A Black Man Was Found Hanging From A Tree In Raleigh

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.

When these stories come out — which, again, has happened far too often over the last several years — an oft-repeated expression found online is “Black people don’t hang themselves.” Well, according to state data, in North Carolina, sometimes they do.

From News & Observer:

North Carolina tracks violent deaths, including suicides, and found there were nearly 1,600 reported suicides in 2023, the most recent data available. The majority of suicides among non-Hispanic, African-American men (63.3%) involved firearms, followed by hanging (21.1%), according to state data.

More than half of all reported suicide deaths between 2020 and 2024 in North Carolina were by firearm; 21.4% of suicides were by hangings, according to state data.

Still, with the swiftness with which many of these cases appear to be ruled as suicides, one can only wonder how many of the relatively few cases in which Black people die by suicide via hanging were actually cases in which there was more to the story that went uninvestigated.

In this case, the victim hasn’t even been identified yet, and already, the authorities seem to be certain of how he must have died, and Black people continue to be alone in looking at the larger pattern.

SEE ALSO:

Black Student Found Hanging At Mississippi’s Delta State University

Black Woman Found Hanging In Jackson Identified As Tasia Fortune

Black Man Found Hanging: What Happened To Jayvon Givan?

Man Found Hanging In Fair Oaks Park Identified As 21-Year-Old Kyle Bassinga

Juliana Nzita: 2 Months Later, Still No Answers In Hanging

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