Calls Increase For Deeper Investigations Into Series Of Hanging Deaths
“We want justice not comfortable excuses,” says one man’s family.
A father and his son place a note on a tree that was painted with the colors of the Pan-African Flag after what were believed to be nooses were found hanging from several trees in Oakland, California, on June 17, 2020. Local residents decided to paint the tree with the colors of the flag to reclaim the tree and offer a place for anyone to leave prayers or messages rather than let the memory of hate remain. [Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images}
Communities and families across the United States are voicing concern and demanding answers after several Black men have been found dead by hanging over the past few weeks in what is feared to be a troubling potential pattern.
On the morning of May 31, Malcolm Harsch, 38, was discovered hanged from a tree near a homeless encampment where he reportedly lived in Victorville, California.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department said there does not appear to be any signs of foul play but an investigation continues, The New York Times reported.
In a statement, Harsch’s family told Victor Valley News, “Amidst the current racial tension and following the protesting the night prior to his [death], we were truly troubled to learn of his passing, particularly of how his body was discovered.”
“There was blood on his shirt but there didn’t appear to be any physical implications at the scene to suggest that there was a struggle or any visible open wounds at that time,” the statement continued. “There are many ways to die, but considering the current racial tension a Black man hanging himself from a tree definitely doesn’t sit well with us right now. We want justice not comfortable excuses.”
Harmonie Harsch, 29, noted the situation “has been stressful” and explanations about her brother’s death don’t “sound right.”
“We are really just trying to get more answers as to what happened,” she said, according to The New York Times.
On Friday, however, the family followed up with a statement saying that they had been provided with "video evidence" that supported the conclusion that Harsch had taken his own life, according to The Los Angeles Times.
About 50 miles away from where Harsch died, a passerby discovered the body of Robert Fuller just before 4 a.m. on June 10. The 24-year-old was hanging from a tree in Poncitlán Square in Palmdale, California, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Like Harsch’s family, relatives of Fuller have demanded more concrete answers about what might have happened.
“We’ve been hearing one thing. Then we hear another. And we just want to know the truth,” Fuller’s sister, Diamond Alexander, said at a rally on June 13.
She insisted the determination her brother took his own life didn’t make sense because he “was not suicidal.”
Officials are now reconsidering the case.
“The initial report appeared to be consistent with a suicide, but we felt it prudent to roll that back and continue to look deeper,” said Dr. Jonathan Lucas, chief medical examiner-coroner for Los Angeles County.
The FBI recently announced the agency, along with the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, are also “actively reviewing” both Harsch and Fuller’s deaths to “determine whether there are violations of federal law,” TIME reported.
In third incident, a person across the country on an early morning walk through Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park on June 9 found Bronx resident Dominique Alexander, 27, hanged from a tree, the New York Daily News reported.
“He was definitely loved by his family and his community,” Keats Alexander told the newspaper about his brother. “It’s just so much.”
The Office of the Medical Examiner ruled Alexander’s hanging a suicide, and an NYPD spokesperson said an investigation into the death continues, according to Gothamist.
Days after Alexander died, New York City’s Parks Department removed what appeared to be a rope noose that was tied to a watchtower in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, THE CITY reported on June 15.
According to an NYPD spokesperson, the hate crime unit conducted an “aggravated harassment” investigation into the matter.
A day after the report, the unit released a statement that cited the park director as claiming the rope “was left over from a construction scaffold that was removed in the fall” and had been “used to hoist construction materials.”
Just yesterday, a noose was found in Black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace's garage stall at Talladega, CNN reported. Wallace, who is the only Black driver in NASCAR's premiere circuit, has been outspoken about the Black Lives Matter movement and had been calling for the ban of the Confederate flag at NASCAR events, which was officially enacted recently thanks to Wallace's efforts.
Howard University professor of history Thomas Foster told The Washington Post, "The numerous accounts of a deceased black man found hanging in a tree are a horrific reminder of our country’s history. We are in a moment with parallels to the era of lynching that should cause us great suspicion of any rush to label the cases as suicide."
