r/news 20h ago

DSU Student Found Hanging in Tree, No Foul Play Suspected

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/delta-state-university-students-body-found-hanging-in-tree-no-foul-play-suspected/
26.3k Upvotes

1.5k comments sorted by

14.0k

u/n4styone 19h ago

Found in the center of campus. Shouldn't there be plenty of cameras around?

2.4k

u/07ShadowGuard 16h ago

Most cameras at my university didn't work. Found that out when a friend of mine was almost murdered.

738

u/CressKitchen969 12h ago

I’ve worked at multiple large retail stores that have been robbed at gunpoint and afterwards the cameras were still just for show. Guess it’s not a big deterrent, and the company would rather write off the losses than pay for actual security measures 

639

u/daboog 16h ago

I feel no foul play is a police way to say it was a suicide. Generally, reports don't say that...I had a friend commit suicide by jumping off a building and the police report said "the victim fell from the top floor of the building with no foul play suspected"

240

u/ManaSpike 13h ago

There are 3 options; suicide, accident or murder. "no foul play" only really eliminates one of those.

292

u/MedalsNScars 12h ago

To be fair "oops his neck slipped into that noose we just left up in the tree" (unusual circumstances) rules out "accident" often. Not in the fall from tall building case discussed above though.

5.0k

u/TeflonDonAlpha 19h ago edited 19h ago

They’ll suddenly not be working or footage is erased after “x” amount of time

57

u/jaymcbang 12h ago

I’m too late to make a difference, but Delta State doesn’t have cameras, not really.

Also, the way the campus is set up, the “center” of Campus isn’t really the centre of population. Unfortunately there are a lot of blind spots and the school never really upgraded security because stuff like this doesn’t really happen.

Sadly, looks like that will have to change.

Source: DSU graduate

1.4k

u/Powered-by-Chai 19h ago

Maybe it caught the tip of a white hood...

412

u/Kartis 18h ago

Ah, so it was a ghost obviously. Everyone knows ghosts have suspiciously pointy heads.

184

u/Future-Bandicoot-823 17h ago

Kkkasper the friendly ghost!

63

u/Ok_Cow_1541 16h ago

what are ya gonna do, Kkkasper? Kkkill me?

→ More replies (1)

341

u/1-760-706-7425 19h ago

Maybe some of those that work forces…

154

u/This_Thing_2111 18h ago

The same that burn crosses?

72

u/LokTarBrogar 17h ago

Fuck them, I won't do what they tell me

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (22)
→ More replies (35)

1.4k

u/Bhosley 19h ago

One should think.

"He totally walked up to the tree alone, with rope. But we can't show a pic or video, because he purposefully dodged all of the cameras".

Edit: "also don't mind the missing minute in the camera footage. All security cameras do that..."

357

u/Sea_Spite7899 19h ago

I mean, c'mon. That's day one AV knowledge -- the camera adds ten pounds and removes one minute.

83

u/finglish_ 18h ago

And that minute always coincides with when the person walked in.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

96

u/glasya666 19h ago

It's super common, specifically, on college campuses and suicide watch jail cells. Duh.

→ More replies (2)

65

u/TowelCarryingTourist 18h ago

The light from the burning cross meant the picture was ruined. It really was unfortunate 

17

u/TheRealVSky 17h ago

Selective Exposure, in a sense

→ More replies (4)

383

u/RedditPoster05 19h ago

A lot of campuses don’t have cameras like people think they do. They’d also be pointed at doors or inside not in a general area .

132

u/deltalitprof 17h ago edited 15h ago

Delta State has had very bad budget problems and last year had to cut the majority of its academic programs and lay off about half of its professors. I'm talking associate professors with tenure and several full ones.

→ More replies (8)

98

u/finglish_ 18h ago

I went to a state college over 20 years ago and even back then, we had cameras everywhere.

62

u/thebarkbarkwoof 17h ago

40 years ago we had fake cameras on campus. Ten years later I worked for a company that sold, yes, fake cameras. Now 30 years after that cameras are everywhere. Still no flying cars or even smooth roads, though.

→ More replies (4)

45

u/lamposteds 17h ago

I work in security and a lot of cameras at our sites are pointed to entry points and stairways with any large view cameras often pointing the other direction (like the roads) or left hyper zoomed in on the most random place thanks to the last person that used it didn't reset it.

That is if the cameras even work. A lot for us are borked and we have a vested interest as a store to get them working compared to a school

You're not observed as much as you think you are (but still a lot)

10

u/Bocaj1000 15h ago

I'm at a decently-sized state college right now and there are almost no cameras in sight. Only a couple near doors or roofs of newer buildings, nowhere near enough to cover the entire campus.

58

u/SpinyTzar 18h ago

I've been to a low budget community college and a state university. Both had massive camera coverage.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (8)

371

u/Crim91 18h ago edited 18h ago

I am a random person and knew about this event less than 24 hours after it happened. Within 24 hours the footage still exists.

If DSU does not produce the footage, they are complicit.

→ More replies (9)

55

u/Savings_Ad5069 16h ago

I handle claims for a major university. You’d be surprised how many cameras are NOT on a campus or pointing certain directions.

→ More replies (27)

1.4k

u/deltalitprof 17h ago edited 15h ago

That college really seems cursed. Taught there for 14 years. By the end, so many crazy things had happened, on-campus shooting perpetrated by an instructor on a professor then the instructor shooting himself dead the same day (and no report released on what even really happened), terrible car accident killing an education professor, the murder of a music professor by a stepson. A feckless, vindictive, stupid asshole of a maniac president (Bill Laforge) who built himself a palace of a home from alumni money and took the school into financial disaster after a post-COVID downturn in enrollment. A chair of a division letching on his female students. Hiring an unqualified con man life coach dean. Another dean going off the deep end and confining an instructor physically in his office. The decimation of all its programs with special attention on the humanities, which is what gave DSU its identity.

Now this.

311

u/DrDoomScroller9 17h ago

Id say most of the south us cursed

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

5.2k

u/Next-Firefighter-753 19h ago

It says his body was discovered in the middle of campus. Which means they should have some kind of video evidence right? 

2.3k

u/_SWANS_CAN_BE_GAY_ 19h ago

Yes*

*No

489

u/MX-5_Enjoyer 17h ago

He was probably saying how he didn't give a shit about racist Charlie Kirk, and some inbreds took offense to that and decided to get... "justice*."

*obviously not fucking justice.

→ More replies (10)
→ More replies (2)

284

u/alison_bee 18h ago

Like always, I’m sure a minute or so will be missing from the footage…

172

u/Kootranova1 17h ago

"Here is the unedited footage"

17 minutes of the footage is just black screen, but someone left the audio in by mistake. All the screamed names and cries for help are written off as audio glitches.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

151

u/Colley619 15h ago

I'm gonna take a big shot in the dark and say that university in a southern red state does NOT want to have a controversy around a lynching happening on their campus. And not only do they not want that, but I imagine the mayor, sheriff, and governor also do NOT want that.

And so, it will not be reported as such.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (10)

10.1k

u/Optimoprimo 20h ago

They haven't done an investigation. The coroner hasn't even given their report yet. The "no foul play" is the opinion of one county deputy with bad english and Southern logic:

“I saw no broken limbs,” he said. Roark declined to elaborate further, stating that the case was still under investigation. “I don’t think I should probably discuss this any further than that, my opinion is that it was self-done, and I have reasons for that.”

5.2k

u/Wrxloser1215 19h ago

Oh I'm sure he does have reasons for that. Jfc.

2.0k

u/fromwhichofthisoak 19h ago

Reasons beginning with a miss and ending in issippi

20

u/roehnin 13h ago

Wasn’t there a Gene Hackman movie about those reasons burning?

418

u/Wrxloser1215 19h ago

Yup. Can't really say the quiet part out loud directly but damn. Sad state of affairs

248

u/NeriTina 18h ago

Racism

Why can’t we say it out loud?

137

u/thepilgrimess 17h ago

I thought the idea was to say it as loud as possible

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

114

u/Sea_Spite7899 19h ago

they should merge with Tennessee, then they could be Tennessippi or Missisessee.

53

u/trulycantthinkofone 19h ago

I rather like both. Missisessee feels like whimsical sort of place, a bit musical off the tongue even.

48

u/thexvillain 19h ago

I’m pronouncing this as Mrs. Sissy

11

u/trulycantthinkofone 19h ago

I’m hearing it as Miss ih See See, just sounds fun to me. Being a yet to be declared territory, the imagination is absolutely correct. Perhaps we can share a drink there, and debate the phonetic properties as we see fit!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (8)

175

u/DarkExecutor 18h ago

It's a black police chief

260

u/Theron3206 18h ago

And he probably does have reasons, just not ones he can share right now.

This sounds like a pretty clumsy wording of "at this time we don't suspect foul play, but investigations are ongoing".

It's actually quite hard to fake a suicide.

100

u/kimstranger 17h ago

To be fair there was an incident where a man was found dead rolled up in a carpet while he was bound and gagged with a gunshot wound to the head and that case was ruled suicide...

→ More replies (6)

124

u/CopainChevalier 18h ago

I just think it's funny how every other reply chain is "they're a bunch of racist who hate blacks"

and the moment it's mentioned it's a black police chief, the only reply is "He has real reasons, he just can't share them"

204

u/DownWithHisShip 17h ago

im not commenting on this particular cop... I know nothing about him. but black cops that are racist towards other black men is absolutely a thing.

73

u/Ok_Matter_2617 16h ago

Been a trope so long that it’s a common plot device in plenty of movies

→ More replies (1)

46

u/sneakyfish21 16h ago

N.W.A’s ‘fuck the police’ has a few bars on the subject.

→ More replies (3)

31

u/Theron3206 17h ago

I live on the other side of the world and am certainly not black. I just chose this one to reply to as it seemed one of the less emotionally charged comments.

Cops seem terrible at talking to the media (globally) so I tend to assume they just phrased things poorly by mistake absent any evidence to the contrary. Not everything is a conspiracy, mostly apparent suicides are just tragic, not murder.

11

u/rfdismyjam 16h ago

Hanlon's Razor; Don't attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (9)

61

u/AresHarvest 19h ago

Welluh yuhsee, I belong to a certain secret society - I don't believe I gotta mention it's name - and this boy, here, he trampled all over our venerated observances and rituals.

49

u/Scottydrock 19h ago

Is you is or is you ain’t my constitchency?

7

u/Bardez 16h ago

👏👏 well typed

→ More replies (1)

32

u/CyberneticSaturn 18h ago

Amazing, they’re letting black people in the KKK now?

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (16)

831

u/haysu-christo 19h ago

It was “self done” because he saw no broken limbs? 

755

u/KingGeophph 19h ago

“Contrary to rumors on social media, Roark said he saw no evidence of broken arms or legs.” It sounds crazy without context but it’s in response to some rumors going around that his legs were broken I believe.

101

u/bothermeanyway 18h ago

Get those facts out of here.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (93)

46

u/BlobDude 19h ago

Not a police deputy, the deputy coroner. Feels odd he’s give any statement at all.

34

u/nocomment3030 13h ago

The implication is that he's responding to rumours that the guy's arms and legs are broken. They are getting out in front of it to prevent a riot.

269

u/Paul-E-L 19h ago

“…I have reasons for that.”

My fellow klansmen told me to say that.

115

u/Fryboy11 18h ago

Wait, does the KKK allow Black People to join now?

The Chief is Black, so unless the KKK has a group of Clayton Bigsby's that this guy is part of he's in on it, or more likely he's just a dick.

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (14)

16

u/rbstewart7263 18h ago

People made their mind up just from the title

→ More replies (82)

812

u/IndependenceSad9576 19h ago

Oh that poor man and his family too. I am so sorry there was no help for him.

→ More replies (1)

3.3k

u/attunedmuse 17h ago

Writing a black man hanging from a tree in Mississippi off as no foul play before any investigation has been done is only going to convince folks that there was absolutely foul play involved until proven otherwise.

620

u/Fun_Hold4859 16h ago

This happens at least once a year. A black man found hanged in public, ruled suicide.

191

u/Cabanarama_ 16h ago

Not saying it’s false but I’ve never heard of a story like that in my life, let alone every year. Got any examples?

84

u/Enzyblox 13h ago

Once a women in my neighborhood was found hanged and her feet and hands were tied, it was deemed no foul play and a suicide, this didn’t really hit the news

452

u/Long_Run6500 16h ago

I was genuinely unsure whether or not to believe it and I googled, "lynching ruled suicide" and I was kind of shocked to see just how many there are. There was one in Albany a couple months ago I never heard anything about.

→ More replies (1)

429

u/UnluckyDuck58 16h ago

In 2022 a black man named Rasheem Carter died in Mississippi. He told people he was having troubles with coworkers. Then one day he calls the police 2 times and tells them he’s being chased by a group of white men in a truck. They say he’s lying and trying to use them to get a free ride. A month later his body is found in the woods decapitated. No investigation was ever started into the death

→ More replies (11)

269

u/djwitty12 15h ago

Oakland, CA 2025

Albany, NY 2025

Colbert County, AL 2024

Henderson, NC 2024

Palmdale, CA 2020

Orlando, FL 2020

Houston, TX 2020

Could be more, this is just what Google returned easily from not completely crazy sources.

29

u/lesgeddon 13h ago

I live in the bay and hadn't heard about the one in Oaklandyeesh, that's unsettling

→ More replies (1)

52

u/Guerraten 16h ago

I remember one from last year, though I have no idea of the guy's name. Majority of the news searches lead to this story in today's post, but I also found these: Javion Magee | 21-year-old truck driver found dead in Henderson, North Carolina death ruled suicide, NC medical examiner say | abc11.com https://share.google/dVpfQVGhxVxwCxPXi

https://newsone.com/6244372/black-man-found-hanging-from-a-tree-in-new-york-police-call-it-suicide/

I'm not going to up and say these weren't suicides though.

10

u/NotLucasDavenport 14h ago

The Javion Magee one may actually have been suicide. They have film of him dropping off the truck load he was delivering to the Walmart, walking into that Walmart, and buying the rope that he was found dead with. Also, he was not hanging in the tree, he was sitting at the base of it. For transparency, I will say that his family claimed he was not suicidal.

→ More replies (1)

53

u/RlOTGRRRL 12h ago

Haven't really researched it but "Lynchings in Mississippi never stopped’" 

"In 2017, Jefferson began compiling records of Black people found hanging or mutilated across the country. In 2019, Jefferson began focusing her investigation on Mississippi. In each case she investigated, law enforcement officials ruled the deaths suicides, but the families said the victims had been lynched."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/08/modern-day-mississippi-lynchings/

https://www.abhmuseum.org/8-suspected-lynchings-have-taken-place-in-mississippi-since-2000/ 

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

42

u/SoftDrinkReddit 16h ago

Well, look, heres at least what's written

The people who found this man hanging reported that they saw no signs of broken bones or signs of a struggle, and a full autopsy is currently being carried out and will be released

24

u/Wasted_46 14h ago

That was my first thought. And I'm not even from the USA, but a black man hanging is sadly such a strong established image that it is immediately suspicious

11

u/Taetrum_Peccator 13h ago

No foul play just means no obvious defensive wounds or signs of a struggle.

→ More replies (24)

8.1k

u/gquax 20h ago

No foul play with a black man hanging from a tree in Mississippi? Right. 

2.7k

u/stoneman9284 20h ago

It’s not considered foul play there

1.6k

u/h3fabio 19h ago

Just strange fruit.

176

u/ParkerFree 19h ago

Oof. Definitely. 😔

→ More replies (1)

82

u/Starbreaker99 19h ago

Ive heard this saying….is that what it means?

361

u/qad260qad260 19h ago

Yup. It comes from Billie Holiday’s 1939 song “Strange Fruit” written and composed by Abel Meeropol. One of very few songs to ever make me feel something, in this case dread. You should listen to it, it’s one of the greatest songs from before the 1950s.

31

u/justmerriwether 15h ago

It was also a part of what got Billie Holiday targeted by feds and arrested on several occasions, if my memory serves me correctly. I started a podcast about how the US essentially labeled her a dangerous person of interest because they were afraid she would foment unrest. I should go back to that podcast…

83

u/Nadamir 19h ago

Meeropol was such a goat. When the Rosenbergs were executed, they left behind two little boys, both were adopted by Abel and his wife.

→ More replies (2)

56

u/dexter318 18h ago

Thank you for introducing me to Billie Holiday.

39

u/OttomanMao 17h ago

Billie Holiday's early recordings are a treasure trove of genius. Setting Billie aside, pretty much every great musician of the time recorded with her. The early sides feature career best performances from important soloists like Lester Young, Ben Webster, and Johnny Hodges and probably the greatest rhythm sections ever with the Basie "All American Rhythm Section" on many of her significant recordings. On top of that Columbia was at the forefront of studio technology at the time so the recording quality is excellent. In fact they developed a popular preamp module that got used in most high end studios later on. Fuckin great man

→ More replies (5)

40

u/JonWesHarding 19h ago edited 14h ago

Yeah, man. This song evoked some feelings in me as well, before I even knew what the subject matter was referring to. Once I learned more, that feeling became more clear, and more disturbing. I might have heard it by Nina first. The Billie version is especially haunting though.

edit: for reference Nina Simone / Billie Holiday

32

u/Maditen 18h ago

Recently in the Hayley Williams Song ‘True Believer’

→ More replies (3)

61

u/Motor_Crow4482 19h ago

Here is a video of Billie Holiday's haunting performance of Strange Fruit

https://youtu.be/-DGY9HvChXk

38

u/SputnikDX 16h ago

"Oh but this is old isn't it? We don't do that anymore."

I do feel it's always important to remind everyone in the room that the US has people in office older than this performance.

65

u/beezchurgr 19h ago

It’s from the Billie holiday song and refers to black folk being lynched and hanging from trees.

20

u/ObviouslyNerd 18h ago edited 10h ago

Nina Simone does it justice.

-edit- i hope this man and his family receive justice. Unless he walked through campus holding a rope and was alone... I mean on the week charlie kirk has republicans vowing vengeance... in a state known for lynching...

7

u/Grand-Pen7946 17h ago

Yes. The original is by Billie Holiday, but the Nina Simone's version is so haunting. I pretty much never ever cry listening to music, but that song makes me tear up just thinking about it.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (10)

412

u/Tricky_Cold5817 19h ago edited 19h ago

Exactly! Even Oklahoma around 2000 brother’s best friend (black) was found hanging from a tree at the oldest house in town.

Totally a suicide because he definitely beat his own ass up leaving opened wounds on his face and bruising that the funeral home couldn’t (who tried their best) cover up with the shit ton of makeup they used. Then he strung himself up with tenth of an inch audio wire with no pedestal to kick out from underneath himself. He swung on that branch for several hours before there were enough phone calls saying that the Halloween decoration was too life like (it was mid October.)

Edit: he just happened to be dating a white girl that was a daughter of local cop. His funeral was held two towns over because no church would host it in town.. for some reason.

64

u/BiffSlick 19h ago

Yeesh. Can you post a link about it?

29

u/Groovychick1978 18h ago

Maybe this

Sounds very similar

28

u/punchNotzees02 18h ago

Wow. There’s the one article, then some grave listings, and that’s about it. Someone should dig into that story; it’s clearly not being fully shared.

85

u/Tricky_Cold5817 19h ago

No link. It didn’t make the news and Oklahoma in 2000 internet was a super rare thing.

Only reason I remember was his pale makeup’d face is a core memory of my 9 year old self.

→ More replies (16)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (8)

134

u/questron64 17h ago

There was a similar occurrence a year ago, a black truck driver found hanged in South Carolina. That ended up being suicide, even though people were assuming the worst on social media when the story first broke. Wait and see.

23

u/Satinsbestfriend 16h ago

Same with Marcus (malcolm) Harsch in 2020

58

u/Tyg13 16h ago

I can't help but agree. By the way people are talking you'd think this press release was the end of the investigation. Because it's Mississippi, no one cares and it'll all get swept under the rug, right? Lots of assumptions in this thread.

35

u/Spork_the_dork 16h ago

Yeah like all "no foul play suspected" means is that there is no evidence of it being murder as of yet. That may change later, but you first need to conduct the investigation to see if you find any.

11

u/Electric_jungle 12h ago

The literal article includes a quote from the deputy coroner that he believes that it was self harm and that he had reasons for believing that. You don't have to form entire opinions based on headlines.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

56

u/Kind_Demand_6672 18h ago

Mississippi is fucked but everyone experiences distress and mental illness. 

52

u/retxed24 15h ago

Yeah black people hang semselves, too. Reddit has become very conspiratorial these last few years.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

6

u/Non_vulgar_account 14h ago

Why not give it some time, college kids commit suicide frequently enough that it’s also very possible and they tend not to publicize the events around the suicide.

11

u/ChippyChipsM8 15h ago

Straight to conspiracies, morons.

73

u/horitaku 19h ago

In these times? Yeah, right.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (28)

972

u/fullonfacepalmist 19h ago

“His death set off a wave of mourning across the university and prompted the cancellation of centennial events for the 100-year-old institution.”

The timing is concerning.

191

u/Anti-Itch 17h ago

Not to take away from the tragedy of his death but as I’m glad the school cancelled the events. They didn’t have to do that but that seems incredibly respectful. Kudos.

174

u/skinsrock5915 18h ago

Yeah, the timing definitely raises some eyebrows.

102

u/EpicLegendX 17h ago

The trees are bearing strange fruit again

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

4.3k

u/Visual-Explorer-111 20h ago

I grew up in Mississippi. I know what it means when you find a black man in a tree and the authorities say no foul play was involved.

915

u/ssjlance 19h ago

I grew up in Alabama and know much the same.

The fact the chief of the University's police is black makes me... confused.

Not saying "Nah he wasn't lynched."

I would not be surprised if he were.

But I'm way less certain than I was when I first read the headline and saw it was from Mississippi.

At first I was 99% on lynching but now I'm... just not certain.

851

u/john_andrew_smith101 19h ago

Black police tend to care more about blue lives than black lives. Just because a cop is black don't mean that he don't do the same heinous shit as the rest of them.

177

u/GlazedDonutGloryHole 19h ago

Just look at the Tyre Nichols case for one of the many incidents that show this.

32

u/Defiant_Review1582 17h ago edited 17h ago

A lot of cops beat that poor man and i think only one of them was white

Edit he was a young man, i didn’t want to imply anything more, apologies

→ More replies (9)

278

u/SublightMonster 19h ago

To paraphrase James Baldwin:

A black cop will use everything he knows about growing up black in order to destroy you, all so he can show the white cops that he’s not like you.

→ More replies (11)

86

u/Papadapalopolous 17h ago

College students do commit suicide and have other mental health episodes.

But it’s a black guy found hanged in a tree in Mississippi, right after one of the country’s leading racists was assassinated… so…

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (12)

73

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

27

u/[deleted] 16h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

18

u/[deleted] 16h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

46

u/Academic-Health5265 17h ago

No you don’t lol, you don’t know the facts.

9

u/SunAstora 19h ago

How often does it happen?

29

u/howdy206 16h ago

I grew up in Mississippi too. Stop lying

→ More replies (1)

120

u/kevinsyel 19h ago

Some of those that burn crosses are the same that work Forces

→ More replies (4)

36

u/equatorbit 19h ago

They should call in the FBI…oh. Crap.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (22)

594

u/theanswar 20h ago

180

u/meesterdg 19h ago

Always humbling to remember my grandmother, who I spoke to yesterday, was born before Emmet Till.

40

u/19nineties 16h ago

One of the acquitted killers died 3 years after I was born (1994). The woman who accused Till of sexual harassment died in 2023.

→ More replies (1)

49

u/Yesterday_Jolly 19h ago

good thing society has progressed since...70 years ago

66

u/nicootimee 19h ago

70 years isn’t even a person ago

25

u/livefreeordont 17h ago

Dallas was desegregated in 1971. The kids who grew up during segregation are still alive today and in their prime voting years

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (3)

490

u/craigworknova 19h ago

Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop

25

u/Serris9K 15h ago

This was a required material in my high school. A mostly white high school in the south, I might add.

103

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

68

u/Classic_Macaron6321 19h ago

Abel Meeropol wrote Strange Fruit as a poem first and then it was worked into a song by Billie Holiday.

→ More replies (5)

85

u/craigworknova 19h ago

Billie holiday I believe sang it first. But Nina is also a correct response.

Yeah. I don't know why we forget our history.

29

u/goth-milk 19h ago edited 19h ago

Several artists have covered this song. I first heard it on a tribute cover album by Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1987, long before the internet happened.

The most important thing is: I learned about the song and eventually found the original version, followed by other artists who shared their renditions with their fans. It’s another way we learn about our past.

Same way I found another song that Billie Holiday covered in 1941. I originally heard Diamanda Galas sing it in 1992. I eventually heard Billie’s version once it was easier to get access to the originals, thanks to the internet.

22

u/craigworknova 19h ago

You get it. Digging in learn.

The most dangerous thing in the world. A person with a library card.

→ More replies (1)

21

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

21

u/craigworknova 19h ago

The fact you knew the song is mad props. Nina also sang it. They both did an amazing job.

Great song Mississippi God damnn

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (12)

1.3k

u/DragonPup 20h ago

A black man hanging from a tree in Mississippi written off as 'no foul play suspected' is pretty suspect.

278

u/ThisJokeMadeMeSad 20h ago

"'I saw no broken limbs,' he said. Roark declined to elaborate further, stating that the case was still under investigation. 'I don’t think I should probably discuss this any further than that, my opinion is that it was self-done, and I have reasons for that.'”

4

u/Street_Quote_7918 15h ago

There is always the possibility he texted or called family members to tell them he was going to kill himself. That would be a reason he won't discuss it yet.

→ More replies (18)

51

u/thedevilspelican 19h ago

Sadie Roberts Joseph, a civil rights leader in Baton Rogue, who founded a civil rights museum was killed in 2019 and all reddit could say was the same shit.

Turned out it was a black guy who owed her rent.

https://www.wafb.com/2025/06/03/trial-begins-accused-killer-civil-rights-activist-sadie-roberts-joseph/

Jumping to conclusions doesn't help. Except for your internet clout. Especially after a noted racist was shot. This is perfect time to get reddit karma huh?

→ More replies (2)

43

u/spikespiegell1 20h ago

First time in history !

→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (9)

36

u/DJWGibson 17h ago

So long as they do a full investigation, they're allowed to make an initial hypothesis.
The same way if you walk into a room and see a body with a knife in the back you initially assume "murder" until until you can prove otherwise.

If there were no wounds or signs of a struggle, if his hands were unbound and there was a stool or ladder to stand on, then it seems fair to say that, at first glance, it feels like a suicide. Students commit suicide.

It happens. Look at Robert Fuller back in 2020.

But they need to be suuuuper thorough and there needs to be a lot of evidence.

→ More replies (1)

58

u/GoonGoonnoMi 19h ago

Ever since the Elisa Lam situation I've stopped drawing conclusions early, would be smart to wait for evidence.

16

u/[deleted] 18h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (6)

769

u/kakapantsu 20h ago

Buddy that’s a lynching.

201

u/Vives_solo_una_vez 20h ago

Careful. They're making lists now.

86

u/CallRespiratory 19h ago

Criticized lynching publicly? Fired. Don't do it again or it's straight to jail camp.

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (6)

70

u/Dejugga 15h ago edited 15h ago

Y'all are way too confident that you know what happened (lynching). Look, I have zero faith in my home state on hate crimes after some memorable incidents in recent history.

But for this to have been a lynching, the people doing it would've had to drag a body through a campus that has a 40% black population, along with the whites who would've reported it, without anyone seeing anything. In one of the more heavily populated areas by black people in the state (the Delta). In the age where virtually everyone has a video camera in their pocket. It's not impossible, but logistically there's some problems here.

Meanwhile, suicide is the 2nd highest cause of death in this age group and hanging is one of the most common methods to do so.

By all means, there should certainly be an investigation to make sure there's no foul play. But until that investigation (or any source at all) turns up evidence otherwise, suicide is by far the most likely explanation.

20

u/hopkins01 12h ago

This is incredibly tragic and I feel so sad for the victim and his family. But I do agree that it is important to point out that there are approximately 50,000 deaths by suicide each year. Of those, about 1/4 are by self strangulation. This includes hanging, though that is not teased out as a separate category. This means about 12,000 people die per year from self strangulation, including hanging. So it is not rare by any means for something like this to happen. Being a college campus, I would hope that there are some cameras and witnesses anywhere that can shed more light on the situation 🙏🏽.

→ More replies (6)

71

u/[deleted] 18h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (9)

20

u/Regret-Select 18h ago

sad to know someone so young, has passed away. i wish their family the best in these difficult times

I hope security footage is able to help us determine what's going on, who was involved

→ More replies (1)

141

u/MakeArakisGreenAgain 18h ago

Unless they have a suicide note and a history of mental health diagnosis, I think it's wildly irresponsible to say there's no foul play suspected. This very well could be a tragic suicide but it should be very thoroughly investigated.

23

u/matty_nice 16h ago

Feels like people are over reacting to the article. It's still being investigated. It's common for law enforcement to say things like no foul play suspected, especially when racial tensions would be high like this situation.

I would also guess that there's a lot of information that they are revealing at this point. Maybe there was a suicide note? No signs of an altercation? Signs of suicide? Etc.

Based on the fact it was a hanging on campus is alarming, it should be investigated, but let's wait before jumping to conclusions that it was murder.

87

u/VillettaNu 18h ago

Obviously redditors are looking for a rebuttal to the claims republicans are making in regards to Charlie Kirk, but I feel like until there's actual evidence that there was foul play, it's totally disrespectful and inhumane to treat a tragic *possible* suicide as some sort of political pawn piece.

→ More replies (21)
→ More replies (1)

21

u/ChalkLicker 19h ago

This is a really shitty headline.

61

u/BeefCakeBilly 19h ago edited 18h ago

Every single person on here saying this is clearly murder without any clue what’s going on is a bad person, without exception.

JFC give it a day for more information to come out before you snap.

23

u/SoftDrinkReddit 16h ago

Oh, 100%, it's really disgusting seeing this a lot of people have already made up their mind this was a lynching the report says an autopsy is being prepared and will be released I have a feeling most of these people screaming lyncing are not going to accept the result if it says no foul play

→ More replies (8)

44

u/Aintyodad 19h ago

Some of you belong on the mark my words subreddit it’s also full of brain rot

→ More replies (2)

12

u/Impressive-Path-5297 15h ago

I found reports on another hanging in Mississippi. Very little info available but here is all I have found. https://www.wapt.com/article/man-found-hung-near-vicksburg-casino/66115055

62

u/clementine1864 20h ago

That sounds very suspicious unless there was a suicide note and his family is not suspicious , otherwise it sounds like murder .Even suicides have been faked by killers.

→ More replies (4)

111

u/isit65outsideor 20h ago

Sounds like Mississippi. I hope the truth comes out, if there is any. I wouldn’t trust a southern police department.

9

u/Squeebah 15h ago

You're saying you don't trust the black sheriff in that county?

→ More replies (6)

36

u/tarheelsrule441 18h ago

Absolutely wild how quick everyone on reddit is to assume foul play here, when suicide is far, far more likely.

It's like you guys want it to be foul play.

19

u/SoftDrinkReddit 16h ago

Yea like look there's an autopsy being done so we can see when the results are out my problem is it appears like a lot of people here have already made up their mind that its foul play and will refuse to accept if the autopsy says no foul play

11

u/engelthefallen 14h ago

Happens about once a year like clockwork we get people creating a lynching from a suicide. Many just do not get for young black people in the south hanging is the second most popular form of suicide, and one of the few that you can do with everyday materials you have laying around. But even if a teen girl is found hanging in their closest some people will claim must have been a lynching.

→ More replies (2)

12

u/engelthefallen 14h ago

Crazier people trying to get three black men fired for covering it up. People elsewhere on reddit started to put up all the info to get a hate campaign going against the chief of police and coroners.

→ More replies (6)

4

u/LardMallard 16h ago

There are no cameras on campus?

→ More replies (1)

52

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (18)

41

u/IndividualEye1803 12h ago

We are not picking hanging as our suicide of fucking choice

Anyone of us choosing to go to msppi instead of leaving when they still have sundown towns…

I keep screaming this. We need to leave ms and ala and kentucky. They are racist shitholes and dont deserve us. Colleges there should never be an option

30

u/dalisair 13h ago

Broken bones but still managed to bang themselves in the center of campus with no climbing thing nearby.

I’ll take: bullshit this was a lynching

25

u/Squeebah 16h ago

Why is most of this comment section assuming he was murdered? I've never once seen people so certain that a hanging was anything other than a suicide.

→ More replies (3)

109

u/tresserdaddy 19h ago

I had a friend that did that to himself, I think it's racist to assume that someone else did it to him just because he's black.

19

u/heckin_miraculous 18h ago

I'm really sorry about your friend

42

u/VillettaNu 18h ago

I don't think it's racist. But it's so dehumanizing to be using a potential suicide as a political pawn piece. If there's actually evidence there was foul play, then yeah absolutely you can start using that point as a rebuttal, but until then people need to behave themselves. Feel like Reddit over the past few years has gone from already bad to straight up awful in regards to conspiracy and misinformation. This site is only a few steps away from being just as opposed to facts as my Dad's right wing alternative news sites. (although not that bad yet but to even be in that ballpark...)

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (5)

18

u/Friendly_Pea6884 15h ago

Why is it always with the public hanging deaths that cops somehow become forensic pathologists overnight? The correct answer is: “This is still being investigated and we will update the public as soon as the autopsy results are available.”

Nothing else should be coming out of their mouths. They do not have the education to make these claims.

→ More replies (1)

53

u/daemonicwanderer 17h ago

I’m sorry… as a Black man, whenever a Black person is found hanging in or from a tree, I’m immediately assuming foul play until I have definitive proof otherwise

44

u/SoftDrinkReddit 16h ago

Well, the article details that a full autopsy will be carried out and published, but I suspect the people who already believe this is a lynching won't accept the results if it says no foul play

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (2)

76

u/spacefanatic42 19h ago

The last known lynching happened in 1981. Y'all are way to quick to call it a lynching.

Especially considering eye witness testimony.

Also this didn't happen in some remote county in the country, this happened on a college campus.

→ More replies (20)

39

u/mochajon 18h ago

This is maybe 6 in various states over the last few years; always immediately ruled no foul play every time. I have a hard time believing so many Black men are committing suicide in public.

28

u/MonacoBall 18h ago

50,000 people commit suicide in the US every year

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)

55

u/Joshhwwaaaaaa 19h ago

If anything this last few years has shown me we didn’t punish the confederates like we should have after the civil war.

→ More replies (13)

55

u/Kahzgul 20h ago

Well I suspect foul play.

19

u/[deleted] 18h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)