More than two centuries into the American experiment, lynching is finally, officially a federal hate crime. President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law in a ceremony at the White House, assigning enhanced penalties for a heinous act that defined the height of racialized violence in the 20th century and beyond.

Lynching needs no explanation: historical archives, books and even newspaper articles are filled with graphic depictions of Black people tortured and killed as part of the public spectacle. The bill itself is named for a 14-year-old boy who was kidnapped, tortured, maimed and killed in Mississippi in 1955 by white men who were never convicted of a crime. Source: 246 Years Later, Lynching Is Finally A Federal Hate Crime