Senate passes bill to make lynching a federal hate crime

The US Senate passed the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2019 on a voice vote Thursday, which would make lynching a federal hate crime.

Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced the bill the same day it was passed. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Tim Scott (R-SC) co-sponsored the bill. The Senate had unanimously passed a similar bill in December, but the bill never passed in the House.

On the floor of the Senate, Harris said, “This is an uncomfortable history to think of, talk about, and understandably makes many people uncomfortable because of the violence we are describing, because it is part of America’s history, because it is something we have never truly acknowledged and recognized, in terms of the crime it was, the crime it is, and how we, through our laws, must recognize the seriousness of it.” Harris cited data showing that 4,081 lynchings took place in the 19th and 20th centuries. She also spoke of recent incidences of hate crimes against black Americans and other marginalized groups.

Booker said, “Lynchings were used to terrorize, marginalize, and oppress Black communities, to kill human beings in order to sow deeper fear, inequality, and injustice for generations.”

The bill will now move to the House Judiciary Committee.

Source: Jurist