A young black man died in rural Vance County, North Carolina, but the media appears to have used the details of his death to advance a racist narrative.
Around 10 a.m. Wednesday, Vance County sheriff's deputies received a call reporting a body had been found near Vanco Mill Road outside Henderson, N.C., a city of 15,000 people about 45 miles north of Raleigh.
“The young man was not hanging from the tree. He was not hanging from a tree. The rope was around his neck. It was not a noose. There were no knots in the rope.”
The deceased man had no identification on him, but investigators later identified him as Javion McGee, a 21-year-old truck driver from the Chicago area. He was found sitting with his back against a “medium-sized” tree with a rope around his neck, the other end of which was secured to the tree.
The details about the rope generated many sensationalist headlines: “North Carolina sheriff says black man found dead with rope around neck” was one newspaper headline. WCNC“Black man found dead in North Carolina with rope tied to tree. Sheriff says 'it wasn't a lynching,'” another said. ABC11.
News & Observer The paper went further, noting that although its headline mentioned lynching, McGee's death may actually have been a suicide: “Warrant Shows Evidence of Suicide as Allegations Grow in North Carolina Lynching of Black Man.”
Unfortunately, the evidence released so far suggests that McGhee may have committed suicide. Sheriff Curtis Brame told ABC11 that in the hours before her death, McGhee drove a truckload of items to a Walmart distribution center, then went to a Walmart store where she appears to have purchased several items, including the rope that was later found around her neck.
“There's information floating around that a lynching has taken place in Vance County,” Brame said. “There has been no lynching in Vance County. The young man was not hanging from a tree. He was not hanging from a tree. There was a rope around his neck. It was not a noose. There was no knot in the rope. So there has been no lynching here in Vance County.”
Brame, who is black, also claimed McGee's body “was not mutilated in any way” when it was discovered. He told ABC11 that other evidence, such as Walmart surveillance footage, has not yet been released because the investigation into McGee's death is ongoing.
Brehm did not specifically say McGhee's death was a suicide but said foul play is not suspected.
A preliminary autopsy report released Friday was similarly inconclusive about suicide, but the coroner found only traces of blood around the soft spot of McGehee's neck and no obvious signs of defensive wounds or other trauma, Brame told ABC11.
Toxicology reports are not yet available. The Blaze News left a message with Sheriff Brame seeking more information but did not receive a response.
Candace Matthews, TRiiBE The “civil rights activist and state chair of the Texas Democratic Congressional Black Caucus,” who claims to represent McGehee's family, called on federal law enforcement to investigate the incident as a “hate crime.”
“We demand that the Department of Justice step in and investigate this. We demand that the FBI step in and investigate this as a hate crime,” she said.
“It is my opinion that this is a hate crime because this young man showed no signs of being suicidal,” she said, according to WCNC.
Matthews also claimed that while an official cause of death has not been determined, the Vance County Sheriff's Office told McGhee's mother and stepfather that it was a suicide.
“In a lot of these cases, there are a lot of suspicious aspects, and that's the problem,” Matthews continued. “All of the families are devastated and hurt. They have a lot of questions and they just want to know what happened to their loved ones.”
Other locals also suspect racism may have played a role in McGhee's death. “I think, honestly, first of all, we have to acknowledge that we live in the South and we have a deep history of racism and racist acts, so obviously people are concerned about that,” Khalil Gay of Henderson told ABC11.
X-user account named Britney Black Rose Capri is apparentlyBlack queer hoe” similarly suggested that McGee had been “lynched”: “A black man was lynched in North Carolina this week. A black man was lynched in North Carolina this week.” Written by kapri on wednesday.
As of Monday afternoon, Capri's post had garnered more than 99,000 likes and more than 3.7 million impressions.
Brame offered his condolences to the family but urged everyone to be patient and wait for the facts to come out. “Don't buy into the rumors,” he advised.
KLLM Transport Services, the company that employed McGehee at the time of his death, released a statement about his passing.
“We offer our deepest condolences to the family. Javion was an outstanding employee and we are all saddened by this loss. We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation,” said Booth Veasey, director of safety for KLLM Transportation Services.
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