AOC, Ayanna Pressley spread hate hoax that black Americans are being lynched—they’re not

Across the country in 2026, there have been multiple black people who have been found dead hanging from trees in the last year, mostly from suicides. Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley posted about the "lynchings" and said that there needs to be a congressional investigation into the incidents, framing the deaths as racially motivated.

"Black folks are being found hanged in America. This is a national crisis and we CANNOT stand by while strange fruit hangs from trees across the country. We're demanding a federal investigation NOW so we can stop modern-day lynchings," Pressley said.

Ocasio-Cortez said in response, "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."

Here are several of the deaths that have been used by activists, media, and the Democrat lawmakers to push the false narrative that there has been a wave of modern-day, racially motivated lynching of black people in the US in 2026:

• Kyle Bassinga, 21, was found hanging dead in Cobb County, Georgia in March, where police determined that there was no foul play and that he was alone at the time of his death, according to CBS News.
• Juliana Umba Nzita, 16, was found dead hanging from a tree in May on the property of a church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Police ruled the death to be a suicide, according to WBTV.
• Justice Kai James, 29, was found dead hanging outside a cafeteria at the Turner Job Corps Center on June 21 in Albany, Georgia. Police have ruled out foul play in the death, according to WALB News.
• Jerard "Jay" Jackson, 28, was discovered to be deceased in a wooded area near the Hart Montague Trail in Rothbury, Michigan while he was attending a music festival. Police in Michigan found that there was no foul play and ruled it a suicide.
• Another death involved an unidentified black man, who was 32 at the time of his death, being found dead hanging from a tree in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. The identity of the man has been kept private, but Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce said that surveillance footage showed the man acting alone in the act of suicide.
• To’Nea Nicole Miller, 27, was found dead hanging from a tree on June 18 in Gwen Cherry Park in Miami. Police found that there was no foul play and that it was a suicide, according to NBC6.
• Tasia Fortune, 29, was found dead hanging from a tree in Jackson, Mississippi on August 3. Her death is the only one in the reports that is being investigated as homicide, but it is still pending the autopsy results. She was discovered behind a vacant home. The results from the medical examiner are still pending, per People. Additionally, a man who is reportedly a person of interest in the case has been identified as Jarques Ratliff, who is also black.