Gay News from London

Senate Resolution 39

Senate Resolution 39 I haven't heard very much about this, so I thought I'd tell you about it. Yes, the Senate finally adopted a resolution apologizing to the victims of lynching and their descendants for the Senate's failure to pass anti-lynching bills they could have been approved at any time during the past 65 years. For decades, presidents asked Congress to outlaw lynching, and nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced. On three occasions, the House passed anti-lynching legislation, the last time in 1940. And on all three occasions, the Senate talked the bills to death. More than 4,700 people, mostly African Americans, were lynched between 1882 and 1968. Senate Resolution 39 notes that incidents of lynching were recorded in all but four states, thus having it succeed slavery as "the ultimate expression of racism in the United States following Reconstruction." Or perhaps the ultimate expression of racism was the Senate not putting a stop to it.�
[Date: 16-Jun-05 ]