GOP Congressman Says Anti-Lynching Law Violates States’ Rights

After hundreds of years and many, many tragic and disgraceful, torturous instances of lynching of African-Americans, the United States of America finally has an anti-lynching law that was been passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

One would think that, regardless of political persuasions, people would be celebrating this milestone, right? Well, not so fast.

Republican Congressman Ted Yoho (R-Florida) says that the government should not have done anything about lynching at the federal level, and says he voted against the measure from his seat in the House of Representatives because it is somehow a violation of states’ rights to self-governance. CNN reporter Manu Raju tweeted this stunning piece of news:

Yoho just told me he voted against it because the bill is an “overreach of the federal government” and tramples on states rights https://t.co/PfBnG1Ptco — Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 26, 2020

The good news is that Yoho is just one of four people in the entire House of Representatives to vote against the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, which is the official name of the bill. Hopefully, that trend continues in the Senate, and is passed with a veto-proof majority.

After all, there is no way to predict what way Racist-in-Chief will decide when it comes to actually signing it into law.

On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Cory Booker (R-NJ) urged the Senate to pass the anti-lynching bill unanimously, all while Rep. Yoho seemed to think that it should be up to the states as to whether one of the worst sins in American history should be left to the states to decide the legality of. Sen. Booker said in a statement to PoliticusUSA:

“Today brings us one step closer to finally reconciling a dark chapter in our nation’s history. Lynchings were used to terrorize, marginalize, and oppress black communities – to kill human beings in order to sow fear and keep black communities in a perpetual state of racial subjugation. If we do not reckon with this dark past, we cannot move forward. But today we are moving forward. Thanks to the leadership of Rep. Rush, the House has sent a clear, indisputable message that lynching will not be tolerated. It has brought us closer to reckoning with our nation’s history of racialized violence. Now the Senate must again pass this bill to ensure that it finally becomes law.”

Hopefully, there are more Senators who think like Senator Booker than like Rep. Yoho, and hopefully, Trump’s GOP cronies urge him to sign it into law, if only because it will quell new accusations of racism, which always get under Trump’s very thin skin.

Sadly, there is still a question as to whether or not the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act will become law. That is the world we live in right now, America.