Emmett Till Antilynching Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 35, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. This act recalls a horrible period in our Nation's history. In fact, many can claim this bill is a century too late. After all, the first antilynching bill was introduced, as was just said by the chairman, over 100 years ago, but it never became law.

Back then, lynchings were a popular atrocity committed by the Ku Klux Klan against the Black community, Catholics, and Jews, among others. Lynching, which is used to intimidate a certain populous, is the practice of murder by a group of people by extrajudicial action.

Today, while not eliminated, and we are all striving for that, groups on all sides need to understand that this kind of intimidation of groups is not tolerated. That is why today these influences have been diminished but they are not resolved, and we want to continue to fight against this. This is why I support H.R. 35.

There is one thing I would like to make a little clearer and probably more to the point, and that is that I believe H.R. 35, this measure, will ensure that those who engage in mob violence that results in death are dealt with appropriately in the Federal system. I think it would have been more appropriate to actually place a certain penalty in this bill as well, such as a defined number of years for committing this offense since the justice for such a heinous act should be swift and certain. They should know what they are getting.

I agree we can move forward with this, but I will disagree with my Democratic colleagues that we chose not to put that in this bill. I think that is something we can look forward to in the future. But this is a good bill. It needs to move forward.

I am proud to support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 35.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush) and his passion there with that speech.

It is my privilege now to introduce someone who has a similar passion and also has worked on this bill and done a great deal for it.

Madam Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bacon).

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I would inquire of the gentlewoman, Ms. Bass, if she needs some more time.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I was going to give the gentlewoman some of my time, but she is done. I just wanted to make sure.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, this is a bill that is long past due. It should have been done many years ago, and it was not. It is now time to get this done.

As was said by the majority leader and others, this was a heinous act done by a mob for one purpose besides the killing: It is also to intimidate and to put fear into others.

In my State of Georgia, it not only happened because of the color of someone's skin, but by the creed of Catholic and Jews it had taken place as well.

This should never happen again. This is a good step forward. I think it is something that is long overdue. I urge all my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I want to just commend the chairman for a moment on bringing this bill up. I think there have been a lot of things that we have disagreed on and there have been many places where we have seen that--we probably will do it again this afternoon--but just to have this time, I think, to reflect and, I think, from my State of Georgia and from New York and all over.

The gentleman made a statement, and I wanted to commend the gentleman for that, that this was happening all over.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, the gentleman has been saying that for a year, so I will go slow.

I thank the gentleman for bringing this forward and thank him for being a part, and also the discussion among many of the Members here.

This is a discussion not limited to one area. It was highlighted by the Emmett Till death, but it was also something that America needed to deal with. By bringing this forward today, I think that is a testament to both of our committees being able to work together and both of us being able to bring something together that Americans can understand.

Lynching was far beyond a murder. It was also an intimidation method that we saw used in many States in many areas. So I just want to commend Madam Speaker for that, and also commend the chairman.

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