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N.C. teen's hanging death ruled a suicide; mother says it was a lynching

207 pound High School Football player isn't just going to sit there and let someone hang him.

Unless of-course he was suicidal.

There's going to be a struggle and evidence of a struggle.

Calling this " lynching " ??

Ridiculous. They're not even sure there was a crime committed.


I like how some people here immediately assume white people did it...
 
A black man is hung by a group for dating a white woman, they hung him for dating a white women and they believe that is wrong.
...
Is my example and statement true? COULD that be an example of lynching? yes or no

What's obvious is the term "lynching" is the word that most clearly describes that crime. It's bizarre anyone would debate the point.

Or really you would write that this way, "An example of a 'lynching is when a black man is hung by a crowd (two or more) of white people because _____________(insert ANY reason at all)."
 
I like how some people here immediately assume white people did it...

I don't think anyone assumes there was a crime at all. But it would seem rational to speculate that if he was murdered, hanging points to a racially motivated crime. If the motive was to steal his shoes or his wallet or was drug related, we'd expect to see the person shot or stabbed or beaten to death.
 
Not common, perhaps, but hardly rare.

Lynching Statistics

Of course since these statistics are almost 50 years old, the numbers will have increased.


Sorry, if you want to claim lynchings today are "hardly rare" you need to provide statistics that don't end 50 years ago. It ls entirely an illogical leap to assume that the number of lynchings have increased year to year. I'd be surprised if the number is higher than zero for 2014.
 
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I don't think anyone assumes there was a crime at all. But it would seem rational to speculate that if he was murdered, hanging points to a racially motivated crime. If the motive was to steal his shoes or his wallet or was drug related, we'd expect to see the person shot or stabbed or beaten to death.

What? When people are calling it a probable lynching they are assuming a crime was committed.
 
Sorry, if you want to claim lynchings today are "hardly rare" you need to provide statistics that don't end 50 years ago. It ls entirely an illogical leap to assume that the number of lynchings have increased year to year. I'd be surprised if the number is higher than zero for 2014.

Oops, sorry, there was one. A US Marine was lynched for daring to walk in to a Waffle House where his color was not welcome... he was white.

Based on your link that's a very misleading summary of the events. There was some type of altercation between three whites and a group of blacks, reason unknown, the police were called and it was broken up. An hour later the fight resumed, this time with a white person getting severely injured. And police in Mississippi were quoted as saying they were investigating it as an assault, not a hate crime. Maybe you have more information not in your link.
 
What? When people are calling it a probable lynching they are assuming a crime was committed.

Who has said a lynching was "probable?" His mother doesn't even say a crime was probable, just that she wants it competently investigated and some of the unexplainable circumstances explained.

And that wasn't your point - you were surprised that we assume, IF a crime was committed, that the perps were white. Seems like a fair speculation given the long association of hanging of black men by whites, and the fact that murders for other reasons are, as you point out, almost never hangings.
 
Based on your link that's a very misleading summary of the events. There was some type of altercation between three whites and a group of blacks, reason unknown, the police were called and it was broken up. An hour later the fight resumed, this time with a white person getting severely injured. And police in Mississippi were quoted as saying they were investigating it as an assault, not a hate crime. Maybe you have more information not in your link.

Yeah, I deleted the reference while you were posting. This lowers my estimate of total lynchings in 2014 back to zero.
 
I don't think anyone assumes there was a crime at all. But it would seem rational to speculate that if he was murdered, hanging points to a racially motivated crime. If the motive was to steal his shoes or his wallet or was drug related, we'd expect to see the person shot or stabbed or beaten to death.

I think Agent J does. He was the one posting evidence he thinks shows there was foul play and posted the article by the LA Times that brings up lynching. I think Danarhea thinks it was since he tried to link it to Emit Till. And I think iliveonramen believes that it was because he was arguing that hanging a person is uncommon except in a "very specific circumstance" (read: lynching)
 
Who has said a lynching was "probable?" His mother doesn't even say a crime was probable, just that she wants it competently investigated and some of the unexplainable circumstances explained.

And that wasn't your point - you were surprised that we assume, IF a crime was committed, that the perps were white. Seems like a fair speculation given the long association of hanging of black men by whites, and the fact that murders for other reasons are, as you point out, almost never hangings.

Ah, racial profiling. :roll:
 
I would be willing to bet that in the list of ways to murder somebody, hanging them is pretty far down the list. On the other hand, lynching a black kid in the south who had a white girlfriend would hardly be a first, would it?

Yes. the lynching of black men with white girlfriends seems to be a daily occurrence in the south.

Back to sanity here...they should investigate further as they should any suicide where the family insists it can't be suicide or because there is suspicious evidence that needs further scrutiny, as there seems to be here. Those situations are far more common than black men getting lynched because they date white women. There is a zero racism element in this death right now, much as the NAACP wants there to be, and to the chagrin of the people use worn out lines like "if this was a white man, everyone in the neighborhood would be a suspect".

I expect to see a lot of breaking news threads going forward about families insisting the death of their loved ones wasn't suicide as the coroner ruled, but was in fact murder.
 
Ah, racial profiling. :roll:

Well, I'm not a cop, but on point, would you actually expect, IF a crime happened, that it was blacks who hanged this person? It's obviously possible, but it's fair to say I'd be VERY surprised if that was the case.
 
Well, I'm not a cop, but on point, would you actually expect, IF a crime happened, that it was blacks who hanged this person? It's obviously possible, but it's fair to say I'd be VERY surprised if that was the case.

The line between citizen and cop is very thin these days as outrage by junior sleuths appears to be enough to reopen cases and redirect investigations.
 
The line between citizen and cop is very thin these days as outrage by junior sleuths appears to be enough to reopen cases and redirect investigations.

It's enough in a very tiny handful of cases that get widespread media attention. And in this case at least, it seems entirely appropriate. If this was my son/dad/brother, I can't imagine being satisfied about a finding of suicide given the questions. Admittedly, we don't know much about the investigation, but the reporting so far indicates they just glossed over some major questions.
 
Yes. the lynching of black men with white girlfriends seems to be a daily occurrence in the south.

"Would hardly be the first" =/=> "daily occurrence in the South"

I expect to see a lot of breaking news threads going forward about families insisting the death of their loved ones wasn't suicide as the coroner ruled, but was in fact murder.

Fair enough, when the cops can't explain why the loved one wasn't wearing his own shoes, the shoes he walked out with were missing, he hanged himself with belts/leashes not his, and no one can explain the physics of how the hanging actually took place, or apparently explain how a 51 year old woman got him down without cutting said belts/leashes, etc. of if cut, why that belt never made it to the medical examiner, etc.
 
It's enough in a very tiny handful of cases that get widespread media attention. And in this case at least, it seems entirely appropriate. If this was my son/dad/brother, I can't imagine being satisfied about a finding of suicide given the questions. Admittedly, we don't know much about the investigation, but the reporting so far indicates they just glossed over some major questions.

That bolded section should be the beginning and the end of your statement on the case.
 
Certainly suspicious, but since even the NAACP's pathologist did not mention ANY sign of struggle or defensive wounds, I would have to question how any person or number of persons would forcibly hang a big guy like this without there being a tussle.
 
Pretty much. I had a friend back in Compton who was by all means was well on his way to the NBA by 14 years of age. He was putting up Kobe numbers against guys who were 10 year older than him. By Compton standards, he had a perfect life, perfect girlfriend and parents who weren't rich, but had steady jobs and had stayed away from drugs in the early 90s (this is a bit of an accomplishment in 1990s California). One day after school, Jamie goes into his garage, hangs himself. The suicide note said "I can't take it anymore. I'm sorry." - Nobody saw it coming. When I mean nobody, I mean nobody. Not his parents. Not his teammates. Not his girlfriend. Not his friends. It was really sad because he literally could have become the next big thing in the NBA if he had kept going (and this is coming from someone who takes such claims with a grain of salt). Anywho, yeah I'll hold judgement on this until more evidence comes forward. It seems unlikely that somebody would just up and decide to hang themselves, but from personal experience, it's not impossible.

I had an employee who came into work early one morning, clocked in, started working, then clocked back out telling a coworker that he had to go home and take care of his high middle school age daughter who was home sick. I really didn't think anything about it, the guy was an exceptional employee who had never before missed work. That evening, my wife and I were headed out to celebrate our anniversary, and we got a call from his wife. She said "he left us today". I thought she meant that they had separated, but she literally meant "left us". She found him at home, where he had hung himself from a rafter with a power cord.

It's not hard for me to remember the date that he did that, and I've always wondered if there was something that I could have done. Something that I missed. Something that I said that maybe he took wrong. And yes, his daughter was at home sick from school that day. She had no idea that he had killed himself.
 
Id have to disagree also, not saying thats what happened yet just saying I dont agree with the words "very few if any people in NC today care about such things", that ill never agree with. I have family in NC and thats not the case compared to pittsburgh, pa. By personal experience its much more racist than Pittsburgh. But again that doesnt mean this was in fact based on such.

Now as far as the "killing" over race is concerned id like to think that NOBODY in america could do something so irrational and evil but thats not the case.

Racism is still pretty prevalent in the North too. The only difference is that it's all out in the open in the South, while in the North, people hide it, while pointing fingers at the South.
 
Because hanging a person to death isn't the normal method of killing someone else except in very specific circumstances.

Yup, and we don't need no stinkin' evidence that this was a murder. Because we all know that the racial activists don't need it. It's murder, and it's murder with racial motives.
Now let's all get out there and build a case for it, make it up if you have to.

Good grief!
 
What's obvious is the term "lynching" is the word that most clearly describes that crime. It's bizarre anyone would debate the point.

Or really you would write that this way, "An example of a 'lynching is when a black man is hung by a crowd (two or more) of white people because _____________(insert ANY reason at all)."

correct I agree it is truly bizarre to deny the facts i posted
also it doesnt even have to be black and white it can still be white and white if its over religion or some other perceived offense
 
That bolded section should be the beginning and the end of your statement on the case.

OK, same goes for you and everyone else who have somehow made this a 12 page thread.....;)
 
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Racism is still pretty prevalent in the North too. The only difference is that it's all out in the open in the South, while in the North, people hide it, while pointing fingers at the South.

I dont disagree with that, i would say its more common in the south but you are right its more hidden in the north so that makes it hard to tell.
But at the same time if a person can hide it how racist are they. FOr example if you are the parent of a person who is in an interracial couple and inside you dont like it but never say anything about it and just let it happen i'd say thats a different level of racism.

Not trying to take away from your point which i agree with, just saying there are many factors and considerations outside of your point too.

Being biracial myself i get a VERY good inside look at racism because many people are racist around me (BLACK AND WHITE) because the either dont think i care or they dont know what I am lol Its a look in to racism that only very few can get.
 
Who has said a lynching was "probable?" His mother doesn't even say a crime was probable, just that she wants it competently investigated and some of the unexplainable circumstances explained.

And that wasn't your point - you were surprised that we assume, IF a crime was committed, that the perps were white. Seems like a fair speculation given the long association of hanging of black men by whites, and the fact that murders for other reasons are, as you point out, almost never hangings.

Immediately, Lacy believed her son's death was the result of some foul play.

"He didn't do this to himself," Lacy says.

She believes Lennon was lynched.


From the OP. Now how does that sync with "His mother doesn't even say a crime was probable"?
 
"Would hardly be the first" =/=> "daily occurrence in the South"



Fair enough, when the cops can't explain why the loved one wasn't wearing his own shoes, the shoes he walked out with were missing, he hanged himself with belts/leashes not his, and no one can explain the physics of how the hanging actually took place, or apparently explain how a 51 year old woman got him down without cutting said belts/leashes, etc. of if cut, why that belt never made it to the medical examiner, etc.

How many lynchings of men have we seen in the south this year?

I have said repeatedly in this thread that the shoe issue is a concerning one. The belts/leashes not his and the 51 year old woman I don't understand. The medical examiner needs to demand the belt.

I look forward to all the threads on suicide/homicide going forward. I think.
 
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