Newsletter No. 5 - The Multicultural Music Group

Lynching was not considered a federal crime in the United States until the Emmet Till Anti-Lynching Act became law on March 29th, 2022.

For the first time in American history, a meaning of lynching is enshrined into the federal code. Damon Hewitt, the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law told Vox News that he hopes the new law will bring greater attention to the various cold cases that involve the mysterious deaths of Black people. “In these cases there often isn’t enough information to find the perpetrator and charge someone so they are often classified as suicides. But a lot of these cases happening today could very well be classic lynchings,” Hewitt said.

“LYNCHING IS A CLEAR EXAMPLE OF ONE’S INHUMANITY TOWARD ANOTHER IT’S A UNIQUELY AMERICAN ACT OF TERRORISM THAT IS MOTIVATED BY HATRED, AND, BEFORE TODAY, WAS NEVER PUNISHED BY OUR LEGAL SYSTEM,”

"People who identify as Black, African American, or African, as well as indigenous people (including Native Americans and Pacific Islanders) continue to be overrepresented among those experiencing homelessness", according to the 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.

HAVE TO GO

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023

A GLANCE AT HOW MUCH FURTHER WE HAVE TO GO (CONTINUED)

Congressional Reconstruction: A decade of political and economic uplift for formerly enslaved people in the United States. Between 1867 and 1877, more than 600 African Americans served in state legislatures throughout the South. Moreover, 16 African Americans served in Congress during Reconstruction, including two U.S. senators, Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce.

Source: Encyclopedia Brittanica

“I think one of the reasons that it’s so timely to learn about Black political leaders during Reconstruction is because we have an unprecedented wave of new laws that are meant to suppress voters specifically AfricanAmerican voters in some cases in order to ensure that African-American voices are not adequately heard in the political process,” says William Sturkey, associate professor of History at the University of North Carolina.

According to the most recent research on voting laws by the Brennan Center for Justice, Between January 1 and September 12, 2022, at least 7 states enacted 10 restrictive voting laws which make it harder to vote by mail, establish or expand documentary proof of citizenship requirements, impose new photo ID requirements, limit Election Day registration, and make it more difficult for individuals without traditional addresses — such as voters living on tribal lands and homeless voters —to register to vote.

Source: Time Magazine