A rash of mysterious deaths among African Americans deemed “suicides” has raised alarm throughout the United States
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Wednesday September 2, 2026
Political Review
“Strange Fruit” was a poem later turned into a protest song which was popularized by the legendary Jazz singer Billie Holiday in 1939.
The poem and later song were composed by a Jewish school teacher Abel Meeropol in 1937 in response to the phenomenon of lynchings carried out by white mobs against African Americans from the late 19th century well into the 20th.
This song recorded by Billie Holiday was controversial from the beginning and therefore initially appeared on an alternative label. During this period, legalized segregation was very much in force while the migration of African Americans from the South to the North proceeded even during the era of the Great Depression.
Reports on lynchings indicate that approximately 5,000 African Americans died from extra-judicial police and mob violence between the 1880s through the period after World War II. All during this period the US government through its legislative apparatus, the House of Representatives and Senate, failed to pass an anti-lynching bill despite several attempts. (https://eji.org/reports/
Finally, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was passed and signed into law by former President Joe Biden during 2022. This action was carried out amid mass demonstrations and rebellions in response to the police execution of George Floyd in May 2020 among other deaths due to law-enforcement activity and mob actions.
In recent months there has been a series of mysterious deaths of young African American men and women largely in the South. However, there have been similar incidents outside the South in several northern Midwest cities and small towns. Law-enforcement agencies have been reluctant to label these deaths as homicides which resulted from racial animus.
One of the most widely publicized deaths occurred in the state of Mississippi during early July when 18-year-old Nolan Wells was found floating off the coast of Horn Island. He was last seen with a group of white youth, purportedly his friends, as they traveled to the island. All of the whites returned, yet Wells did not.
The family of Wells are searching for answers to his death. News reports surrounding his demise have caused much consternation among concerned people across the United States where the overall political and social atmosphere has been extremely hostile towards African Americans and their aspirations.
There has still not been the convening of a grand jury to investigate the death of Wells. As time goes on, the suspicions surrounding Wells’ death continue to mount in Mississippi and throughout the country.
In a recent report published on the mystery surrounding the death of Wells, it notes that at least two people have been indicted for allegedly making threats to those who were with him prior to his disappearance and death. Supposedly calls were made from other states threatening bodily harm against those suspected of being involved in the death of Wells.
According to the Atlanta Black Star:
“Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath says the investigation will ultimately be presented to a grand jury. However, authorities have not publicly announced a specific date for when the grand jury will review the case. Attorney Eric Hertz, who is representing the Wells family, noted earlier this month that the case could go before a grand jury within 30 days based on the current evidence and timeline. While the official autopsy has reportedly been completed, authorities are withholding the results pending grand jury review. Wells’ family also commissioned an independent autopsy, though those findings came back inconclusive.” (https://atlantablackstar.com/
In another important development involving the death of Wells are the prouncements emanating from the family of those individuals who saw the victim last alive. One story indicates that Wells chose to stay on Horn Island to meet a girl.
Yet, the parents have rejected this explanation and are seeking a legal inquiry into the death. The white youth who were with Wells prior to his death and their families have set up a crowdfunding page to raise money to hire lawyers in case of indictments.
In another section of the above-quoted report from the Atlanta Black Star, it says of the current situation that:
“The latest legal move involving Wells’ friends came last week, when their attorneys sent Rev. Al Sharpton a letter threatening a defamation lawsuit. Attorneys representing Hudson, Pitalo and Seymour accused Sharpton of making defamatory statements about them in the aftermath of Wells’ death. The attorneys specifically referenced comments Sharpton made during a July 14 interview with TMZ and other public statements. They demanded that Sharpton retract and remove what they characterized as false and defamatory statements.”
Two People Outside Mississippi Have Already Been Indicted for Ostensibly Making Threats
Although there has not been the convening of a grand jury to look into the death of Wells, two people are already scheduled to stand trial for supposedly threatening the white youth who were with the victim prior to his death as well as judicial officials in Mississippi.
The Mississippi Today news website reported on September 1 in relation to the case saying:
“Two people from out of state accused of threatening to kill or hurt witnesses in the Nolan Wells death investigation appeared in federal court in Mississippi this week. California resident Joseph Alfredo Vasquez Dumarce and Illinois resident Edward James Porter were indicted Monday and are scheduled to stand trial this fall in Gulfport. Both are charged with a felony that has a maximum sentence of five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. Both pleaded not guilty. Federal prosecutors have argued for Dumarce and Porter to remain in detention. Porter’s trial is scheduled for Oct. 5 with U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel. Dumarce’s trial is set for Nov. 2 before U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden. Jackson County Chancery Judge Ashlee Cole, one of the targets of Dumarce’s alleged threats, attended the hearing. Dumarce, 27, allegedly threatened to bomb her office, writing in social media messages and comments that the judge should ‘ask god for forgiveness,’ according to court records. (https://mississippitoday.org/
People around the US and indeed internationally will be monitoring the outcome of the cases related to both the death of Wells as well as upcoming prosecutions of those who are said to have made threats from other states. The family of Wells held a meeting with the Jackson County District Attorney in late August.
The DA said that even with the convening of a grand jury after all the evidence has been collected does not guarantee that criminal charges will be filed against the white youth who were classmates of Wells. The authorities have strongly suggested that Nolan Wells’ death was accidental.
Not an Isolated Incident
The plight of Nolan Wells is by no means an anomaly. A recently-released 222-page report called the Crimson Record on the Deep South claims that since 2000 some 70 African Americans have died under similar suspicious circumstances.
During early August 2026, 29-year-old Tasia Fortune was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home in Jackson, the capital of the state of Mississippi. No one has been charged in her death.
In other states people have been discovered dead under unusual circumstances. The Chicago Crusader reported on August 25 noting:
“The pattern of Black Americans found hanging in public, ruled suicides before autopsies are complete, and disputed by families who say investigations were rushed, extends well beyond Mississippi. In 2026 alone, Juliana Umba Nzita, 16, a Congolese immigrant, was found hanging on church grounds in Charlotte, North Carolina, ruled a suicide in three days with no autopsy performed. To’Nea Nicole Miller, 27, was found dead near a Miami park on Juneteenth weekend. Justice Kai James, 21, was found hanging at Turner Job Corps in Albany, Georgia.
In Illinois, the 2021 death of Jelani Day, 25, a Black Illinois State University graduate student found in the Illinois River near Peru, remains unresolved. The coroner ruled it a drowning. Day’s mother and civil rights activists maintain foul play. Peru is a confirmed sundown town, according to the Tougaloo College database. Illinois had an estimated 507 sundown towns.” (https://chicagocrusader.com/
These deaths which have been documented are taking place within a broader context of the escalation and normalization of violence against African Americans. The traditional governmental agencies such as the US Civil Rights Commission and the Justice Department have not been focused on the rising levels of racial violence against oppressed people.
Consequently, there is the need for independent investigations into these killings. African American youth and their families have serious cause for concern in the present atmosphere.
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Distributed By: THE PAN-AFRICAN RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION PROJECT–
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