We are a little more than two months from the midterms. When the policy argument is thin, some Democrats reach for the older one: America is still that country. The one that hangs people from trees.
Jon Ossoff talks as if the Klan is on the ballot in Georgia. Ayanna Pressley says the Confederacy is alive and well. Jasmine Crockett points to “mysterious deaths” in Mississippi — people “found, hung or otherwise” — and says we can no longer rely on the Justice Department to look. The implication is not subtle. Vote our way, or you are choosing the noose.
Watch it here: [VIDEO]
Ben Shapiro spent part of a recent show on the cases that keep getting cited as proof. His column on the same argument is here.
Ms. Rachel is Rachel Accurso, the toddler YouTube host behind Songs for Littles. About 20 million subscribers, a Netflix kids show, the pink headband and overalls. Parents of two-year-olds know her as the person who teaches Wheels on the Bus. She started the channel in 2019 after her own son had a speech delay. She has a master’s in music education from NYU. TikTok is one of her platforms. It is not the source of the following.
She has spent the last couple of years putting politics in the same feed as the nursery rhymes. Gaza. ICE detention. In March she told NBC News, “I am political.” This week she put the hanging claim in its cleanest form: please listen to the Black community. Black people don’t hang themselves from trees. There have been at least seven this year.
The history that sentence is pointing at is real. The medical examiner reports and the surveillance footage are also real. Those two things are not required to cancel each other. They just have to be looked at in the same paragraph.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Here are the specific ones Shapiro named.
Raleigh, North Carolina — August 15, 2026
A 32-year-old Black man was found hanging from a tree in a parking lot off South McDowell Street, near Nash Square and a Caribbean festival. Police did not release his name. His mother told them he had a history of mental-health problems.
Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce, who is Black, laid out the video timeline at a press conference two days later. At 1:59 p.m. cameras show the man walking toward the tree alone, carrying an electrical cord. Between 2:06 and 2:07 p.m. the footage captures the incident. No one else is in the frame. A nearby worker spots the body at 2:25 p.m. and 911 is called.
Boyce: “Investigators have found no evidence indicating that another person caused or contributed to the young man’s death… Our investigation confirms that this is a suicide.” The case went to the North Carolina medical examiner for the final manner-of-death finding. News & Observer coverage and the city’s own press conference are the primary records.
Demartravion “Trey” Reed, 21 — Cleveland, Mississippi — September 15, 2025
Reed, a Black freshman at Delta State University, was found hanging from a tree near the pickleball courts on campus. The Bolivar County coroner said there were no lacerations, contusions, broken bones, or injuries consistent with an assault.
The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office performed the autopsy on September 17. Cause of death: hanging. Manner of death: suicide. Toxicology was pending at the time of the announcement. The files were also sent to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office for review.
The family commissioned an independent autopsy funded through Colin Kaepernick’s initiative. As of later reporting, the family said they still had not received a final public report from that exam, and some relatives later acknowledged Reed had sent suicidal texts the night before. Official ruling from the state medical examiner remains suicide. Mississippi Free Press and Reuters carried the examiner’s statement.
Juliana Umba Nzita, 16 — Charlotte, North Carolina — May 8, 2026
A Congolese immigrant. A man walking his dog found her hanging from a tree on the grounds of a predominantly Black church, United House of Prayer for All People. A ratchet strap was around her neck. A small blue chair from her family’s home was on the ground nearby. She had been reported missing days earlier.
The Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner ruled suicide within three days after a physical examination that found no defensive wounds and no signs of physical or sexual assault. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police closed the case four days after that. No full autopsy was performed. Her phone was never recovered. The man who found her was not interviewed.
The family disputes the ruling and has pursued an independent autopsy. Police have said a thorough examination showed no evidence of foul play. The Charlotte Observer investigation is the most detailed public account.
To’Nea Nicole Miller, 27 — Miami, Florida — June 18, 2026
From Flint, Michigan. Found dead near Gwen Cherry Park. Social media and the local NAACP described her as hanging from a tree. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office statement did not use that phrasing in its first release.
Sheriff’s investigators and the county medical examiner found no evidence of foul play. The death was described as “consistent with a suicide.” Her belongings were with her. No signs of violence.
Her sister rejected the finding in public: she loved life too much. An aunt who spoke with the investigator and the medical examiner told NBC 6 she accepted the suicide determination. The sheriff’s office closed the case. Snopes and NBC Miami summarized the official statements.
Tasia Fortune, 29 — Jackson, Mississippi — August 3, 2026
This is the one Shapiro noted was still outstanding.
A mother of four. Found hanging from a tree behind a vacant house on the 500 block of Road of Remembrance in a predominantly Black west Jackson neighborhood. Neighbors called police. The body had apparently been there for days.
Jackson police listed the case as a death pending investigation. The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on August 12. As of late August, no official cause or manner of death had been released. Police have not said they suspect foul play. A man who shares a child with Fortune was arrested on an unrelated gun charge and told investigators they had argued; he denied involvement in her death.
Her mother has said she did not do this to herself. A city councilman asked the U.S. Attorney for a federal look and called it a murder before any examiner had ruled. Mississippi Today and CNN noted the pending status.
Shapiro’s larger observation sits underneath the list. Thousands of people in this country die by hanging every year. White suicide rates, including hanging, run higher than Black rates. That does not tell you what happened in any single backyard or churchyard. It does tell you that “Black people don’t hang themselves from trees” is a statement about history and about fear, not a statement about forensic possibility.
The families in several of these cases have every reason to want a second look. Mississippi’s lynching record is not a rumor. A video of a man walking alone toward a tree with a cord in his hand is also not a rumor.
The argument, this close to an election, is which of those two facts you are required to ignore in order to keep the story intact.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
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