Danye Jones Was Lynched in 2018: We Should Be Talking About This More
By: Omar Cook
Every parent’s worst fear is to find out that their child has died, but to find out that your son was lynched is a nightmare no parent should have to endure. On October 17, Melissa McKinnies found her 24 year old son, Danye Jones, hanging from a tree in their own backyard outside of St. Louis County, Missouri. The fact that this happened in 2018, just lets us know that we aren’t as progressive of a society as we think we are.
McKinnies found her son dangling from a bed sheet that did not belong to them and insists that her son was murdered even though the situation is being investigated as a suicide. McKinnies posted a picture of Danye’s lynching in a facebook post that has been deleted saying “This is what I woke up to. They lynched my baby,” she wrote. “I’m sick and losing my mind but I had to let the world see what they did to my baby.”
Melissa McKinnies was a prominent activist and protester in the city and helped setup protests during the Ferguson uprisings in 2014. “She said he was targeted and murdered in retaliation for her activism,” according to the Post-Dispatch. “They watched my house and when my husband and my son would approach the car, they would drive off,” McKinnies told KMOV-TV. This is the third death involving Ferguson activists as DeAndre Joshua, was murdered in 2014, and Darren Seals in 2016. Both of these men were found inside of vehicles that had been torched.
This world is already against us so why help them accomplish they goal💯 Rise up
Posted by Danye Jones on Thursday, May 31, 2018
“Three untimely deaths in St. Louis County over the past four years have inspired speculation that Ferguson protesters are being systematically murdered,” The Washington Post reports, “although so far there is no evidence to suggest that the parallels are anything more than coincidental.” It’s unfortunate that black people can’t protest in this country without receiving threats or being ridiculed for speaking out on issues. NFL players kneel for situations like this, but there are people who choose to ignore that racism is still a major problem in this country, and will try to sweep the issues under the rug to fit their agenda.
McKinnies may have to face the harsh reality that this case may not get the justice it deserves. These are the types of stories that mainstream media needs to be covering but instead it’s up to black sources to cover our own stories. As a black parent, you almost have to be cautious every time your child steps foot outside of the house. It’s sad that there are people that are filled with so much hate that they have to murder someone because they have opposing beliefs. This is the America that we still live in. Racism is very much alive and black men are still dying as a result of it.
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