In a 410-4 vote, the House has finally designated lynchings as a federal hate crime. The holdovers were all Republicans: Louie Gohmert (TX) Ted Yoho (FL) Thomas Massie (KY) and Independent Justin Amash (MI).
Why it matters: Congress has tried and failed for over 100 years to pass measures to make lynching a federal crime.
Catch up quick: The Emmett Till Antilynching Act follows a version of the bill that passed unanimously in the Senate last year. President Trump is expected to sign the act into law, per the New York Times.
- 4,075 African Americans were lynched in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia between 1877 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.
