There’s been a disturbing series of Black people being found hanged over the past several years, and despite the desperate pleas from the families and the community, too many of these inexplicable cases are classified as suicide, even in the face of suspicious circumstances.
Sadly, a 29-year-old named Jayvon Givan is another name added to that heartbreaking list. On September 17, 2024, Givan was found hanging from a pillar by a metal chain at an office building in Corrales, New Mexico. According to the Kansas City Defender, the Albuquerque Police Department ruled his death a suicide and had his body cremated 384 days before they contacted his family. It wasn’t until his cousin Jada Walker filed a missing persons report that she was told about Givan’s death in a 2-page police report detailing what was found on the scene and a review of the discarding of his remains.
“When I say he loved life, he loved life,” Walker said, her voice firm with certainty. “That is not a suicidal person. Nothing about him comes across suicidal. It’s raising red flags with all our family members because we know who he is.”
Walker also says that on August 28, 2024, Gavin reached out to many different family members asking for money.
More than 20 people said that Jayvon contacted them on August 28, 2024. Everybody said the same thing. It seemed like he was running from something.”
She continued:
“When I say he loved life, he loved life,” Walker said, her voice firm with certainty. “That is not a suicidal person. Nothing about him comes across suicidal. It’s raising red flags with all our family members because we know who he is.”
Walker says that based on the police report, there was little to no effort made to contact them whatsoever. She, the family, and the activist community contend that APD essentially “concealed” this death described as a lynching. Local organizers including Building Power for Black New Mexico, Millions for Prisoners New Mexico, Albuquerque Save the Kids, and the SouthWest Solidarity Network released the following statement exclusively to The Defender:
“This department concealed the lynching of a Black man for over a year, and had the audacity to label it a ‘suicide.’ We reject that narrative outright,” the statement reads. “Black people do not hang themselves in public in America. We know this because the history is written in blood. From Reconstruction to Jim Crow to right now, police and coroners have covered up racial terror by calling it ‘self-inflicted.’ These are not isolated incidents, they are continuations of state-sanctioned violence.”
We will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
