Another Black person has been found hanged in the South. Police are saying there are no signs of foul play and that they’re investigating the death as a suicide. Black people aren’t buying it.
At this point, we hear a new version of this story nearly every other week.
According to the News & Observer, a Black man who hasn’t been identified publicly yet was found hanging from a tree in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday, and, according to a news release sent out Saturday night by the Raleigh Police Department, his death is “being investigated as a suicide,” as “there appears to be no foul play involved.” The department said the man was pronounced dead at the scene despite the “life-saving measures” performed by medical staff.
The news release also addressed the online reaction.
“We want to take a moment to acknowledge a disturbing post that is currently being shared regarding this investigation that occurred today,” the department said, without actually being in any way specific about what post it was talking about. “We understand that this loss may be deeply painful for those who knew and cared about the individual. We ask everyone to please be mindful of the family and friends who are grieving and to avoid sharing unverified information or speculation while investigators continue their work.”
So, the police department all but announced the outcome of the investigation by essentially calling it a suicide before any investigation was concluded, but now it wants people to wait for said conclusion. And, again, this simply happens far too often for it to be reasonable to expect people, especially Black people, not to collectively raise our eyebrows.
So, yes, there’s going to naturally be speculation. As for the single “disturbing post” the Raleigh Police Department wished to address — again, which one would that be, exactly?
Earlier this month, a Black woman identified as 29-year-old Tasia Fortune was found hanging from a tree in Jackson, Miss. Police haven’t yet determined whether or not her death was a suicide, but her family seems to already be getting ahead of that narrative, telling ABC News last week, “She did not do this to herself.” Naturally, some people online have connected her death to that of the unidentified man in Raleigh.
