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Black America Web
11 hours ago
- Black America Web
Black Man Found Hanging From A Tree In New York, Police Call It Suicide
Source: WISH-TV / WISH-TV On June 11, a Black man was found hanging dead from a tree in Albany, New York. While police have labeled it a suicide, locals and people identifying themselves as family members of the man are skeptical. According to the Times Union, a call was made at around 8 a.m. last Wednesday, and officers found a body hanging from a tree on Westerlo Street. Videos circulated on social media showing the body, but were quickly taken down. When a Black man is hanging from a tree, the first thought is lynching, given America's sordid history with the practice, but local police were quick to push back against that narrative 'At this time, based upon preliminary investigation, the circumstances appear to be consistent with suicide and no evidence to suggest that the incident is criminal in nature,' a statement from Albany police reads. Locals have taken to social media and TikTok to express their disbelief at how little coverage the hanging has received in the local media. There's been skepticism over it being a cut-and-dry suicide given how little information has been released about the incident. In fact, most reporting on the case has come from locals doing their own digging into what happened. While police have not released the name of the man, social media posts and a GoFundMe page seem to point to the deceased being one Earl Smith. There are few confirmed, concrete details about the case, and we don't want to get into baseless speculation, but the lack of coverage and the alleged refusal to review camera footage is a bit suspect. Committing a crime in 2025 is somewhat foolish because there are cameras all over every city. I learned this during the Jonathan Majors trial when footage was released showing the assault and chase from several different camera angles throughout the city. It shouldn't be hard to see exactly what led to this man's death. Looking at comments on TikTok's show that several Albany residents have expressed disbelief that the story hasn't received more coverage. 'I work in Albany and live in the area and haven't heard a single thing about this until now. How is nobody saying anything about it?,' wrote one commenter. America loves to espouse how racism doesn't exist anymore and that lynchings are a thing of the past, yet Sundown Towns still exist. Whether it's literally hanging or alleged extrajudicial killings by the police, lynching hasn't gone away. The attitudes that encourage this violence against Black people have only become more and more normalized. In fact, they run rampant within the current presidential administration. From the ongoing attacks on DEI, Stephen Miller's entire existence, to the Pentagon's Chief Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson making several social media posts parroting the 'Great Replacement theory,' the most dangerous and insidious ideas of white supremacy are currently influencing the laws and policy that govern the country. Hate groups have gone down in America because the ideas they espouse have gone mainstream. In recent years, there have been several suspicious hangings of Black people that police label suicide, but have left family members questioning whether or not they were lynchings. Last year, Javion Magee was found hanging from a tree in North Carolina, and his deathwas labeled a suicide by police after video footage showed him buying a utility rope in a local Walmart. His family hired a private investigator and an independent medical examiner to see if their findings match the official police report. In 2020, a video went viral showing four white men attempting to lynch Vauhxx Booker during a July 4 celebration in Lake Monroe. Charges would be filed against the men, as well as Booker himself. The charges against all involved were dropped in 2022 after Booker and the two white men also charged in the case went through a restorative justice process. While we still don't know for certain what exactly led to this man's hanging in Albany, recent events have shown it's more than understandable why residents and the alleged family members are questioning whether or not it was a lynching. SEE ALSO: What Happened To Javion Magee? Dennoriss Richardson's Wife Says 'He Didn't Kill Himself' SEE ALSO Black Man Found Hanging From A Tree In New York, Police Call It Suicide was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Black America Web
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
DOJ Withdrawing Consent Decrees in Major Blow to Police Reform
Source: WISH-TV / WISH-TV In news that can only be described as disappointing but unsurprising, the Trump administration has announced it will dismiss consent decrees designed to spur police reform in several cities around the country. According to AP, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Department announced on Wednesday that it has initiated court filings asking judges to dismiss the consent decrees for several police departments, including in Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis. Additionally, the department will retract the findings of the investigations that led to decrees being issued in the first place. The DOJ is also ending ongoing investigations into police departments in Phoenix, Memphis, New Jersey, and several other cities The fact that this announcement comes just days before the five-year anniversary of George Floyd's murder should not be lost on anyone. 'It's our view at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration that federal micromanagement of local police should be a rare exception, and not the norm,' Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the current leader of the division, said on Wednesday. Consent decrees are approved by a federal judge and have often been used to spur police reform in cities where misconduct, bias, and poor policing have proven to be endemic. Once a consent decree is reached and approved by a judge, it allows for federal oversight to ensure that the affected police departments are following through on the reforms agreed upon in the decree. It should be noted that federal judges still have to approve the dismissals, and the DOJ has to make a case for why the consent decrees should be thrown out. The thing that gets me is that it takes a substantial amount of time and investigation for a consent decree to be issued in the first place. While a consent decree was issued in Louisville after the police-related death of Breonna Taylor, it came four years after her death and had yet to be approved by a judge before the DOJ's announcement. Similarly, George Floyd's murder triggered an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department, which also entered a consent decree three years after his death. So it's not like consent decrees were just being handed out left and right without a degree of process, evidence, or rigor. These investigations didn't occur for no reason. At best, people had their rights violated, and at worst, people actually died. These reforms were designed to improve both community safety and hopefully, police relations in the affected cities. Of course, this is the Trump administration we're talking about. They don't want to solve problems; they simply want to pretend they don't exist. If Black people get screwed in the process, even better. Source: KEREM YUCEL / Getty Kristen Clarke, the former head of the Civil Rights Division under the Biden administration, sent a statement to AP critical of the move. She defended the quality of the investigations, saying they were 'led by career attorneys, based on data, body camera footage and information provided by officers themselves.' 'To wholesale ignore and disregard these systemic violations, laid bare in well-documented and detailed public reports, shows patent disregard for our federal civil rights and the Constitution,' Clarke added. This move is consistent with steps the Trump administration took in its first term when it restricted the department's ability to investigate police killings and potential civil rights violations. It wasn't until 2021 when former Attorney General Merrick Garland lifted those restrictions that these more recent consent decrees could be reached. While the federal government is doing its damndest to turn back the clocks, leaders in several cities currently under consent decrees have stated that this move doesn't change their commitment to police reform. In a press conference on Wednesday addressing the DOJ's move, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara reaffirmed their commitment to the reforms established in the consent decree. 'We will comply with every sentence of every paragraph of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year,' Frey said. 'We will make sure that we are moving forward with every sentence of every paragraph of both the settlement around the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, as well as the consent decree.' Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg made a similar statement at a news conference on Wednesday. 'We are moving ahead rapidly to continue implementing police reform that ensures constitutional policing while providing transparency and accountability to the public. I made a promise to our community, and we are keeping that promise,' Greenberg told reporters. It's a nice sentiment, but actions speak louder than words. While the Louisville Mayor issued the statement, court documents show that the Louisville Metro Government didn't oppose the DOJ's motion to dismiss the consent decree, which could actually help the DOJ's case. Only time will tell if these cities will actually continue to honor their commitments or simply slide back into their old ways. SEE ALSO: Concerns Grow Over Removed Exhibits At NMAAHC Google Settles Lawsuit Alleging Anti-Black Bias For $50 Million SEE ALSO DOJ Withdrawing Consent Decrees in Major Blow to Police Reform was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
