For Blacks in Greenwood, Mississippi, the notion that America has gotten beyond race isn't popular today. Many are angry over the recent mysterious hanging death of Frederick Jermaine Carter.
“This is 2010 and we still have Black people hanging from trees? They're saying he hung himself but I have doubt in my mind that he actually did that. That wasn't his character. This wasn't a suicide, this was a homicide,” said Sunflower, Miss., Mayor Michael Pembleton, Jr. to The Final Call.
The body of Mr. Carter, 26, was found Dec. 3 hanging from an oak tree in the predominately White North Greenwood area of Leflore County. The young man lived in neighboring Sunflower County, located several miles away.
Mr. Carter's stepfather told law enforcement that he was working in the area with his stepson when Mr. Carter wandered off.
County Sheriff Ricky Banks reportedly told the media the young man had a “mental condition and a history of wandering off.” He also publicly stated that he saw no signs at the scene pointing towards it being a crime or murder.
Mr. Banks said evidence shows Mr. Carter dragged an old frame of a nearby table, leaned it against the trunk of the tree and commenced to tying himself to the tree limb.
“The frame probably broke, possibly because Carter kicked it out from under himself,” Mr. Banks told reporters.
The preliminary autopsy results by the Leflore County Coroner's Office declared it a suicide.
The deceased man's family and community leaders don't accept the official explanations and are calling for further investigation.
“Because there has been no investigation on the part of the local officials into this as a crime, we're calling on the federal government to conduct an independent investigation. We want the U.S. Justice department to look into this,” attorney Valerie Hicks Powe told The Final Call in a phone interview on Dec. 13.
Ms. Powe, who is based in Birmingham, Ala., is the spokesperson for the victim's family. “A crime scene was never established. They never roped the scene off and this has not been treated as a crime. There is no reason to believe that he would commit suicide. We appreciate attention being brought to this because we need an outcry from the people,” she said.
Funeral services for Mr. Carter were scheduled for Dec. 18 at Ark of The Covenant Church in Moorhead, Miss.
One of the most gruesome lynchings in U.S history took place in Money, Miss., which approximately 10 miles north of Greenwood. In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was beaten, shot in the head, his eyes gouged out, and thrown into theTallahatchie River with a cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire after accusations of whistling a White woman. Two White males were acquitted in the case while the boy's mother held an open casket funeral that made national headlines. It was also a watershed moment for the civil rights movement as the horror the Southern violence and brutality was put before the world.
Unanswered questions and appeals for outside help
Loved one and relatives want answers to questions about the death of Mr. Carter and the story thus far does not ring true, they say.“He didn't have a mental problem. His problem was he tended to not defend himself against others in conflict but he wouldn't kill himself. The family is requesting a second autopsy and want to also have an autopsy done by someone out of the state of Mississippi,” says Mr. Pembleton, who is also a cousin of the victim.
State Senator David Jordan was able to obtain gruesome photos of Mr. Carter's body hanging from the tree. He went to the scene himself and is also skeptical of what is being reported.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions. He reportedly had rope in his pocket but didn't have anything to cut it with? Why wasn't the scene of the crime blocked off? That tree limb is nearly 12 feet high. I'm 6'2 and I can't see how I could maneuver to do that so how could a boy his height hang himself like that?” asks Mr. Jordan, who is also a Greenwood City Councilman.
Mr. Jordan met with the victim's mother, Brenda Carter, when he obtained the photos of her son. “She told me her son loved life too much to take his life. We want another autopsy now,” he said.
Wendol Lee, president of the Memphis-based Operation Help Civil Rights Group, said some 300 residents petitioned his group to get involved because of “paranoia related to the history of lynching.”
“The area where he was found hanging is an area that Black people do not go into according to what residents have told us. Blacks get harassed and stopped by the police in that area so why would this young man go way over there to kill himself? We believe someone took him over there and killed him,” said Mr. Lee, who also works with the National Action Network.
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Blacks doubt death in small Southern town is a suicide--they want answers now: Final CallSee also:
tags: Frederick Jermaine Carter, lynching, mississippi
Update 12/18/2010-- I pinched this from the comments section of
EOTM's Blog
By Solomon C. Osbourne
The list of young blacks found hanging in Mississippi, whose deaths have been hastily declared as suicides, seems to grow perpetually. In 2004, Roy Veal a black man who was fighting to keep whites from taking his family’s land in Wilkerson County was found hanging from a tree in Woodville, Mississippi. His death was ruled a suicide. In 2000, Raynard Johnson, a 17 year old black high school student, rumored to have been involved in an interracial dating relationship was found hanging from a tree in Kokomo, Mississippi. His death was ruled a suicide.
Between 1987 and 1993, twenty two (22) black men were found hanging in Mississippi jails. All of their deaths were declared to be suicides. All of us are aware of the history of blacks being lynched in Mississippi. Between 1882 and 1968 there were 539 blacks lynched in Mississippi. Their murders were not solved because law enforcement officials made no effort to bring their murderers to justice. In many cases law enforcements were complicit in the murders.
Finally, on September 18, 2010, a young Hispanic woman was found hanging from a tree near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Her death was declared a suicide. All of these death by hanging involving blacks and non-white should surely caused rational thinking people to ask questions. Insisting on a thorough and comprehensive investigation is the least any rational thinking person should do. The investigation of the recent hanging in Leflore County seems to be a rush to judgment, and the investigation seemed to be concerned with something other than uncovering the truth.
