Nearly 60 Democratic members of Congress signed a letter to sound an alarm: Black Americans are being found hanging, including some from trees, in a wave of possible “modern-day lynchings.”
Their letter to the Justice Department and FBI stated, “The series of deaths raise significant suspicion of foul play given the role of lynching in our nation’s history.” Rep. Ayanna Pressley called it a “national crisis.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who signed the letter, tweeted about “widespread modern-day lynchings” and “racial terror.”
Every suspicious death deserves investigation. But history is not evidence. What are the facts?
Demartravion “Trey” Reed, 21, was found hanging at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. The medical examiner found no foul play and ruled the death suicide. His family confirmed that his girlfriend said Reed sent suicidal texts the previous night.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, a 32-year-old black man was found hanging downtown. Video showed him acting alone with a cord. His mother said he suffered mental health problems.
Juliana Nzita, 16, was found on church property in Charlotte. Investigators found no defensive wounds, assault, foul play or outside involvement.
Justice Kai James, 21, was found hanging at a Job Corps center in Albany, Georgia. Authorities called it suicide.
Kyle Bassinga, 21, was found hanging in Cobb County; video showed him entering the woods alone. Authorities called it suicide.
To’Nea Nicole Miller, 27, was found hanging in Miami’s Gwen Cherry Park. Authorities called it suicide.
Jerard “Jay” Jackson, 28, was found near a trail in Rothbury, Michigan. Authorities called it suicide.
Tasia Fortune, 29, was found hanging behind an abandoned house in Jackson, Mississippi. Her death was ruled homicide. Police arrested Jarques Ratliff, a 51-year-old black man who knew her. His motive is unknown.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, more white Americans than black Americans die by suicide by hanging, and whites do so at a higher per-capita rate. In 2020, 10,573 white Americans and 916 black Americans died by suicide by hanging, strangulation or suffocation. The age-adjusted rates were 4.6 per 100,000 for whites and 2.0 for blacks.
This blacks-being-lynched hysteria recalls the supposed epidemic of racism-driven black church burnings in the 1990s. The mainstream media pushed the narrative of organized white terrorists torching black churches across America. Then-President Bill Clinton created a national task force.
The investigation found no national racist conspiracy. From 1995 through September 1998, authorities investigated 670 arsons, bombings or attempted bombings involving houses of worship. Two hundred twenty-five involved predominantly black churches. Most did not. Of the 106 suspects arrested for arson at black churches, 68 were white, 37 were black, and one was Hispanic.
Some fires were indeed racist crimes, but the sweeping media narrative was false. America had again been stampeded into believing white racism had suddenly and everywhere reared its head.
Meanwhile, these so-called leaders ignore the elephant in the room.
They ignore the epidemic of black children born without a father married to and living with their mother, despite overwhelming evidence that two-parent families improve economic, behavioral and educational outcomes.
They ignore the crisis of K-12 schools in urban America, where most black fourth graders are not proficient in reading or math. Democratic politicians and teacher unions control and defend public urban schools.
They ignore black-on-black crime. In 2023 more than half of the nation’s homicide victims were black, and of those victims, nearly 90% of the identified offenders were black.
They ignore the effect of illegal immigration on black joblessness and wages. A U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigation found that illegal immigration has tended to increase the supply of low-skilled labor and depress both wages and employment rates for low-skilled American workers — a disproportionate number of whom are black men. Research presented to the commission estimated that the immigration influx from 1980 through 2000 reduced the employment rate of low-skilled black men by 8 percentage points. Other research estimated that immigration cost the average American man without a high-school diploma approximately $1,800 annually in reduced wages.
Black truth-tellers who identify these problems are smeared as “Uncle Toms” and “sellouts.” The Ku Klux Klan could not have designed a more destructive arrangement.
If black leadership malpractice were a crime, many politicians would be staring at life without the possibility of parole.
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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