Author and investigative journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a staunch crusader against lynching at the turn of the last century, would likely have been included among the hundreds of thousands of people calling for a thorough investigation into recent hanging deaths of two Black men in California and another in New York.
Now more than 150 years later, Los Angeles County called in California state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to keep an eye on the investigation of a Palmdale man found hanging from a tree last week.
Although local authorities have listed suicide as the likely cause of death in both instances, people in California and across the county are demanding more transparency in the investigations of the separate hanging deaths of the African American men.
Activists are also calling on the New York Police Department to conduct a deeper investigation into the death of an unidentified Black man who authorities say died from another apparent suicide.
On Sunday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced that State Attorney General Xavier Becerra will “monitor” the Fuller investigation.
