At this point, it’s difficult not to get upset or suspicious each time a Black man is found hanged and his death is swiftly ruled a suicide.
On Sept. 17, 2024, the body of 29-year-old Jayvon Givan was found hanging from a metal chain from a commercial building in Corrales, New Mexico, according to The Kansas City Defender. The Albuquerque Police Department ruled his death a suicide, as did an investigator with the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI), who reportedly examined Givan’s body at the scene and determined there were no signs of foul play. Already, this story is sounding eerily similar to that of several recent cases of Black people found hanging, only for it to be ruled, seemingly immediately, that they took their own lives. The only real difference this time is that Givan was found hanging from a chain and pillar rather than a tree.
“They did find the man, hanging by a chain, basically a pillar of a wall that was outside of a business that was closed for renovations,” APD’s Director of Communications Gilbert Gallegos told KOAT 7. “There was a bolt or something at the top of the wall. Not very high, maybe seven feet or so. The chain kind of wrapped around it. So, he was just a couple feet up from the ground. It wasn’t a tree. There wasn’t a forest or anything like that.”…