Last year the Senate passed a bill that would make lynching a federal crime. Last year. In 2018. Do you know when the first bill to make lynching a federal crime was introduced? 1918. One hundred years ago.

And it nearly became the law back then. It passed the House in 1922. But it got killed in the Senate ― by a filibuster. And then it got killed again. And again. And again. More than 200 times. An entire century of obstruction because a small group of racists stopped the entire nation from doing what was right.

For generations, the filibuster was used as a tool to block progress on racial justice. And in recent years, it’s been used by the far right as a tool to block progress on everything. . . .

We can’t sit around for 100 years while the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful, and everyone else falls further and further behind. We can’t sit around for 100 years while climate change destroys our planet, while corruption pervades every nook and cranny of Washington, and while too much of a child’s fate in life still rests on the color of their skin.