AP Explains: Vile US history of lynching of people of color

RUSSELL CONTRERAS

Associated Press

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) - The U.S. Congress is once again at an impasse over a widely backed bill to designate lynching as a federal hate crime. And as in previous attempts to pass anti-lynching legislation, the proposal is being blocked by a white southern representative this time, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky.

Merriam-Webster defines lynching as "to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal approval or permission." Throughout American history, lynching has been used as a tool of terror against people of color to maintain racist social orders...