Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a “Squad” buddy whipped up a panic Thursday demanding the feds to probe “a nationwide disaster” involving a string of “modern-day lynchings” of blacks — although all obtainable proof doesn’t level to racial animus within the tragic deaths.
The far-left New York Metropolis Dem joined US Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and different Democrats in firing off a letter to US Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday urging them “to totally examine suspicious deaths and maintain people accountable,” citing “10 reported hangings of Black folks” to date in 2026.
“We’re extraordinarily alarmed by reviews of Black folks discovered hanging from bushes in quite a few
states all through our nation,” the letter mentioned. “The sequence of deaths increase vital suspicion of foul play given the function of lynching in our nation’s historical past.
“Due to this fact, we write to urgently demand a radical, clear, and complete federal investigation into each hanging dying of a Black particular person throughout the USA.”
AOC and Pressley have been fast to submit the letter on X — the place the missive was instantly hit with fact-checks from customers displaying a lot of the 10 fatalities have been dominated suicides by health workers or regulation enforcement.
AOC’s press workplace fired again to The Submit, ” At a minimal, every investigation, with permission of the decedents’ households, ought to embrace an impartial post-mortem, an audit of native and state regulation enforcement investigations, assessment of bodily and testimonial proof, and a closing report submitted to Congress explaining the company’s findings.”
The letter additionally referred to as for “strong knowledge assortment” aiming to trace the hanging deaths of black folks in a “clear and systematic method.”
Solely one of many cited deaths — involving a Mississippi girl named Tasia Fortune, 29 — is being investigated as a murder.
Terence Anderson, a black man, is reportedly being detained as an individual of curiosity within the case.
One other one of many deaths — of a black father of 9 kids in North Carolina — has been deemed suspicious. It is also nonetheless open.
The opposite hanging dying victims, who have been from Georgia and North Carolina, amongst different states, have been dominated suicides with out foul play by native authorities.
The Democratic lawmakers — together with AOC and Pressley, members of the left-wing congressional get together faction generally known as “The Squad” — requested the Division of Justice to utilize the Emmett Until Antilynching Act, handed in 2022, ought to any of the deaths be decided to be lynchings.
The regulation makes lynchings a federal hate crime offense, punishable by as much as 30 years in jail.
Practically 60 Democrats signed on to Tuesday’s letter, together with Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), who serves as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The DOJ and FBI didn’t reply to Submit requests for remark, nor did reps for Pressley’s congressional workplace.
