‘The Squad’ faces backlash over claims ‘modern-day lynchings’ are now common in America
Controversial claims of ‘modern-day lynchings’ by progressive lawmakers spark intense debate on ‘The Big Weekend Show.’ After Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and 50 Democrats demanded a federal probe into hanging deaths, the panel analyzes the rhetoric. While activists stoke fear, officials have ruled most of the 10 cited cases as suicides, with only one Mississippi death currently investigated as a homicide.
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An Ohio congresswoman is facing major blowback online after suggesting that lynchings are on the rise in the United States, despite that claim being widely debunked last week.
“In the last year, there’s been an alarming increase in Black Americans found dead hanging from trees. We know what that has meant throughout our history,” said Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, on X. “That’s why I’ve joined [Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.] to demand a federal investigation into possible lynchings.”
Digital reviewed some high-profile cases after Pressley’s letter to the DOJ demanding “thorough, transparent, and comprehensive federal investigation into every hanging death of a Black individual across the United States.” Last week, Pressley and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., posted about the letter on their X accounts, drawing blowback and widespread debunking of the suggestion that there has been an uptick in lynchings.
Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, takes her seat for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing with “Sanctuary State Governors” in the Capitol Visitor Center on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Ocasio-Cortez called the incidents “racial terror” and likened them to “widespread modern-day lynchings.”
An investigation into the March death of a 21-year-old man found hanging from a tree in Cobb County, Georgia, concluded that the man was alone at the time, and no foul play is suspected.
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina determined that a 16-year-old found hanging from a tree in May died by suicide. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Department in Florida came to the same conclusion in the similar death of a 27-year-old in June. At least three more similar cases were ruled suicides.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
One is still under investigation. The high-profile case of Tasia Fortune, also found hanging from a tree, is being treated as a homicide. A Black male suspect, Jarques Ratliff, has been arrested.
The facts didn’t stop Brown from perpetuating the claim of prolific hangings.
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Tasia Fortune is seen in a portrait displayed Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Marion, Kentucky. Inset: Jarques Ratliff, who was arrested in connection to Fortune’s death. (AP Photo/George Walker IV | Jackson Police Department)
“For generations, trees were used as instruments of terror against Black Americans,” Brown said in a video attached to the post. “Lynching was used to intimidate entire communities, and those deaths almost always went without justice and without accountability. So, when Black Americans are found hanging from trees today, in unfamiliar places and under circumstances that raise serious questions, we cannot look the other way.”
For the post, Brown was widely condemned online.
“Inventing racism. Purposely misleading and pernicious,” said actor Dean Cain of “Superman” fame.
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“No no and no,” said a popular X user with more than 250,000 followers. “I get it, Democrats have spent decades creating racism where none exists, especially right before an election. But nobody is buying this, especially when we know the majority were suicides and oh yeah, the man arrested for the homicide is a black guy. Stop.”
“This is how Democrats stir up racial divide when there isn’t one,” said podcaster Don Keith, adding that Brown was trying to “blame black suicides and homicides on white people now.”
“Apparently it’s 2019 again and Jussie Smollett is walking to a Subway…,” said podcaster Margo Chatting, referencing the actor’s infamous hate crime hoax wherein he claimed he was attacked by White Trump supporters, only for an investigation to find that he faked the attack.
Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, speaks as Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., listens during a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 14, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Bowman held the news conference to discuss the “African American History Act.” (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Author Dan Friedman laid into the congresswoman.
“You know these were all suicides, except one domestic violence murder in which the perpetrator was a black man. Some of these people were literally seen hanging themselves on security cameras,” he said.
“You cannot possibly be stupid enough to believe that mobs of white racists are abducting black men at random for no reason, hanging them from trees, disappearing without a trace and that law enforcement officials who are often black are covering it up. So, if you are not stupid, you are lying and being disingenuous. The question is, why?”
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Brown’s office did not return Digital’s request for comment.
