Black families are waiting for answers. LDF wants Congress and the U.N. to act.
Updated: Sep 2
Photo: Ocean Springs School District
LDF Seeks Action on Suspicious Black Deaths | Morning UpdateJamie Jackson, Correspondent
WASHINGTON (ABNN) - Some families are not just grieving.
They are still waiting for answers.
The Legal Defense Fund is calling on Congress and the United Nations to investigate suspicious deaths of Black people across the United States, saying racial bias may be affecting whether some cases receive serious and adequate investigations.
LDF sent letters to Congress and to United Nations human rights officials asking for action.
The organization wants Congress to create a commission to investigate suspicious deaths of Black people and to collect better public data.
Alyssa Gordon, an attorney with LDF’s Justice in Public Safety Project, told The American Black News Network the concern is not limited to one case.
“What we're seeing is that in recent years there have been more and more reports of black people found dead under suspicious circumstances including hanging from trees, and we are being met by an apparent indifference from state authorities, local authorities, and federal authorities,” Gordon said.
“So this is not only an outrage to our victims and the the families of each victim, but this is an outrage to the American people at large because again, it just shows a persistent devaluation of black lives,” she said.
In its letter to Congress, LDF said reports of Black people found dead under suspicious circumstances have increasingly come to light.
“In recent years, reports of Black people found dead under suspicious circumstances, including hanging from trees, have increasingly come to light,” LDF said in the letter.
The organization said many of the deaths raise concerns because of the age of the people who died, the circumstances surrounding their deaths and the conclusions reached by investigators.
“Many of these unexpected deaths raise particular concerns because of the young ages of the deceased, the suspicious circumstances of the deaths, and questionable conclusions from the investigative proceedings, to the extent an investigation was even conducted,” the letter stated.
The letter cites a report from the nonprofit JULIAN that identified 70 cases between 2000 and 2025 of what the report describes as modern-day lynchings. LDF said the deaths occurred in Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama, states with a history of racial terror and lynchings.
In its letter to the United Nations, LDF said international support is needed because of systemic failures in the United States.
“Due to systemic failures within various United States institutions, countless Black lives have been lost, necessitating international support from a wider human rights lens. In recent years, reports of Black people found dead under suspicious circumstances, including hanging from trees, have increasingly come to light,” LDF said.
The cases cited by LDF include Nolan Xavier Wells, Daniel Erving and Tonea Nicole Miller.
LDF said Wells, an 18-year-old Black teenager, was found dead after going missing during a trip to Horn Island in Mississippi. The organization said his case remains under active investigation.
The group also cited Daniel Erving, an 18-year-old Black high school senior found dead near Lake Ray Hubbard in Texas. His death was ruled an accidental drowning, but LDF said his family has raised doubts.
LDF also pointed to the death of Tonea Nicole Miller, a 27-year-old Black woman found hanging from a tree in Miami. Authorities ruled her death a suicide, but the organization said her family has disputed that conclusion.
Gordon said LDF wants action from every level of government.
“The widespread targeted black killings is not going unaddressed. And to get to that truth, we need the federal government to act, we need state and local governments to act, and we need international bodies to act because we need to show that we will not stand for the devaluation of black lives,” Gordon told The American Black News Network.
The issue is not only whether each case can be solved.
It is whether Black families can trust that suspicious deaths will be investigated with urgency, seriousness and without racial bias.
For families still waiting, the question is simple.
Who is responsible for finding the truth?
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