‘Black Lives Are Being Undervalued’: NAACP Legal Defense Fund Calls for Federal, U.N. Investigations Into Suspicious Deaths of Black People

Nolan Wells, Daniel Erving, To’nea Miller, Demartravion “Trey” Reed, Tasia Fortune, Tyler Smith, Demetrius Fleming, Juliana Umba Nzita, Rasheem Carter, Torrance “Tory” Medley, Dennoriss Richardson—these are only some of the names of Black men and women who have either disappeared or been found dead under mysterious circumstances across the United States in recent years. And as more and more news reports of these types of deaths surface, calls for justice have amplified from social media users, community leaders, and organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF).

{snip}

And to do so, the Legal Defense Fund has called on Congress and the United Nations to conduct these investigations. This week, the LDF submitted letters to both entities urging officials to take immediate action in examining the growing number of suspicious deaths of Black people across the United States.

{snip}

The letters call on Congress to create a congressional commission and ask the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism and Independent Expert Mechanism to advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement to conduct thorough and unbiased investigations into the series of suspicious deaths of Black individuals across the country. Despite the existence of studies like JULIAN’s “Crimson Record,” which found 70 modern-day lynching cases in the South and the growing number of cases of Black people being found hanging from trees and dying suspiciously, no federal actions or investigations have been made into what has become a disturbing pattern. Through Congress and the UN’s investigations, the LDF hopes these unbiased probes will produce data that prove the influence of racial bias in these cases.

{snip}

In the letter addressed to Congress, LDF president Janai Nelson urged that the findings of the Congressional commission be made public. Making a similar request to the UN, the organization also asked that “the U.N. Independent Expert Mechanism to advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement to evaluate whether American law enforcement is failing to investigate these deaths due to racial bias, and if so, recommend remedies.”

{snip}

Though the letter references the ongoing investigations into the deaths of individuals like Wells, Erving, and more, Gordon explains that the LDF’s request does not hinder nor create any preliminary conclusions in these cases, but rather amplifies the nuances of these cases.

{snip}

While the LDF is still awaiting a response from Congress, the organization is encouraging communities, regardless of whether or not a suspicious death has taken place in their state, to contact their elected officials, encouraging them to support the commission. However, on the national front, Gordon tells theGrio that the organization has received a response from a party within the United Nations and is working to set up a meeting to discuss it.

{snip}