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President Biden expected to sign Emmett Till anti-lynching bill into law

A plaque marks the gravesite of Emmett Till at Burr Oak Cemetery May 4, 2005 in Aslip, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
A plaque marks the gravesite of Emmett Till at Burr Oak Cemetery May 4, 2005 in Aslip, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

President Biden is set to sign a new law Tuesday that makes lynching a federal hate crime, with sentences of up to 30 years.

Ersula Ore, associate professor of African and African American studies and rhetoric at Arizona State University, and Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, discuss the history of racial terror lynchings and the significance of the new law.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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