
today. I also thank the majority leader, who happens to be in the room.
  Madam Speaker, this piece of legislation is more than 100 years in 
the making, and it does deal with lynching, but truth be told, more 
than a lynching took place.
  Emmett Till's body was mutilated. He was shot in the head, and he was 
thrown in the Tallahatchie River. His mother insisted on an open 
casket. This was the thing that sent shock waves across this country, 
causing people to rethink what was happening in the South.
  Yes, he was lynched. Yes, this is the unfinished business of this 
House. And we have much more unfinished business.
  Madam Speaker, I do want to commend Congressman   Bobby Rush for the 
outstanding job that he has done, as well as his cosponsors, in 
bringing this legislation to the floor. It is time. In fact, it is past 
time. And I am grateful that this House is taking up this legislation.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from

[[Page H1200]]

Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished majority leader of the House.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  The previous speaker, Mr. Green from Texas, said that it is time, 
that it is past time. But it is never too late to do the right thing.
  I am pleased that this will be a bipartisan vote.
  This is about Emmett Till. It is about lynching. It is about 
violence. It is about hate. But in a larger sense, this is about who we 
are as a country, who we are as a country that said: ``We hold these 
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.''
  Surely, our Founders today would have said all men and women are 
created equal.
  But in the eyes of two murderers, Emmett Till was neither equal nor a 
fellow human being, but a dehumanized being, undeserving of protection 
or of decency.
  To the surprise, I think, of probably many Americans, Madam Speaker, 
lynching has not been described as a hate crime. We will do that today.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Collins and Chairman Nadler for bringing 
this bill to the floor. The House will make that determination today. I 
am proud to bring this legislation to the floor as majority leader.
  A broadcaster in our area, Joe Madison, came up to me some year and a 
half ago and said: Why can't you pass lynching legislation?
  I had no answer, so I went to the chair of the Congressional Black 
Caucus, who spoke just earlier, Karen Bass, the former speaker of the 
California Assembly, one of the leaders in this House. I said to her: 
``Karen, I want to make sure that we get lynching legislation on the 
floor.''
  I talked to my friend,   Bobby Rush, who I have been a close friend 
of for more than two decades, a leader in this House, a leader on the 
Energy and Commerce Committee and in this House. I talked to him about 
it. I talked to him about his legislation.
  Two Senators also had legislation. I am glad that they were able to 
come together and that we have this legislation before us.
    Bobby Rush represents the district in which Emmett Till lived.
  Emmett Till took a summer vacation to Mississippi. It was his last 
vacation. He came to be, and continues to this day to be, a symbol of 
the terror and hate and atrocities and prejudice directed against 
American citizens whose color of skin was different than some others. 
This should be a lesson to us all.
  Then you see movies like ``Hidden Figures,'' the heroine of which 
just died a few days ago at the age of 101, or ``The Help,'' or 
``Harriet,'' Harriet Tubman from my State, to see the violence that was 
visited on our fellow human beings because of the color of their skin.
  If Elijah Cummings, my colleague, were alive today, he would say: 
``We are better than this.''
  That is what this legislation is saying: We are better than this.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Rush, Chairman Nadler, Ranking 
Member Collins, the Congressional Black Caucus, Chairwoman Karen Bass, 
and the CBC itself for their work on this bill.
  The Senate passed a similar bill last year, and, Madam Speaker, I 
thank Senators Booker and Harris for their work.
  I hope we can get this to the President's desk and signed quickly.
  It is very fitting that this legislation will be named in memory of 
Emmett Till, the 14-year-old whose brutal lynching in 1955 marked a 
turning point in America's history.

  Many Americans might associate the term ``lynching'' with hanging, 
but if you go to the dictionary, it has a broader definition: the 
premeditated, extrajudicial killing by a mob or group of people in 
order to instill fear, to intimidate, to subjugate populations and 
individuals, and to enforce a social order on people, contrary to the 
concepts out of which America was born.
  According to the Tuskegee Institute, by the time of Emmett Till's 
murder, it had recorded more than 4,700 victims of lynching in America 
since the 1880s.
  We had a Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, and still, 
from 1870 to the 1960s, there were people who thought, with impunity, 
they could take the lives or brutalize others--with impunity.
  Even today, we continue to see the memory of lynchings used to 
instill fear and threaten minority populations, from nooses being 
displayed as hate speech to threats of political violence using imagery 
of lynching. We still live with its dark legacy.
  Madam Speaker, I say to my colleagues, as we continue to observe 
Black History Month throughout February, let us resolve to commemorate 
that history by doing our part to correct its injustices.
  I paraphrase Martin Luther King when he said: Do not worry so much 
about the voices of your opponents as you worry about the silence of 
your friends.
  Madam Speaker, this day, the House of Representatives shall not be 
silent. Vote ``yes.''
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, today, I rise in support 
of H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, a bill that will specify 
lynching as a hate crime.
  This bill corrects a longstanding omission from Federal civil rights 
law. Historically, nearly 200 antilynching bills were filibustered out 
of existence or just plain ignored.
  Lynchings were violent and public acts of torture used for nearly a 
century to enforce racial segregation.
  This legislation is long overdue. Lynchings were wrong, immoral, and 
inhumane.
  This bill is named in honor of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African 
American youth from Chicago who was lynched in my district in 1955 
while visiting an uncle in Mississippi.
  There is a memorial dedicated to Mr. Till in my district. 
Unfortunately, it is the only memorial in America that has to be 
bulletproof.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 1 
minute.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding an additional minute.
  In years past, the signs have been stolen, thrown in the river, 
replaced; shot, replaced again; shot again; defaced with acid; and had 
``KKK'' spray-painted on them.
  The signs were placed near the spot where Mr. Till's body was pulled 
from the Tallahatchie River in 1955.
  The 14-year-old was tortured and killed by two White men after false 
accusations that he flirted with a White woman.
  His death became an important catalyst in the civil rights movement.
  With the passage of this bill, we hope to heal the past and present 
racial injustice. Our country is in need of reconciliation.
  Lynching claimed the lives of an immeasurable number of African 
Americans, yet the perpetrators were never held accountable. 
Conversely, official inaction has left lasting scars on our 
communities.
  Today, I represent Mississippi's Second Congressional District, which 
includes the area where Emmett Till was lynched. His murderers were 
never held accountable for what they did.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has again expired.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Collins very 
much for yielding.
  This is kind of emotional for me, because I knew this young man's 
mother before she died, a very wonderful lady who suffered an 
unfortunate tragedy at the hands of some dastardly individuals.
  But more importantly, we are a better country than what that deed 
dictates.
  I support Congressman Rush's bill. It is a bill that is long overdue. 
But just as important, we have to commit ourselves to making this 
country a better country.
  In the little town of Glendora, where the fan that was attached to 
young Emmett's body that sank in the Tallahatchie River was found, 
there is

[[Page H1201]]

a little museum dedicated not only to Mr. Till, but to the atrocities 
that have occurred in my district over time.
  Madam Speaker, I compliment those individuals for putting the museum 
together and also for dedicating themselves to letting the world know 
what happened, but also recommitting ourselves to try not to let it 
happen again.
  So we must pass this legislation, Madam Speaker. We must pass it to 
correct the inactions of those before us. The inaction of others does 
not relieve one of the obligation to do what is right.

                              {time}  1245

  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis).
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, let me thank the 
gentleman for yielding, and, of course, I come to join with all of 
those who have extolled the virtues of this bill and urge its passage. 
I also reflect on the fact that I grew up in the State of Arkansas.
  My father, who was a tremendous historian, would often point to 
places and show us sites in trees where lynchings were supposed to have 
taken place. The fact that we are now saying that any lynching activity 
should be a Federal crime is one that I concur with.
  I want to thank the Reverend Jesse Jackson because that is really who 
called me one day and said: You know, we need to do something about 
this.
  So I was pleased to interact with Congressman Rush and say: Let's do 
something about this.
  I want to thank Congressman Rush for taking the leadership on this 
bill. I want to thank the Judiciary Committee for passing it.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of 
my time.
  Madam Speaker, this is a bill that is long past due. It should have 
been done many years ago, and it was not. It is now time to get this 
done.
  As was said by the majority leader and others, this was a heinous act 
done by a mob for one purpose besides the killing: It is also to 
intimidate and to put fear into others.
  In my State of Georgia, it not only happened because of the color of 
someone's skin, but by the creed of Catholic and Jews it had taken 
place as well.
  This should never happen again. This is a good step forward. I think 
it is something that is long overdue. I urge all my colleagues to 
support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  In his farewell address to Congress, Representative George Henry 
White lamented the failure of his antilynching bill of 1900 to pass by 
observing that: ``During the last session of this Congress, I took 
occasion to address myself in detail to this particular measure, But 
with all of my efforts, the bill still sweetly sleeps in the room of 
the committee to which it was referred. The necessity of legislation 
along this line is daily being demonstrated. The arena of the lyncher 
no longer is confined to Southern climes, but is stretching its hydra 
head over all parts of the Union.''
  Lynching no longer terrorizes African American communities as it once 
did, but we owe it to the memory of its thousands of victims to outlaw 
this racist and gruesome practice once and for all.
  Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this 
legislation.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I want to just commend the 
chairman for a moment on bringing this bill up. I think there have been 
a lot of things that we have disagreed on and there have been many 
places where we have seen that--we probably will do it again this 
afternoon--but just to have this time, I think, to reflect and, I 
think, from my State of Georgia and from New York and all over.
  The gentleman made a statement, and I wanted to commend the gentleman 
for that, that this was happening all over.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, the gentleman is talking too fast. I can't 
understand him.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, the gentleman has been saying 
that for a year, so I will go slow.
  I thank the gentleman for bringing this forward and thank him for 
being a part, and also the discussion among many of the Members here.
  This is a discussion not limited to one area. It was highlighted by 
the Emmett Till death, but it was also something that America needed to 
deal with. By bringing this forward today, I think that is a testament 
to both of our committees being able to work together and both of us 
being able to bring something together that Americans can understand.
  Lynching was far beyond a murder. It was also an intimidation method 
that we saw used in many States in many areas. So I just want to 
commend Madam Speaker for that, and also commend the chairman.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman 
very much. I certainly agree with the distinguished ranking member, and 
I appreciate his support for this bill.
  Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California 
(Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the House.
  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and 
thank him and the ranking member for bringing this legislation to the 
floor. It is so appropriate that it is bipartisan because it is about 
American values. I rise to join you in passing H.R. 35, the Emmett Till 
Antilynching Act, which finally explicitly designates lynching as a 
Federal hate crime.
  More than a century ago, the first antilynching legislation was 
introduced and later passed by this House ``to assure to persons within 
the jurisdiction of every State the equal protection of the laws and to 
punish the crime of lynching.'' But over 100 years and 200 attempts 
later at passage, it is still not law.
  I salute Congressman  Bobby Scott--excuse me,   Bobby Rush. I know  
Bobby Scott had something to do with this as well, but, in this case, 
the leadership of   Bobby Rush--a lifelong civil rights champion in the 
Congress and in our country, for his leadership on H.R. 35, which will 
right this historic wrong.

  I thank Chairwoman Karen Bass of the Congressional Black Caucus for 
her commitment and that of the entire Congressional Black Caucus for 
bringing this legislation to the floor.
  I thank Chairman Nadler and Ranking Member Collins for their 
leadership as well, and Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris for 
leading this legislation in the Senate.
  Today, Congress has an opportunity to acknowledge its responsibility 
for its historic failure to confront and end the horror of lynching in 
America. We must begin by acknowledging the heartbreaking truth that 
racially motivated acts of terror have long been a part of American 
history and that they remain a stain on our Nation's soul today.
  We must never forget:
  The massacre in Wilmington, North Carolina, 122 years ago in which 60 
Black Americans were brutally murdered;
  The race massacre in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, 100 
years ago next year, called the single worst incident of racial 
violence in American history;
  The mutilation and murder of Emmett Till--for whom this legislation 
is named, a 14-year-old boy--65 years ago, one of the most appalling 
acts of racial violence in our history, forever seared in our 
collective memory;
  And we must remember the victims of more than 4,000 other lynchings 
and countless other acts of racial terror perpetrated throughout our 
Nation's history.
  As recent events remind us, racially motivated violence and other 
forms of violence and hate targeting vulnerable communities are not a 
relic of the past.
  When a white supremacist guns down nine parishioners in Charleston, 
South Carolina, at Mother Emanuel, one of America's oldest African 
American congregations; when neo-Nazis and white nationalist mobs 
carrying tiki torches march through Charlottesville in broad daylight, 
taking an innocent

[[Page H1202]]

life; when a domestic terrorist murders 22 innocent souls in El Paso 
after penning a racist, anti-Latino screed on the internet; and when an 
anti-Semitic murderer kills 11 innocent men and women engaged in 
peaceful prayer at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh we cannot 
deny that racism, bigotry, and hate still exist in America.
  As Members of Congress and as Americans, we have a responsibility to 
acknowledge the horrors of the past so that we can never have them 
occur again.
  As Ida B. Wells, the crusading journalist, antilynching advocate, and 
founding member of the NAACP said: ``The way to right wrongs is to turn 
the light of truth upon them.''
  This legislation will not erase the stain of lynching and racist 
violence, but it will help shine the light of truth on the injustices 
of the past so that we can heal our Nation and build a better, safer 
future for all of our children.
  In just over a week, many Members will travel to Selma, Alabama, to 
observe 55 years since the march for freedom. With the passage of this 
bill, we can make that pilgrimage--praying at the Brown Chapel AME 
Church and marching over the Edmund Pettus Bridge--with dignity, 
respect, and honor.
  Madam Speaker, I urge a unanimous vote for H.R. 35.
  Again, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their 
leadership.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in enthusiastic support 
of H.R. 35--the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. This bill amends section 
249 of title 18, United States Code, to specify lynching as a hate 
crime under federal law. It corrects a longstanding omission from 
Federal civil rights law. It is without question that this legislation 
is long overdue and needed even today.
  The legacy of lynching is a stain on our nation's history, and the 
racism that motivated lynchings continues to fuel acts of hate today. 
This legislation should pass with strong and eager bipartisan support.
  This bill is named after Emmett Till who was only 14 years old when 
he was lynched in 1955 in Mississippi. A lynching is an extrajudicial 
killing by a mob, and is not limited to deaths by hanging. He was so 
badly tortured that he was left unrecognizable. This was done here in 
America by Americans during a Jim Crow era in a segregated fragmented 
society. Now in 2020, this hateful legacy is unfortunately raising its 
head again forcing us to defend our basic values. While we celebrate 
our freedom here in the United States and abroad, we must continue to 
be diligent in remembering our true history.
  The legacy of lynching in Texas can never be erased. The families and 
communities of victims are still impacted today. Even in my hometown of 
Waco, Texas, Jesse Washington, a seventeen-year-old farmhand was 
mutilated and burned to death, on May 15, 1916, in what became one of 
the most well known documented cases of lynching. Sadly, in Texas, 
there are hundreds of others.
  The designation under federal law is important and most relevant 
because state law did not protect the rights of the victims of 
lynchings. Horribly true, many of the lynchings were carried out either 
by officers and representatives of the law or with the blessings of 
local law enforcement. African Americans and other people of color did 
not receive the same protections under the law that every American 
should have received. That is why this designation of lynching as a 
hate crime under federal law is critical even today.
  I ask my colleagues to support this bill, improve federal law and 
protect the rights of every person in the United States.
  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I strongly support the Emmett Till 
Antilynching Act. I will be proud to vote in favor of it on the House 
floor today. I have continuously fought against racial violence and 
racial discrimination, and this legislation is an important step 
forward.
  This bill recognizes the federal role in directly confronting this 
type of racial violence. In his case, Emmett Till, an innocent African 
American boy, lost his life. His death came to symbolize the continual 
threat of violence that hung over the African American community and 
helped spark the Civil Rights Movement. But this bill, named for Till, 
goes beyond his circumstances. It also provides some modicum of justice 
for the victims of the People's Grocery Lynching in Memphis. Thomas 
Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart were falsely accused and killed 
in Memphis on March 9, 1892. These three men were killed because they 
``were becoming economic competitors to whites.'' For my district and 
the country, this vote is recognizing all the men and women who were 
lynched and never received any justice.
  In passing this bill, the House of Representatives will clearly say 
these types of actions--this type of hate--have no place in our 
country.
  Unfortunately, this isn't a historic phenomenon. Now, in the year 
2020, we still struggle with bias motivated crimes, racial violence, 
and vigilantism. We see the continuation of racial violence directed at 
African Americans and other minorities today.
  I will continue to fight for equality and racial justice. I am proud 
to support this legislation and thank Rep. Bobby Rush, Speaker Pelosi, 
Leader Hoyer, and Chairman Nadler for their leadership.
   Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 35, 
the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which amends 18 U.S. Code 249, to 
establish the act of lynching as a federal hate crime.
  I thank our colleague, Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois, for his 
work in shepherding this legislation and acknowledging the 
unfathomable, barbaric history of lynching.
  The Civil Rights Act of 1968 is the closest our country has ever come 
to adopting antilynching legislation.
  The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is necessary legislation, intended 
to bring justice to victims of lynching, to heal past and present 
racial injustice and prevent these wretched, gruesome acts from 
continuing to occur.
  Ida B. Wells, the renowned educator, investigative journalist, and 
Civil Rights activist advocated tirelessly from 1886 to 1931 for the 
passage of antilynching legislation and collected data to show the vast 
scope of racial tensions and hate crimes.
  In October 1892, Ms. Wells published research on lynching in a 
pamphlet entitled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases and 
continued to write, speak and organize for the recognition of lynching 
as a crime and for civil rights until her death in 1931.
  She traveled internationally, teaching foreign audiences about the 
intensity and severity of American racial tensions.
  Ms. Wells' contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and American 
political discourse are still immensely influential and we look to her 
as a leader and role model to this day.
  The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that its research uncovered 
approximately 75 other people who died violently between 1952 and 1968 
under circumstances suggesting that they were victims of racial 
violence.
  For most of them, the reason their names were not added to the 
Memorial is because not enough was known about the details surrounding 
their deaths.
  Sadly, the reason so little is known about these cases is because 
they were not fully investigated or, in some cases, law enforcement 
officials were involved in the killings or subsequent cover-ups.
  And because the killings of African Americans were often covered up 
or not seriously investigated, there is little reason to doubt that 
many slayings were never even recorded by the authorities.
  The reason justice had not been served was the callous indifference, 
and often the criminal collusion, of many white law enforcement 
officials in the segregated South.
  The all-white, all-male jury acquitted Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for 
the murder of Emmett Till, with the two men posing for photographs and 
lighting cigars after the verdict was announced.
  There simply was no justice for African Americans during the civil 
rights era.
  The entire criminal justice system--from the police, to the 
prosecutors, to the juries, and to the judges--was perverted by racial 
bigotry.
  African Americans were routinely beaten, bombed and shot with 
impunity.
  Sometimes, the killers picked their victims on a whim.
  Sometimes, they targeted them for their activism.
  Many times, prominent white citizens were involved and no 
consequences flowed.
  Herbert Lee of Liberty, Mississippi, for example, was shot in the 
head by a state legislator, E.H. Hurst, in broad daylight in 1961.
  It is, of course, fitting and proper that this legislation bears the 
name of Emmett Till, whose slaying in 1955 and his mother's brave 
decision to have an open casket at his funeral stirred the nation's 
conscience and galvanized a generation of Americans to join the fight 
for equality.
  Sadly, hundreds of them were killed in that struggle, and many of the 
killers, like those of Emmett himself, were never successfully 
prosecuted.
  Madam Speaker, over the past half century, the United States has made 
tremendous progress in overcoming the badges and vestiges of slavery.
  But this progress has been purchased at great cost.
  Examples of unsolved cases include the 1968 ``Orangeburg Massacre'' 
at South Carolina State University where state police shot and killed 
three student protesters; the 1967 shooting death of Carrie Brumfield, 
whose body was found on a rural Louisiana road; the

[[Page H1203]]

1957 murder of Willie Joe Sanford, whose body was fished out of a creek 
in Hawkinsville, Georgia; the 1946 killing of a black couple, including 
a pregnant woman, who was pulled out of a car in Monroe, Georgia, and 
dragged down a wagon trail before being shot in front of 200 people.
  Solving cases like these is part of the unfinished work of America.
  Madam Speaker, 53 years ago, Medgar Evers was murdered in Jackson, 
Mississippi; justice would not be done in his case for more than twenty 
years.
  But that day was foretold because the evening before the death of 
Medgar Evers, on June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy addressed the 
nation from the Oval Office on the state of race relations and civil 
rights in America.
  In his historic speech to the nation President Kennedy said:
  ``We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the 
scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.
  ``One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln 
freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. 
They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet 
freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its 
hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens 
are free.''
  H.R. 35 will help ensure that justice is received by those for whom 
justice has been delayed.
  In doing so, this legislation will help this Nation fulfill its hopes 
and justify its boast that in America all persons live in freedom.
  Madam Speaker, I strongly support this legislation and urge all 
Members to join me in voting for its passage.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 35, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________