10/05/2026
The Maryland Lynching Memorial Project has issued a statement regarding the pattern of hangings in the United States:
The Maryland Lynching Memorial Project is deeply troubled by the clear rise in Black people found hanging from trees in communities across the United States. The frequency of these deaths and the similarities they share across jurisdictions reflect an extremely dangerous trend that evokes the trauma and terror of racial terror lynching committed against Black communities. Black residents of these communities are clearly communicating that these deaths create an atmosphere of fear, and that they warrant in-depth and meaningful investigations.
MLMP commends and supports the efforts of the Congressional Coalition led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley. We join them in naming the historical connections that these deaths have, the intergenerational trauma that they trigger, and in demanding a dedicated team staffed by the Department of Justice, the FBI, and other relevant bodies that would focus exclusively on identifying the manner of these deaths and any systemic factors that contributed to them.
Throughout the United States’ history, racial terror lynchings have been used as a tool of white supremacy to oppress and terrorize Black communities across the country. The Equal Justice Initiative has documented nearly 6,500 cases of racial terror lynching between 1865-1950. Thirty-eight of those murders occurred in Maryland. However, racial terror lynchings occured well after this time period, continuing into present day in cases like those of James Byrd, Jr. in 1998 and Freddie Gray in 2015. Between 2000 and 2025, 70 modern-day lynchings were recorded in seven states alone, with study authors citing distinct markers of racially-motivated violence and a lack of attention to the crimes.
To continue reading the statement, please visit our website: https://www.mdlynchingmemorial.org/
