Senate passes bill to make lynching a federal crime

The Senate unanimously passed a bill Thursday that would make lynching a federal crime, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Congress has tried and failed for nearly 100 years to pass similar measures, with more than 4,000 black people having been victims of lynching between 1877 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. The Senate passed a similar measure during the last Congress, but the House failed to act on it.