Dem Lawmakers Demand Federal Probe Into ‘Modern-Day Lynchings’ That Are Anything But

By Rebeka Zeljko

Progressives powered by social justice organizations are fanning the flames of racial division, and the media is in on it.

Democratic lawmakers, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, penned a letter to federal authorities demanding an investigation into “modern-day lynchings.” The letter cites reports and findings from several social justice organizations that disingenuously misrepresent tragedies as racially motivated crimes. (RELATED: Ben Crump, MSNBC Contributor Suggests Re-Defining Crime To Accommodate ‘Black Culture’)

One organization known as JULIAN put out a report claiming there had been over 70 “recent lynchings” in the South. JULIAN is a social justice and legal advocacy nonprofit founded in 2020 by civil rights attorney Jill Collen Jefferson, who has spent her career representing alleged victims of police brutality and racial discrimination.

Notably, Jefferson was arrested in 2023 while filming police officers for failure to comply with law enforcement. She was initially charged with failure to comply, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest before additionally being charged with driving while using a cellphone and blocking a public roadway while filming a traffic stop.

Jefferson’s organization went on to release the infamous report, which also accused law enforcement of intentionally mismanaging cases to cover up the real number of hate crimes or “modern-day lynchings.”

This year, there have already been 10 reported hangings of Black people in the U.S.

I’m proud to have signed onto @RepPressley ‘s letter to address these widespread modern-day lynchings and put a stop to this racial terror. https://t.co/ISo20mbLyg

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) September 10, 2026

But rather than citing an actual example of a present-day lynching, JULIAN’s report moves the goalposts to include cases determined by medical and law enforcement officials to be suicides. Ocasio-Cortez similarly stated in a post on X that there have been “10 reported hangings of Black people,” urging people to “put a stop to this racial terror.”

As pointed out by the community notes on the posts, the majority of the cited cases have been ruled suicides by local police and medical examiners.

Ironically, one of the only cases that is actually being investigated as a homicide doesn’t fit the racial narrative being peddled by progressives and social justice organizations.

Tasia Fortune was a 29-year-old black woman who was found hanging from a tree outside an abandoned house in Jackson, Mississippi, according to a report from CNN. Fortune’s death is currently being investigated as a homicide.

While CNN’s reporting emphasizes Fortune’s race, it conveniently omits the race of the man charged in connection with her death, likely because 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff is also black.

PBS’s coverage did mention that both Fortune and Ratliff were, but immediately insinuated race played a role “because the manner of Fortune’s death recalled lynchings in the Southern state, which has a tumultuous civil rights history stained by episodes of racial violence.”

This editorial choice was consistent throughout the legacy media’s coverage of Fortune’s death. NBC News specified her race in the first paragraph and even mentioned Democrats’ letter calling for an investigation into “modern-day lynchings,” implying her murder could have been racially motivated. (RELATED: ‘Woke 1 Was Crazy’ AOC Declares, Memory-Holing Her Own Role In The Madness)

Like CNN, NBC News omitted the race of the man arrested and charged with her murder.

Other cases touted as lynchings by activists don’t hold water the way professional race baiters might have hoped.

Trey Reed was named by JULIAN as a potential victim of lynching after he was found dead hanging from a tree on the University of Mississippi campus. The official police investigation determined his death was a suicide, but Reed’s family was dissatisfied.

As a result, Reed’s family hired an infamous civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, to privately investigate his death.

Crump’s legal team represented a number of high-profile cases, including Karmelo Anthony’s appeal. Anthony is a 17-year-old black man who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for senselessly stabbing Austin Metcalf, a white student, to death at a track meet in 2024. Crump has also represented Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.

Despite Crump’s long history of race hustling, even he failed to reach the conclusion Reed’s family was looking for.

A recent report by the Clarion Ledger noted “Crump and his team went silent on Reed’s family,” with Reed’s relatives claiming “they do not have the final independent autopsy report.” The article also revealed the family had “struggled for months to get updates from those handling the private investigation.

The Daily Caller reached out to Crump’s firm for comment.

Another case commonly touted by activists as a lynching was Willie Andrew Jones Jr., a 21-year-old black man who was found hanging in front of his white girlfriend’s house after they had reportedly gotten into an argument.

Several media reports were intentionally vague in their coverage of Jones’ death, but law enforcement ruled the case a suicide. Notably, the girlfriend’s stepfather was the one to find Jones and call emergency responders.

Jones’ family refused to accept the ruling and instead believed he had been lynched. The family eventually filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the stepfather, Harold O’Bryant Jr., alleging he either killed or failed to prevent Jones from killing himself.

O’Bryant never responded to the lawsuit, and a judge later awarded relatives over $11 million. Importantly, a wrongful death lawsuit is a civil charge which carries a much lower evidentiary bar than criminal prosecutions, which require evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

“If they had seen anything even a little wrong, I’d have been thrown in jail,” O’Bryant told the Associated Press. “They’re trying to make it seem like I’m some big head white supremacist or something. I didn’t touch him.”

While JULIAN and its allies peddle racially divisive and often inaccurate narratives, it’s worth examining their donors who have ties to Jeffrey Epstein’s associates, George Soros, and the Gates family.

JULIAN’s latest filing for the fiscal year ending in 2024 shows the nonprofit’s expansive network of donors. Their biggest funder was Moore Impact Inc., a philanthropic organization dedicated to “funding leaders of color.” Moore Impact Inc. contributed $300,000 to JULIAN in 2024, according to filings reviewed by the Daily Caller.

Moore Impact Inc. has had a bevy of noteworthy funders including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided $1.4 million, as well as the Blavatnik Family Foundation, which provided nearly $12 million. They also received $15,000 from the Tides Foundation, an organization that deploys “social justice-focused tools” to “shift resources to communities historically denied power.”

The Blavatnik Family Foundation was established by a businessman named Sir Leonard Blavatnik. Blavatnik’s name appeared multiple names in the Epstein files; the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein invited Blavatnik to social gatherings and Epstein’s assistant reached out to Blavatnik multiple times to request favors.

There is no evidence Blavatnik ever communicated with Epstein directly or attended any of the gatherings

Blavatnik did not directly fund JULIAN, but rather was the largest donor to Moore Impact Inc., which in turn was JULIAN’s biggest donor.

Borealis Philanthropy was also one of JULIAN’s funders, donating $45,000 in fiscal year 2024. Borealis has received hundreds of millions of dollars from backers in recent years with the expressed purpose of building a “truly inclusive, multiracial democracy.”

One of Borealis’ biggest donors in fiscal year 2024 was the Foundation to Promote Open Society, which donated $21.5 million. The Foundation to Promote Open Society was established by George Soros, who has backed a number of social justice organizations and leftist officials.