It has been a long time coming, but the U.S. has finally made lynching a federal hate crime.
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) introduced the bill, naming it the Emmett Till Antilynching Act after the 14-year-old boy who was lynched in Mississippi 65 years ago, Vice reports. It’s also been 120 years since Congress first considered passing anti-lynching legislation.
The legislation passed 410 to four in the House and is now on its way to the White House, where President Trump is anticipated to sign it. The Senate passed the bill last year, which specifies lynching “as a federal hate crime punishable by up to life in prison, a fine, or both,” NBC News writes.