As Twitchy has reported, "lynching" has been a hot topic on Capitol Hill now that Squad member Ayanna Pressley is circulating a letter demanding a federal investigation into a rash of hanging deaths of black people this year. Fellow Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez signed on, saying that we must "address these widespread modern-day lynchings and put a stop to this racial terror" — "widespread" meaning 10 (followed by an eleventh that was ruled a suicide, as were nine others).
The only hanging that hasn't been ruled a suicide is being investigated as a homicide, with two black men arrested as suspects and an arrest warrant put out for a third black suspect. Now, we're getting reports from Mississippi police that Tasia Fortune's lynching was staged after she was killed during a drug dispute.
A Mississippi detective testified that Tasia Fortune was killed during a drug dispute before her body was placed in a tree in what authorities described as a staged hanging. https://t.co/BqINwguZsO
— FOX 5 Atlanta (@FOX5Atlanta) September 26, 2026
Chris Williams reports for Fox 5:
A detective testified Friday that Tasia Fortune was apparently killed during a drug dispute before her body was placed in a tree in a "staged" lynching behind an abandoned home in Mississippi’s capital this summer.
Fortune was killed in a disagreement about drugs, and she fought hard with her attackers before she was killed, Jackson police Detective Samuel Dukes told the court. Citing the medical examiner's opinion, he also said the hanging was "staged."
Fortune was Black, and the Aug. 3 discovery of her hanging body stoked fear and drew widespread attention because the scene recalled actual lynchings in the Southern state, which has a long and troubled history of racial violence.
"A long and troubled history of racial violence." And a very recent history of black-on-black drug violence. Remember, this is how the Associated Press chose to frame the incident:
The death of Tasia Fortune, a Black Mississippi woman found hanging from a tree on Aug. 3, has stirred distressing memories of the grim history of lynchings across the U.S. South. pic.twitter.com/sCmPZt6C8K
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 21, 2026
A drug deal went bad. Three black men murdered a black woman and then hanged her body, hoping it would look like a lynching. Media outlets like the Associated Press did their best to give a boost to the Democrats' narrative about "widespread" lynchings.
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