Bill Text: NJ AR249 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Congress and President to make lynching a federal crime.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-11-15 - Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading [AR249 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-AR249-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman BRITNEE N. TIMBERLAKE
District 34 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Urges Congress to make lynching a federal crime.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution urging Congress and the President to enact legislation making lynching a federal crime.
Whereas, The act of lynching has been used to intimidate and terrorize the Black community in the United States with the goal of fortifying white supremacy; and
Whereas, In the years after the Civil War, acts of lynching were most often perpetrated by white mobs against Black individuals under the guise of punishment for alleged crimes based on scant, or entirely fabricated evidence, for which the individual who was lynched received no due process; and
Whereas, The most common form of lynching was a public hanging in front of a large crowd which allowed photographs of the individual who was lynched to be taken and published as a warning to other Black citizens not to challenge the white power structure; and
Whereas, The vast majority of perpetrators escaped punishment by State or local officials and on many occasions local elected officials and law enforcement played an active role in the lynching; and
Whereas, Although lynchings are often associated with the American South and the Jim Crow era, lynching occurred in all but four U.S. states; and
Whereas, Lynching marginalized people of color in the country's political, economic, and social systems and inflicted deep traumatic and psychological scars on the entire African-American community, witnesses, survivors, and family members; and
Whereas, Lynchings prompted Africans-Americans to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which worked to end segregation and acts of terror against Black Americans; and
Whereas, On June 13, 2005, 90 members of the United States Senate apologized to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims for failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching-legislation, yet the federal government has not made lynching a federal crime; and
Whereas, Recognizing lynching as a federal crime would ensure an individual who perpetrates a lynching would receive the same punishment without regard to the state in which the crime occurred and send a strong message that the federal government will not tolerate racially motivated hate crimes; and
Whereas, The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, H.R. 55, will specify lynching as a hate crime and a deprivation of civil rights as protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and is currently in committee for review; and
Whereas, Protecting the public against extreme violence such as lynching is a basic requirement of the federal government and failure to act continues to burden the African-American community which was humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow and terrorized by lynchings; and
Whereas, To remedy past and present racial injustice, the President and Congress should enact legislation and make lynching a federal crime after nearly 100 years of unsuccessful legislative efforts; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House urges Congress and President Biden to enact legislation making lynching a federal crime in the United States.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the President of the United States, Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and to each member of Congress elected from this State.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges Congress and President Biden to make lynching a federal crime.
Lynchings were public acts of racial terrorism, intended to instill fear in the entire Black community by those wishing to further white supremacy across the country. Acts of lynching were most commonly perpetrated by white mobs against African-American individuals and the vast majority of perpetrators received no punishment. On many occasions, local elected officials and law enforcement officers played an active role in the lynching. Lynching was a pervasive act used to interfere with the exercise of federally protected liberties, housing rights, and free exercise of religion.
Throughout the 20th century nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress and between 1890 and 1952, seven Presidents petitioned Congress to end lynching, however no legislation was ever signed into law. Currently, there are multiple bills pending in Congress that make lynching a federal crime, including the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, H.R. 55. Congress should take affirmative action on this bill and make lynching a federal crime.
After almost a century of unsuccessful legislative efforts, Congress should enact legislation for the crime of lynching, or any attempt or conspiracy to commit lynching.
