The legislation, approved on a voice vote, would ensure that lynching triggers an enhanced sentence under federal law, like other hate crimes. Harris and Booker, who are rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, spoke graciously about their joint effort Thursday morning on the Senate floor. Booker had introduced the bill with Harris and Scott after what Harris described as 200 previous attempts by Congress to pass similar legislation. Harris recounted the history of lynching in the United States and the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in rural Mississippi. The Senate bill defines someone guilty of lynching as “willfully, acting as part of any collection of people, assembled for the purpose and with the intention of .

Source: Washington Post February 14, 2019 18:13 UTC