America has a 'gruesome' history of lynching, but it's not a federal crime. A House vote could change that

The House is expected to vote Wednesday on legislation that would make lynching a federal crime, a move supporters say is long overdue in a country whose history is stained with the atrocities.

“I cannot imagine our nation did not have any federal law against lynching when so many African Americans have been lynched,’’ said Rep. Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois and a lead sponsor of the bill. “Lynching was the preferred method of the Ku Klux Klan, the preferred choice of [torturing and murdering African-Americans].”

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is named in memory of a 14-year-old black teenager who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955. His brutal death was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.

Rush said he proposed the bill at the urging of Rev. Jesse Jackson, who called last year to ask whether he knew there wasn’t such a law. “I heard the alarm,’’ Rush told USA TODAY.

The bill, mostly supported by Democrats, has one Republican co-sponsor — Ohio Rep. Michael Turner.

Rush said he has been assured by Senate co-sponsors of a similar bill that if passed in the House, it would quickly be brought up for a vote in that chamber. Supporters hope to have it signed into law by the end of February in honor of Black History Month.

“It’s on the fast track,’’ he said.

The Senate passed a similar bill last year, but would have to vote on a version approved by the House on Wednesday. The bipartisan Senate bill was proposed by Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California and Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina.