These Three Republicans Voted Against Making Lynching a Hate Crime
NewsweekSep 09, 2021
The Facts
Pres. Biden on Tues. signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, allowing crimes to be prosecuted as lynching if someone is killed or injured during a hate crime.
Earlier in the month, the bill passed the Senate unanimously, after passing the House in a 423-3 vote.
The Spin
Progressive narrative
This is a long time coming, and sends a message that America is finally ready to reckon with a dark moment in its history. The bill is a historic one, coming to terms with how lynching was used to enforce a racial social order, and America will now have greater means to reject this in the future.
Libertarian narrative
While the intentions behind this are admirable, expanding the number of things the federal government can prosecute as hate crimes is dangerous, as it risks endangering other liberties, such as freedom of speech, and the DOJ tends to have an overzealous approach to enforcing such laws. This bill also indirectly expands the federal death penalty.
