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The Senate passed a bill Tuesday to posthumously award Congressional Gold Medals to Emmett Till, the teenager whose lynching in 1955 galvanized the civil rights movement, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. The bill was introduced by Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Richard Burr, R-N.C.
And I don’t quite know what to make of it.
On one hand, it’s obviously good for the United States to acknowledge its horrifying legacy of racist torture, which includes Till's slaying. It’s also good for the country to acknowledge Till-Mobley — not just because she held an open-casket funeral for her son to demonstrate the horror of racist violence, but because of her lifelong commitment to civil rights activism.
But it seems a hollow gesture for the two to receive medals from an institution that’s been unable to pass an anti-lynching law. I’m wary of performative gestures of anti-racism being used when substantive options are available.
So how do we countenance this award knowing Till was savagely murdered by a crime Congress hasn't formally outlawed because of conservative opposition? What honor could an institution so depraved possibly bestow upon the Till family?
A 2018 anti-lynching bill introduced by two Democrats — Booker and then-Sen. Kamala Harris, of California — as well as Republican Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina, passed unanimously in the Senate but stalled in the Republican-led House.
In 2020, the Democratic-led House passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act with near-unanimous approval, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., single-handedly blocked the legislation when it was taken up by the Senate.
“The people who are putting this forward are putting forward some sort of symbolism,” Paul said disparagingly at the time.
That’s partially true. Hate crimes are already federal offenses, as Paul noted, but the symbolism in formally denouncing lynchings — a specific crime used to enforce racist order — is powerful and necessary. The refusal or inability to pass an anti-lynching bill is powerful symbolism as well: It shows racist obstruction is alive and well in Congress, to the detriment of lynching victims like Till and their families.
Awarding Congressional Gold Medals to Till and his mother is just about the least the Senate could do to honor them and others who have suffered similarly. I’m not jumping for joy.
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