Every time a slavery-set film like “Sinners” hits the screen, Black folks are inevitably pulled in two directions: a necessary reckoning with our history and a painful confrontation with how that history continues to bleed into our present, fueling a chilling, subconscious awareness of racist violence.
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It’s a pattern that repeats itself with agonizing regularity. Each time we see an unarmed Black man fall victim to police brutality, each time we witness a Black person targeted by racist vigilantes, and each time a crime that reeks of hate goes inexplicably unclassified as such, we are reminded that the specter of Jim Crow still haunts our modern-day reality. Let’s be clear: the rope and tree are not the only instruments of lynching. The legacy of white supremacy finds new and insidious ways to manifest.
Here are 15 true crime cases that remind us… we’re not that far from the 1960s.
George Floyd
In one of the most horrifying police killings to date, Floyd was reported for using a fraudulent bill at a corner store before he was apprehended by a group of Minneapolis Police officers. The 2020 incident shook the world after people watched the bystander video of the arrest, where former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes as he yelled out for his mother and voiced that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd died as a result of the incident but sparked an international movement against police brutality.
Robert Brooks
What happens when a group of white cops have a Black inmate all to themselves? Attorneys say a “modern day lynching.” Robert Brooks was allegedly beaten to death by a group of New York prison correctional officers. Surveillance footage shows the officers punching him in the chest, striking him in the face and pinning him up against the wall all while he was restrained in handcuffs. At some point, officers were seen pinning him down on his neck and groin with their feet while others took turns punching him. He then fell unresponsive and was declared dead by asphyxiation. Only one of the few officers charged pleaded guilty.
Javion Magee
The family of Javion Magee took to social media to sound alarms about his mysterious death. The 21-year-old truck driver was found dead in a rural part of North Carolina, leaning up against a tree with a rope around his neck, police said. Authorities ruled his death to be a suicide, arguing that evidence shows he bought the rope from Walmart. However, Magee’s family claim he was lynched, arguing he never had a history of mental illness.
Hell’s Angels Attack
Three young Black men say they were chased down but a group of seventeen outlaws from biker gang Hell’s Angels in a KKK-like pursuit. They recalled being called racial slurs and told they “didn’t belong in the neighborhood,” per prosecutors. One of the men was kicked and punched by one of the gang members while another was stabbed in the chest and suffered a cracked sternum. Prosecutors said these individuals have a history of touting Nazi symbols and displaying white supremacy. They were also slammed with assault charges.
James Byrd
Back in 1998, 49-year-old James Byrd took a ride home from a truck full of white men – Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer and John King. Unbeknownst to Byrd, the men had strong ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Byrd hopped in the back of the truck and the men took him down an old town road, dragged him out of the back of the truck and brutally beat him with hands, feet and beer bottles.
Byrd was then chained by his ankles to the back of their pickup truck and driven wildly down the road for about three miles, leaving a trail of flesh and blood on the ground. Forensic experts say he was conscious for most of the dragging until he was swung over a concrete drainage culvert causing his head to sever from his body along with one of his arms. Once the car stopped, the three men dumped the remains of Byrd’s body in a cemetery and drove off to a barbeque like nothing happened. The authorities say they found 81 different places where Byrd’s scattered remains were found.
Shawn Berry was sentenced to life in prison after cooperating with the investigation into Byrd’s death, Lawrence Brewer was executed by lethal injection in connection to the murder and John King was placed on death row but wasn’t executed until 2019.
Peter Bernando Spencer
When the only Black guy on a camping trip ends up dead, you can expect there to be questions. Spencer, 29, was found shot to death at a home in rural Pennsylvania after being invited on a trip with a former co-worker, per NBC. Spencer’s family believed the cops were trying to paint their loved one out to be the aggressor and argue that he was murdered in cold blood. None of the four witnesses were immediately arrested or charged despite a number of firearms and substances collected from the scene, police said. The man accused of shooting him will not face charges in the incident after authorities claim he acted in self-defense.
Ahmaud Arbery
Father and son duo Travis and Greg McMichael, initiated a chase in their pickup truck behind Arbery as he jogged through the neighborhood, suspecting he was looting a nearby property that was under renovation. Travis hopped out of the truck and fatally shot Arbery at close range. Despite arguing that they were trying to protect the neighborhood, investigators found loads of social media posts riddled with racist rhetoric suggesting their targeting of Arbery was racially motivated. The two were convicted of hate crimes.
Tamla Horsford
Tamla Horsford was found dead in a friend’s backyard years ago. She had been invited to a slumber party where she’d been drinking, per 11Alive News. Witnesses claimed Horsford went out on the balcony for a cigarette when she allegedly fell over the balcony to her death, leading police to rule her death as an accident under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.
However, the position of her body at the crime scene as well as an independent autopsy found Horsford sustained serious injuries before she fell including blunt force trauma to her body. Also, photos from throughout the event don’t show Horsford being sick or incoherent. Being she was the only Black person present at the party, her family believed foul play was afoot.
Kendrick Johnson
Authorities say Johnson was found by classmates in the school gym, stuck upside down in a gym mat. Georgia Bureau of Investigation ruled he died of asphyxia in some weird accident, suffocating while trying to retrieve a shoe. However, the teen’s cause of death later showed he suffered blunt force trauma to the head and other injuries from what seemed like a Taser according to his death certificate and a third autopsy done in 2018. Johnson’s family still believes foul play was involved despite the authorities’ claim that there’s no evidence to support that theory.
Instead, they believe two white brothers beat him to death and hid his body out of retaliation of Johnsons talking to one of their girlfriends. They also believe the boys’ fathers, who were connected to law enforcement, helped clear the boys of any criminal fault.
Goon Squad
Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins accused a gang of former Ranking County sheriff’s deputies – Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Christian Dedmon, Daniel Opdyke, Jeffrey Middleton and former Richland Police Department officer Joshua Hartfield – of torturing them in a no-knock raid. The two outlined the horrifying incident in a lawsuit detailing that they were profiled by a neighbor who saw them entering a white woman’s home – which was a friend of theirs. When the officers pulled up on them, Jenkins and Parker said they were bound, forced to strip nude, sexually assaulted as well as beaten. Jenkins was also shot in the jaw after an officer shoved his firearm in his mouth. The so-called “Goon Squad” pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection to the incident.
Vauhxx Booker
On his way to meet some friends, Booker walked onto property he didn’t know was private. He told police he was then apprehended by a group of white men accusing him of trespassing. Though he tried to calmly explain himself, he says the men proceeded to beat him, rip out his hair and threaten to break his arms. In the midst of the chaos, he said he heard one of them say “get a noose.” The two men involved were criminally charged. However, Booker claims he was retaliated against by authorities who threatened to charge him in the incident if he didn’t drop the charges against the two men.
Timothy Haslett Jr.
A 22-year-old Black woman escaped Haslett’s captivity, running from his house screaming with a metal dog collar around her neck, police say. The woman told authorities Haslett said two other women “didn’t make it” – one dying by electrocution during a sexual encounter and another dying by a gas mask. The Kansas City Defender found Haslett had social media riddled with racist posts, including nasty references to Breonna Taylor. He was charged with first-degree rape, aggravated sexual offense, first-degree kidnapping, second-degree assault and first-degree murder of another Black woman.
Shamari Taylor
Taylor and his girlfriend were kidnapped by a group of Philadelphia police officers and frisked for their money and drugs. While his girlfriend was let go, Taylor disappeared and his mother and sister were shot and injured. It wasn’t until a dozen years later that police located Taylor’s remains in a shallow grave. Prosecutors found he was suffocated to death by the group of cops, per CBS. Also, those cops weren’t cops but impersonating law enforcement. The five were charged with kidnapping resulting in death. One of them was acquitted.
Elijah McClain
Authorities say McClain was walking home from the convenience store when someone called 911 to report a suspicious-looking Black man. Within eight seconds of exiting his patrol car, an officer ran up on McClain and immediately tried to grab him, prosecutors argued. Per USA TODAY’s report, they also claim that instead of de-escalating the situation, the officers made the situation more intense as they tackled McClain to the ground and placed him the now-banned carotid artery control hold which rendered him temporarily unconscious. The responding officers and EMTs argued McClain displayed “superhuman” strength leading to a fatal dose of ketamine. Two of the three officers was acquitted of criminal charges.
White Supremacist Taunts
Over the past few years, neighborhoods all over the nation have randomly been taunted with flyers from KKK or white supremacist groups either telling people of color to get out or inviting racists to be recruited into their antics. On the other hand, some communities have seen the hate firsthand by Nazi or white supremacist marches coming through town.
The last one we saw went through a predominantly Black neighborhood and almost got f-cked up! The residents burned their flags, snatched their posters and forced them out of their town limits.
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