Skip to main content

Congressman Cohen Votes to Advance Emmett Till Antilynching Act

December 8, 2021

Bill shines “the light of truth” on painful legacy

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, today voted to advance the Emmett Till Antilynching Act to the full House of Representatives. He also spoke in favor of the bill, and on Memphis' history with lynchings, before the vote.

In his remarks, Congressman Cohen said in part:

"I know about lynchings, as we all do from history, but unfortunately they occurred in our community – my community of Memphis. Ida B. Wells, who spent some time in Memphis, once said ‘the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.'…This bill takes an important step to ‘shine the light of truth' by finally making lynching a federal hate crime."

See Congressman Cohen's entire remarks at the markup here.

###