Change.org - Anti-lynching law

Lynching is a form of racial terrorism that has claimed the lives of thousands of Black Americans. For over 150 years, there have been efforts in Congress to pass anti-lynching laws. Every time they’ve failed due to filibustering. Last year, one Senator held up passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. This bill has been re-introduced, and now might be its best moment for passage. Nancy started this petition calling for Congress to act. Sign Nancy’s petition and tell lawmakers to finally pass anti-lynching laws. Pass the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act 2,123 have signed NANCY SHAPIRO’s petition. Let’s get to 2,500!

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First introduced 2019, Rand Paul blocked this legislation in the Senate because of his contention that the law was too broad and a convicted criminal could face "a new 10-year penalty for... minor bruising." The bill has been reintroduced in the House in January 2021 H.R.55 117th Congress.  It is now in the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Between 1882 and 1951 4,730 people were lynched in the United States; 3,437 were black,1,293 were white.  This number is likely only a small percentage of these grievous murders, which were seldom reported.  In 1919, the NAACP published a report which disproved the myth that assumed that most lynchings were based on African-American attacks on white women; less than one sixth of the 2,500 African Americans lynched from 1889 to 1918 had even been accused of rape.   If you can stand it, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America can be viewed online. It is beyond words.    Here also is an historic speech about lynching from the year 1900:    https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/185/civil-rights-and-conflict-in-the-united-states-selected-speeches/4375/speech-on-lynch-law-in-america-given-by-ida-b-wells-in-chicago-illinois-january-1900/ From 1882 to 1968, some 200 ANTI-LYNCHING BILLS  were introduced in Congress; three passed the House.  No bills were approved by the Senate due to filibusters by the united voting bloc of reactionary southern senators. Gallup first polled the American public about lynching in 1937; 60 percent favored a “law which would make lynching a federal crime.”  Please sign this petition in memory of our fellow citizens who endured the unendurable and in recognition of our determination to say NEVER AGAIN with the passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. Please publicize and share this petition if you have the resources to do so.

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