When Black Americans Hang from Trees, the Rest of Us Have a Responsibility to Demand Answers and Justice for their Deaths

By Mary-Elizabeth Meagher, written for Mesa Valley Indivisible

maryelizabethmeagher.substack.com

•  Dennoris Richardson. 39 years old. Sheffield, Alabama.

• Javion McGee. 21 years old. Henderson, North Carolina.

• Earl Smith. 58 years old. Albany, New York.

• Demartravion Reed. 21 years old. Cleveland, Mississippi.

• Torrance Medley. 39 years old. Brookfield, Wisconsin.

• Kyle Bassinga. 21 years old. Marietta, Georgia.

• Juliana Umba Ntzia. 16 years old. Charlotte, North Carolina.

• Jerard Jackson. 28 years old. Rothbury, Michigan.

• Tasia Fortune. 29 years old. Jackson, Mississippi.

• Name yet-to-be-released. 32 years old. Raleigh, North Carolina.

• Demetrius Fleming. 38 years old. Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina

Ten human beings. Someone’s son, daughter, brother, sister, child, neighbor, coworker, or friend. These ten folks came from various communities and backgrounds across the U.S., but they all share a disturbing common thread—one you might not hear national media outlets bother to talk about, aside from a few cursory sentences. 

Each of these names belong to a Black person who was hanged from a tree (or a carport in the case of Dennoris Richardson) between 2024 and 2026. Read that again. We are not referring to the Jim Crow Era—their deaths took place within the last two years. Tasia Fortune’s body was recovered on August 3, 2026, while another man (whose identity has not been shared with the public yet) was found as recently as August 15, 2026.   

There is nothing historic about this trend. It’s occurring in the present—habitually, consistently, repetitively—and more often than not, without answers for the victims’ family members. But despite obvious context clues, showing that each death in question follows a suspiciously distinctive pattern of lynching, both medical examiners and law enforcement agencies have been quick to rule most of these cases as suicides. 

To be clear, this strategy is intentional.

“The moment a case is ruled a suicide, it’s no longer investigated as a homicide,” points out civil rights attorney Jill Collen Jefferson. In other words: Close the file. Stash it in a cabinet. Offer the family a hollow explanation, then move onto the next order of business.  

However, family members aren’t buying this suicide pretense—and neither is Jefferson, whose human rights nonprofit JULIAN tracked more than 70 lynching incidents in the American South from 2000–2025. Jefferson compiled her research into a 2026 report titled, “A Crimson Record,” in which she traces a clear, not-so-mysterious throughline. 

Whether the circumstances that surround these lynchings seem to be motivated by race, gender, or anti-LGBTQIA bias, law enforcement has ruled the majority of them suicides. This becomes even more dubious when you account for the finding that 23 cases in Jefferson’s report involve contact with police or correctional officers. 

Almost all of these cases received the same inattention to detail in the investigation process as well. Here are just a few troubling patterns the research identifies:

• Procedural haste, neglect, or inferior detective work 

• Lack of psychological autopsies to determine a victim’s mental state 

• Compromised crime scenes or withholding of evidence

• Premature conclusions released without a sufficient probable cause

It’s also worth noting: The suicide excuse is not a new tactic—it dates back almost a century. In the 1930s, law enforcement agencies, coroners, and reporters would frequently use terms like, “death by suicide, no foul play suspected,” as blatant cover-ups for the lynching of Black bodies from trees, schoolyards, jailhouses, or bridges. 

There is a playbook for hate, and it’s still being employed. 

Of course, none of this data makes the assumption that Black Americans never die by suicide. But their collective suicide rates are much lower than forensic medical examinations might lead you to believe. A recent study from the nonpartisan Trust for America’s Health found that 8.7 out of every 100,000 Black Americans die by suicide. 

Compare this number to 22.5 out of every 100,000 Indigenous Americans and 17.2 out of every 100,000 White Americans. Now let’s continue on with that theme. Another report looked at the violent deaths of Black residents in North Carolina from 2014–2023. Of those 6,397 fatalities, 1,453 (less than 23%) were suicides. Among the deaths that were a result of suicide, only 21% of Black men and 25% of Black women hanged themselves.

And not from trees. Not from a tree branch so high that an adult man was unable to reach it—let alone a 16-year-old girl—as in the case of Juliana Ntzia. 

When the data simply isn’t consistent with police narratives, we as a community must hold them accountable. When those with the power and resources to unearth real, concrete answers shirk their responsibilities, we must ask tireless questions to uncover the truth. When mainstream news outlets spare occasional, nominal coverage for a horrific trend of violence that should be a front-page headline, we must amplify their stories with our own voices. 

When a nation refuses to atone for and learn from its previous injustices, history won’t remain in the past. Those same horrors and atrocities will keep being inflicted in our current generation. So it’s time to make ourselves heard with the following steps.

1. Say Their Names. Get loud for these victims and their families in your own spheres of influence. Post about them on social media. Talk about them in offline circles. We can all use our platforms (no matter how large or small) to remember their names, honor their lives, and ensure their stories remain in the public discourse.

2. Donate to Their Loved Ones. The family of Tasia Fortune, whose recent death is still under investigation, has set up a GoFundMe campaign in her memory. We know the economic landscape is tough, but if you have the means and feel inclined to contribute, this is a tangible way to help those mourning her loss.  

3. Support Justice Work. Many organizations—such as JULIAN, Southern Poverty Law Center, Color of Change, and NAACP—are on the frontlines of seeking justice for hate crimes, dismantling white supremacy, and pursuing a future where civil rights are the norm for everyone in the United States. You can donate to their causes, subscribe to their newsletters, and visit their websites for more action steps.

4. Tell Your Reps to Take a Stand. Our elected officials have a sworn duty to act in the best interest of all Americans, and as their constituents, we can implore them not to be neutral or silent toward racial injustice. Lawmakers in Congress need to hear from us on this issue, so contact your senators and representatives. Urge them to call for thorough, transparent investigations into the suspicious deaths of Black men, women, and children across our country. View the actions you can take along with contact information and scripts.

5. Contact Law Enforcement. While some of these cases have been closed, others are open. The deaths of Kyle Bassinga, Juliana Ntzia, Jerard Jackson, Tasia Fortune, and the man whose name is unreleased all took place in 2026. Below are law enforcement departments who have the jurisdiction and responsibility to investigate these deaths in a manner that reflects true public safety. Reach out to these agencies and tell them you expect the facts to come out, and meaningful justice to be served.

• Cobb County Police Department: 770-499-3900 (for Kyle Bassinga)

• Mecklenburg County Police Department: 704-336-7600 (for Juliana Ntizia)

• Oceana County Police Department: 231-894-2385 (for Jerard Jackson)

• Hinds County Police Department: 601-960-0794 (for Tasia Fortune)

• Wake County Police Department: 919-996-3335 (for unidentified man)

Mesa City Council Wants to Build a Data Center: Here’s Why We Can’t Let Them

by Mary-Elizabeth Meagher, written exclusively for Mesa Valley Indivisible

maryelizabethmeagher.substack.com

Each time you ask ChatGPT a question, order a takeout meal from DoorDash, stream a TV show on Netflix, or plug a destination into your mobile GPS, there’s a data center humming behind the scenes to process that information and generate an outcome. 

Data centers, in their modern iteration, have been around since the internet boom of the 1990s. For the past 30 years, these buildings have functioned as the physical infrastructure that stores, computes, and ultimately, disseminates all of our virtual data across networks. They also run the software applications we use on a daily basis—from email servers and social media platforms to the word processor I am currently writing this article on. 

Data centers aren’t new, but the national conversation around them recently hit a fever pitch for one reason in particular: Artificial intelligence. As the development of AI continues to accelerate, this momentum requires more data centers to fuel those programs. 

AI is transforming the size, scope, and services of data center facilities across the U.S. In fact, as of September 2026, this country has a total of 3,586 data centers, along with another 2,231 planned for construction. Combined, these facilities will run on an estimated capacity of 387,336 megawatts. That’s a massive amount of electricity, but to break it down into concrete terms, one megawatt can power about 1,000 homes. So the number of megawatts to keep even one data center operational is enough to continuously power 100,000 homes.

It’s not difficult to see how this energy output will drain critical resources and further exacerbate climate issues, which has major implications for local communities—including here in Mesa. On May 13, 2026, the Mesa Planning and Zoning Board quietly passed a unanimous vote in favor of a 2,257,581-square-foot data center campus to be built at the corner of South Crismon and East Pecos Roads. The project, known as NTT Mesa PH10, will encompass seven buildings and two power substations across a $300 million land acquisition.   

This behemoth of a complex—slated to open its first phase in November 2028—is owned by NTT Global Centers, a Japanese telecommunications conglomerate. But in their efforts to move the project forward, Mesa City Council has ignored objections from those whom this data center will affect: Mesa residents. Notice how I used “quietly” to describe the initial vote. It took place entirely outside of public view. We the taxpayers were not consulted. 

During these last few months, Mesa Valley Indivisible has compiled a trail of evidence, clearly documenting both Mayor Mark Freeman and the Mesa City Council’s efforts to silence residents who voice complaints about the data center. Visit this link to learn more about those systematic attacks on our community’s First Amendment rights. But if construction of NTT Mesa PH10 goes into effect, it won’t only be free speech that suffers.   

We touched on the immense levels of energy consumption data centers expend, but this is just one of many environmental impacts the NTT Mesa PH10 project would usher in. When a data center uses electricity to process information from AI queries, it simultaneously uses water to cool internal software chips, so the machinery will not overheat. A mid-size facility consumes about 110 million gallons of water each year, while a large facility consumes 1.8 billion gallons. That is a problem anywhere—but it’s a grave concern in Arizona.  

Earlier in 2026, substantial cuts were made to Arizona’s Colorado River allocation, resulting in a loss of 760,000 acre-feet, which will reduce our current water supply from 2.8 million acre-feet of the Colorado River to two million acre-feet in 2027. This depletion of such an essential resource simply cannot afford to be stretched even thinner by a data center, which could use up to five million gallons of water over the course of a single day.  

Data centers are notorious for air pollution, too. Since these facilities need a robust, reliable power source, many operate on gas-fired equipment, as well as diesel backup generators. A joint study from scientists at Caltech and University of California Riverside estimates the sheer amount of data center-harnessed power to train new AI models can equal the carbon emissions of 10,000 round trips by car from New York City to Los Angeles. 

As the researchers warn, all that air pollution is on track to contribute to 1,300 annual premature deaths across the U.S. by 2030, along with a $20 billion increase in public health costs each year due to cancer, asthma, or other respiratory illnesses. 

We also have to talk about noise pollution because all the machines and technologies to keep these buildings functional are loud. Between cooling fans, HVAC units, gas turbines, backup generators, and computer servers, data center facilities produce a constant buzz of low- and high-frequency noise 24 hours a day. Some of this noise can reach up to 96 decibels, which is over 30 decibels higher than a safe volume for human ears. 

Folks who live near data centers often report headaches, ear pain, nausea, sleep disruptions, anxiety, vertigo, and hypertension from the continual noise pollution. In other words, it’s us—the community members—who will shoulder the harms of this data center expansion.

Case in point: Both the industrial footprint and technological infrastructure required to operate these facilities directly correlates with increasing utility bills. As a result, the cost of electricity is projected to escalate anywhere from 15%–40% by 2030.

One in six Americans are behind on their utility bills (in particular, marginalized folks who often spend 20% of their income on energy alone). Our nation is in the trenches of an affordability crisis, which data centers will only worsen. Here in Mesa, utility costs hover around $266.56 per month, on average—consider how NTT Mesa PH10 would exacerbate that figure even more. We never asked for this, nor must we accept it as a foregone conclusion.

As a unified collective, we can take action to hold Mesa City Council accountable for voting on a project that will cause environmental, physical, and financial harm. Check out the “NO to NTT Mesa PH10” campaign tab on the Mesa Valley Indivisible website for more details on how we can band together to halt construction on this data center monstrosity.  

And just one final word of caution…think twice before automatically reaching for AI tools like ChatGPT. They might be convenient and accessible, but they’re also responsible for data centers becoming so rampant (not to mention, largely unchecked).

Arizona’s Financial Complicity in Israel’s Blockade on Gaza: What to Know and How to Take Action

by Mary-Elizabeth Meagher, written exclusively for Mesa Valley Indivisible

maryelizabethmeagher.substack.com

On October 10, 2025, the United States announced a 20-point ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Within the nearly 10 months since that so-called ceasefire initially went into effect, Israel has violated the terms almost 4,380 times, Gaza’s Government Media Office reports. According to recent estimates, these violations killed more than 1,285 Palestinian civilians, while injuring over 4,255 others.

According to The Lancet Global Health Journal, the official death toll across the Gaza Strip since October 2023 exceeds 75,000. Elderly folks, women, and children account for 56% of those fatalities, the research continues. Meanwhile, the United Nations’ Office for Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) estimates that almost all of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents are currently living in displacement zones without reliable access to nutritious food, clean water, medical care, electricity, shelter, education, and income.

Children are especially vulnerable to this extreme, relentless chokehold. UNICEF data reveals that at least 64,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza, and another 56,000 have lost one or both of their parents. There is no scale on which to quantify the lasting impact of so much trauma. These innocents pose zero threat to Israeli security.

The situation on the ground is absolutely dire for Palestinians across this besieged enclave. In fact, the life expectancy for an average person in Gaza is 30 years lower than pre-genocide life expectancy rates. Let’s pause here briefly and talk about the term, “genocide.” Western media often treats this word as controversial, but the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry have both ruled that Israeli attacks in Gaza meet Article II of the Geneva Convention’s legal criteria for genocide.

So we refer to this human rights atrocity as a genocide because there is no other description for it. We won’t avoid using a word that makes certain mainstream outlets uncomfortable. We are committed to reporting the harsh truths about injustice, which includes uncovering our nation’s own complicity. Now here’s the part many Americans do not know: U.S. taxes finance Israel’s continual blockade of the entire Gaza Strip. Arizona is no exception.

Let’s use Mesa as an illustration. Those of us who call Mesa home are 7,460 miles from Gaza City, but our local government earmarks $38,581,317 of our tax dollars for weapons sent to the Israeli military. Below is a quick snapshot of how these funds can benefit our own communities if they were invested in local resources instead of being funnelled into Israel:

Source: NotMyTaxDollars.org

Allow those figures to sink in for a moment. Elected officials transfer our money overseas to a regime that kills civilians on a near daily basis—including at least five in airstrikes as recent as August 31, 2026. If lawmakers were to halt this precedent, the math speaks for itself: We as a community could have access to more affordable homes, education, groceries, healthcare, and utilities. As it currently stands, however, we fund the slaughter of thousands.

Consider that 10 out of Arizona’s 11 federal representatives in Congress take donations from AIPAC, the most influential pro-Israel lobby across the U.S. This means the vast majority of lawmakers we elected ran on campaigns financed by a political action committee (PAC) that serves Israel’s interests. Translation: AIPAC controls their Congressional votes. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D, AZ–07) is the only Arizona legislator who rejects all AIPAC donations. Here’s how much the other 10 have accepted from the Israel lobby during their careers:

1. Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R, AZ–06): $1,224,703

2. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D, AZ–03): $1,161,274

3. Sen. Mark Kelly (D): $554,054

4. Rep. Greg Stanton (D, AZ–04): $321,822

5. Rep. David Schweikert (R, AZ–01): $206,443

6. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D): $141,670

7. Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R, AZ–08): $53,638

8. Rep. Andy Biggs (R, AZ–05): $39,184

9. Rep. Paul Gosar (R, AZ–09): $18,250

10. Rep. Eli Crane (R, AZ–02): $500

It might surprise you to see the names of certain Democrats on this list. But the stark reality is that enabling Israel to murder with impunity has created a bipartisan human rights catastrophe over these last three years. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are smearing blood on our hands, but we’re under no obligation to surrender to this status quo.

As constituents, we are not powerless—we can take action to hold our government accountable for their role in Israel’s unconscionable genocide, which we never signed off on. Here are a few meaningful ways to seek justice in Gaza beyond the farce of a so-called ceasefire:

• Contact your representatives in Congress and implore them to vote, “YES,” on H.R. 3565, the Block the Bombs Act. You will be given an email script when you visit this link. (For senators, urge them to introduce a similar companion legislation in the Senate). Locate your Congressional members here.

• Contact both your senators and representatives in Congress and implore them to dismantle Section 224 of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which would integrate U.S. and Israeli weapons research, production, technology, and military operations. This merger will be a disaster if it passes, so ask them to vote, “NO” on it. You will be given an email script when you visit this link.

• Attend city council meetings, inquire if the local board of commissioners invests in Israeli-backed financial ventures, and urge them to divest from these enterprises. You can submit a public comment to the Mesa City Council here.

• Organize an event to bolster awareness and activism for Gaza. Whether you enlist some friends to write letters to elected officials, or you host a fundraiser to sustain humanitarian work across the Gaza Strip, no grassroots initiative is too small to help build momentum for Palestinian liberation.

• Donate to organizations on the frontlines who are advocating for a real, permanent ceasefire and working to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza. These are just a few organizations to consider: Standing Together, World Central Kitchen, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Mercy Corps, OxFam International, Water Is Life, and U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.