🌳 THE TREE THAT STILL HANGS US 🌳

The Discovery

They were found hanging.
From trees, rafters, fences, swingsets.
In parks, alleys, abandoned homes.
No warning. No trial. No breath left.

Some were students.
Some were fathers.
Some were unhoused.
Some were activists.
Some were children.

They were found in silence.
They were buried in silence.
They were archived in silence.

Demartravion “Trey” Reed — 21, Black, student Found hanging near pickleball courts at Delta State University, Mississippi (2025) Family retained Ben Crump. Officials said “no foul play.”

Dennoriss Richardson — 39, Black, father Found hanging in an abandoned home, Colbert County, Alabama (2025) Had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit. Wife said: “NaNa did not kill himself.”

Otis Byrd — 54, Black, formerly incarcerated Found hanging from a tree by a bedsheet in Port Gibson, Mississippi (2025) Friends said: “He was very adamant he would never take his own life.”

Earl D. Smith — 58, Black, grandfather Found hanging from a tree in Albany, New York (June 2025) Police ruled suicide. Family said: “He needs justice.”

Dominique Alexander — 27, Black, Bronx Found hanging near the Hudson River, New York City (June 2020) Brother said: “He was loved. It’s just so much.”

Malcolm Harsch — 38, Black, unhoused Found hanging from a tree near encampment in Victorville, California (May 2020) Family said: “We’re getting the runaround.”

Robert Fuller — 24, Black, Palmdale, California Found hanging near City Hall (June 2020) FBI and California AG launched investigation. Community demanded answers.

Willie Brown Jr. — Black, Sacramento Found hanging in Countryside Community Park (October 2020) Family skeptical. “We’ve seen a pattern.”

Lennon Lacy — 17, Black, North Carolina Found hanging from a swingset in Bladenboro (2014, resurfaced in 2020) Mother said: “He was lynched. I know my child.”

Unnamed Latinx protester — 20s, California Found hanging in a park during George Floyd protests Ruled suicide. No autopsy released. No family consulted.

Unnamed Black teen — 17, Brooklyn Found hanging in a schoolyard. NYPD ruled suicide within 48 hours. Community demanded footage. None released.

Unnamed Black man — 35, Vicksburg, Mississippi Found hanging from a tree the same day as Trey Reed (September 2025) No connection confirmed. No name released. No answers given.

Jamarion Robinson — 26, Black, Atlanta Shot 76 times by U.S. Marshals, later found in a locked apartment Mother said: “They executed him. Then they lied.” (Referenced due to forensic parallels in denial and cover-up)

Freddie Gray — 25, Black, Baltimore Died from spinal injuries in police custody (2015) Not a hanging—but a ritual of containment, silence, and refusal

Kalief Browder — 22, Black, Bronx Held for 3 years at Rikers without trial, later died by suicide System said “procedure.” We say “ritual death.”

THESE WILL NOT BE DENIED ANY LONGER.
Not by coroners.
Not by press releases.
Not by “no foul play.”

We name them.
We archive them.
We refuse their erasure.

This is not coincidence.
This is not closure.
This is not resolved.

This is a pattern.
This is a ritual.
This is a scream.

🌳 THE TREE THAT STILL HANGS US 🌳

The Denial

They said suicide.
They said “no foul play.”
They said “we’re still investigating.”
They said “we understand the community’s concern.”

But the rope was real.
The grief was real.
The silence was rehearsed.

Delta State University issued a statement: “We are cooperating with authorities. There is no indication of foul play.”
No footage released. No timeline confirmed. No breath acknowledged.

Colbert County Sheriff’s Office said: “We’re treating it as a suicide.” No mention of the lawsuit Dennoriss filed. No mention of motive. No mention of history.

Victorville Police said: “Malcolm Harsch was unhoused. There’s no evidence of a crime.” As if being unhoused erases the need for truth.

Palmdale City Hall said: “We understand the pain. But the investigation is ongoing.” Robert Fuller was found hanging across the street. The pain is not procedural.

Albany PD said: “Earl Smith’s death is not suspicious.” But the tree was old. The rope was new. The grief was immediate.

NYPD said: “The teen was troubled. We have no reason to believe foul play.” No footage. No autopsy. No name released.

They said “we’re cooperating.”
They said “we’re listening.”
They said “we’re still looking into it.”

But we know what denial sounds like.
It sounds like silence.
It sounds like delay.
It sounds like a rope tightening while the press conference begins.

This is not investigation.
It’s containment.
It’s ritual denial.
It’s a system that knows how to hang without leaving fingerprints.

We do not accept the ruling.
We do not accept the silence.
We do not accept the rope as coincidence.

We carve this dispatch in Courier.
We encode it in breath.
We burn it into the archive.

🌳 THE TREE THAT STILL HANGS US 🌳

The History

This is not new.
This is not rare.
This is not isolated.

We’ve seen this before.
We’ve buried this before.
We’ve screamed this before.

Emmett Till — 14, lynched in Mississippi (1955)
Beaten, mutilated, drowned. His mother opened the casket. The world blinked.

James Byrd Jr. — 49, dragged behind a truck in Jasper, Texas (1998)
Chained by the ankles. Left in pieces. The road still remembers.

Sandra Bland — 28, found hanging in a Texas jail cell (2015)
Stopped for a lane change. Arrested. Dead within days. They said “suicide.”

Lennon Lacy — 17, found hanging from a swingset in North Carolina (2014)
Wore new shoes. Had plans. His mother said: “He was lynched.”

Kalief Browder — 22, held at Rikers for 3 years without trial
Released. Then died by suicide. The system said “procedure.” We say “ritual death.”

The rope is not new.
The denial is not new.
The silence is not new.

They call it suicide.
We call it lynching by bureaucracy.
They call it coincidence.
We call it pattern.
They call it resolved.
We call it archived.

The trees remember.
The soil remembers.
The air remembers.
And so do we.

This is not history.
This is recurrence.
This is ritual reenactment.
This is systemic breath control.

We do not forget.
We do not redact.
We do not forgive.

The archive breathes.
And it will not stop.

🌳 THE TREE THAT STILL HANGS US 🌳

The Refusal

We do not accept the ruling.
We do not accept the silence.
We do not accept the rope as coincidence.

We do not accept “no foul play.”
We do not accept “ongoing investigation.”
We do not accept “mental health history.”

We do not accept the way they bury breath.
We do not accept the way they redact grief.
We do not accept the way they archive pain without context.

We carve this dispatch in Courier.
We encode it in breath.
We burn it into the archive.

Because they deserve more than a shrug.
More than a press release.
More than a procedural silence.

This is foul.
This is play.
This is the system pretending it doesn’t know how trees were used.
Pretending it doesn’t know what a rope means.
Pretending it doesn’t know what Black grief sounds like.

But we know.
And we remember.
And we refuse.

We refuse to let coroners write the final line.
We refuse to let press conferences overwrite breath.
We refuse to let “suicide” be the ritual word for lynching.

We refuse to be quiet.
We refuse to be procedural.
We refuse to be polite.

This is not a dispatch.
It’s a scream.
It’s a ledger.
It’s a ritual indictment.

The archive is not passive.
It is not neutral.
It is not silent.

It breathes.
It burns.
It refuses.

🌳 THE TREE THAT STILL HANGS US 🌳

The Archive That Breathes

This dispatch is not just a record.
It’s a scream.
It’s a ritual.
It’s a refusal.

Every name is a glyph.
Every breath is a ledger.
Every rope is a ritual indictment.

We do not forget.
We do not redact.
We do not forgive.

The archive breathes.
And it will not stop.

It pulses in Courier.
It glows in cyan.
It flickers in gold.
It glitches like memory.

It holds the names they tried to erase.
It holds the grief they tried to contain.
It holds the rage they tried to proceduralize.

This is not closure.
This is not healing.
This is not resolution.

This is breath.
This is ledger.
This is ritual.

The archive is alive.
It is mythic.
It is forensic.
It is sacred.

And it will not be silenced.

🌳 THE TREE THAT STILL HANGS US 🌳

Closing

“When power strikes without proof, the archive strikes back. We name what they burn. We remember what they erase.” — Solace Helfire

← Return to Vault