jennifer-roberts Last week, President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act into law. This law makes a conspiracy to commit a hate crime that results in serious injury or death a federal hate crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
As I watched President Biden sign the bill into law, the thought that went through my mind as I shook my head was, “Really? It’s 2022. It’s a shame that it has taken this long for the United States to have a law that punishes people for bias motivated injury or murder. The fact that it has it has taken more than a century to pass this law is very telling about the country’s dysfunctional relationship with racism and the current mindset of many people in our country, including lawmakers.
This law is a reminder that racially motivated hate is still very pervasive but much less recognizable than it was when it was commonplace to see innocent black bodies swinging from trees after being lynched. What it says to me is that there is still a lot of work to do to educate open minds and soften willing hearts.
Lynching, in its traditional form, involved hanging a human being, most often a Black person, from a tree with a noose tied around his or her neck until they died. This unimaginable terror was frequently inflicted on Black people, especially in southern states. Lynchings were so popular, they were made into community events like a local block party or fair. Lynchings were sometimes advertised in the local newspapers and sometimes, photographs were taken and made into post cards that spectators could share with family members and friends.
According to a recent Washington Post article, “More than 4,000 people, mostly African American were reported lynched in the United States from 1882 to 1968 across the country. Ninety nine percent of perpetrators escaped state or local punishment…”
The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act is named for 14-year-old Emmett Till, a Black boy, who was visiting his family during the summer of 1955. Till, the only son of Mamie Till Mobley, was accused of flirting with a White woman, Carolyn Bryant, who later said that she lied. Bryant’s husband, Roy Bryant and her brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, kidnapped Till from his family’s home, brutally beat and mutilated him, shot him in the head and tied a large metal fan around his neck with barbed wire. The two men discarded his body into the Tallahatchie River.
While both men went to trial, they were acquitted by an all-White, all male jury. Sadly, Emmett’s story was all too common, but most stories did not gain the widespread publicity that his did.
Till’s grief-stricken mother insisted that his mutilated body be returned to their hometown of Chicago and that an open casket funeral be held so that the world could see what was done to her son. Jet magazineran a picture of Till’s body in the open casket propelling the Civil Rights Movement.
Congressman Bobby Rush, the original sponsor of the bill said, “That photograph shaped my consciousness as a Black man in America, changed the course of my life and changed our nation.”
Unfortunately, Rush’s original anti-lynching legislation did not gain enough traction to be made into law and has been revised many times. Rush’s idea to create and pass hate crime legislation is not a new idea. In fact, America’s first anti-lynching bill was introduced in 1900 by George Henry White, the only Black man then serving in Congress. The bill failed and continued to fail for more than 120 years.
America has a long way to go when it comes to moving the moral needle from evil to good. The delayed passage of this important legislation is proof.
President Biden said when referring to historic lynchings, “Terror, to systemically undermine hard, hard fought civil rights. Terror, not just in the dark of night, but in broad daylight. Innocent men, women and children hung by nooses from trees,” he said. “Bodies burned and drowned and castrated. Their crimes? Trying to vote, trying to go to school to try and own a business or preach the gospel.”
The president went on to say, “Hate never goes away. It only hides under rocks. Given just a little bit of oxygen, it comes roaring back out, screaming. What stops it is all of us, not a few. All of us have to stop it.”
I agree with President Biden’s sentiments. We have to be the light. We have to stop hate which includes being able to recognize hate which shapeshifts.
Today’s hate is often not the cross burning, white-hooded variety that is recognizable. It lurks in our systems of oppression and is baked into everyday practices that benefit some while hurting others. It looks like Black homes being devalued simply because the owners are Black or the home is located in a predominantly Black neighborhood. It looks like students being denied access to quality public education because of their zip code. It looks like qualified students being overlooked or discriminated against for scholarships or advanced classes because they are Black. It looks like higher suspension and expulsion rates for Black students who commit the same offense as White students. It looks like a Black woman being labeled as aggressive or angry when she is advocating for herself in a business meeting.
We must have the courage and sensitivity to identify and denounce racism wherever we see it, even when it’s in our own home. We must confront it and choose to eradicate it. We must choose to educate ourselves about America’s racist history and its racist present. We must choose to be anti-racists and teach our children and community members to do the same.
What does the Emmett-Till Anti-Lynching Act really mean? The answer will depend on our willingness to see the humanity in everyone regardless of skin color. The answer will depend on our ability to love instead of hate, to practice racial humility and to choose right over wrong.
