His name was Danye Jones. He was 24 years old. He was lynched.

But was is so horrific about his death is that it only happened fifteen days ago. Yes, an African American man was lynched in 2018, only a couple days ago. Yet there has been no news coverage, no articles, nothing; just a few posts on twitter.

Being that there was really no information on the event I was able to find out that the boy’s mother actually was the one to speak out against this on her Facebook account. It was rumored that prominent Ferguson activists and their family members were being targeted and assaulted. Melissa McKinnies, Danye’s mother, was one of the activist in Ferguson protesting the death of Michael Brown which happened back in 2014. Danye’s mother unfortunately was also the one to discover her son hanging from their tree in her backyard.

I can only image what his mother must be going through. To discover your own son in that state must be devastating. But of course it got worse when allegedly the police decided to forego an investigation on his death and instead rule it a suicide. This unfortunately isn’t the first time I’ve heard of this. I recall another story happening some time ago where an African American male was found hanging from a tree and the police ruled it suicide.

It’s honestly crazy to think that they wouldn’t look further into these deaths. Nothing about hanging from a tree sounds logical. But unfortunately just as our lives are undervalued alive, they matter even less dead sometimes.

I am tired of African American lives being reduced to hashtags once they die. I am tired of barely hearing of the deaths of African Americans (this goes for other marginalized groups as well) on solely social media rather than news outlets. Why is this young man’s death not being discussed? Why is it being swept under the rug?

Events like these really make me wonder what kind of society we live in. You know with events like these one would think we were back in Jim Crow South. But unfortunately we aren’t, were in America in 2018!!!! We’re in what is so called one of the ‘greatest’ countries in the world, yet were still dealing with issues of racism and ignorance and continue to protect THE WRONG SIDE. I mean for someone to still be lynched in 2018 really speaks volumes to the so called ‘progress’ we’ve made as a country.

I just hope that my fellow African Americans do not have to continue to die at the costs of racism. I hope that my fellow African American’s deaths are not then silenced due to racism and neglect.

We must speak on these issues every chance we get and call out these unjust practices. Police should not just simply turn the other cheek when another African American is killed. It’s time we say something, it’s time we do something. Because the only way to take down a system is for everyone to realize the part they play in it. Because this is no longer a question of whats right or wrong, we know it’s wrong so let’s finally do something right.