Ruled a suicide, black teen’s hanging death in North Carolina raises specter of lynching

The hanging death of a 17-year-old black male here has stirred up old fears and fresh concern as residents raise doubts about whether authorities, who called the teen’s death a suicide, adequately investigated the possibility this might have been, in fact, a lynching.

On Saturday, protesters marched through the heart of town to call for a thorough examination of what happened to Lennon Lacy, who was found hanging by two belts from a playground swing set near his home Aug. 29. The case had appeared to stall for months, but in recent days the demand for answers and suspicions that local authorities allowed the case to founder have grown. It was announced Friday that the FBI would look into the case.

“We know it was a hanging,” NAACP state chapter president the Rev. William Barber II said before Saturday’s march. “But the question is, ‘Was it self-inflicted? Was it a staged hanging? Or was it a hanging or lynching homicide?’ ”

The state NAACP chapter organized Saturday’s protest after pushing for weeks to have federal authorities look into Lacy’s death, which has roiled this town of fewer than 2,000 residents, where 80 percent are white and 18 percent are black. Barber said there is evidence “that suggests possible race-based foul play,” including details about Lacy’s romantic relationship with an older white woman. But Barber said he and the family have not reached any conclusions about what happened. They just want a full-fledged investigation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ruled-a-suicide-black-teens-hanging-death-in-north-carolina-raises-specter-of-lynching/2014/12/13/89321c0e-831a-11e4-9f38-95a187e4c1f7_story.html