Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown posted on X that she has joined Rep. Ayanna Pressley in demanding a federal investigation into possible lynchings, citing what she called an alarming increase in Black Americans found dead hanging from trees. Many users disputed the framing, saying most of the widely discussed cases had been ruled suicides by local authorities and that one homicide investigation involves a Black person of interest.
The clip shows Brown speaking to the camera from an indoor setting as she ties recent hanging deaths to the history of lynching. “We know what it has meant throughout the course of American history when a Black person was found hanging from a tree,” she says, adding that “for generations, trees were used as instruments of terror against Black Americans.”
She later says, “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.”
Brown cites figures that are not independently confirmed in the video itself, saying there were “2.8 reported hangings per year” from 2000 to 2025, but “this year alone there has already been 10.” Holding up both hands, she adds, “That increase is staggering. Something isn’t right. You know it. I know it.”
She says she joined Pressley and other Democrats in “calling on the DOJ to investigate what’s happening,” citing her vote for the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which she said, “made lynching a federal hate crime and gave the FBI and the DOJ the authority to investigate possible lynchings.” The video does not review individual case findings or show investigators discussing the deaths.
News reports on the broader letter Brown referenced have said most of the widely cited recent hanging cases were ruled suicides by local authorities. In contrast, one case, involving Tasia Fortune in Mississippi, has been treated as a homicide investigation. Brown’s clip does not lay out those case outcomes.
Responses to the Video of Brown’s Lynching Probe Call
Many commenters disputed the lynching framing and pointed to official rulings. “All but one were ruled suicides. One is being investigated as a homicide and the person of interest is black,” one widely shared quote post said.
Another user wrote, “All but one were suicides; a black man was charged in the lone homicide.” A third said, “You lie, and you know it. Shame on you.”
Others described the post as misleading. Actor Dean Cain called it “Inventing racism. Purposely misleading and pernicious.”
One commenter wrote that Brown “is trying to blame black suicides and homicides on white people now.”
A sarcastic reply about the Fortune case said, “They made an arrest in the Tasia Fortune case – obviously a MAGA white supremacist.”
The demand for a federal inquiry is now part of a broader fight over how those hanging deaths should be described, and Brown’s post makes clear that the lawmakers behind the letter intend to keep pressing the Justice Department for answers.
