WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents usually say a few words before they turn legislation into law. But Joe Biden flipped the script yesterday when he signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. He signed the bill first in the White House Rose Garden — then spoke. In his comments, Biden thanked civil rights leaders, Congressional Black Caucus members and others who backed the law for “never ever giving up.” Congress first took up anti-lynching legislation in 1900 and failed passing it nearly 200 times since. The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act is named for the Black teen whose Mississippi murder in 1955 was a galvanizing moment in the civil rights era. His grieving mother insisted on an open casket to show how her son had been brutalized.
Photo: President Joe Biden speaks after signing the Emmett Till Antilynching Act in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, March 29, 2022, in Washington. Standing alongside Biden is Vice President Kamala Harris. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
