The south has a very racially charged history, as many black people were lynched by hateful individuals. Many thought this behavior was a thing of the past, but a recent case has reopened wounds from slavery and the civil rights era.  Police asked Lacy to identify the body of her 17-year-old son, Lennon Lacy, who was placed in a body bag at the crime scene.

Police stated Lennon had hanged himself with a dog leash and belt. However, there were discrepancies in the case and it does not appear to some that Lennon committed suicide via hanging. His family believe Lennon was lynched, as there were unanswered questions at the coroner's office and his body had a bump on the head, cuts and scrapes. Lacy's white girlfriend stated she is of the belief he was murdered over their interracial relationship. The NAACP has taken up his cause. The case was sent to the FBI, who have opened an investigation into his suspicious death.

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Lennon Lacy Death Might Be A Lynching Not Suicide, FBI Says

Lennon Lacy, 17, was found hanged with a dog leash and a belt on a swing set in North Carolina in August. His death was initially ruled a suicide, but an FBI probe into the matter indicate Lacy’s death may have been a lynching and a hate crime. The FBI launched an investigation into the Lennon Lacy death due to “unanswered questions” by the coroner, and insistence by the North Carolina teenager’s family that the death was a “race-based” homicide. Lacy was found hanging from the swings in a “largely white” trailer park in Bladenboro – less than one mile from his home...

Lennon Lacy was reportedly in a romantic relationship with a “white woman” who lived across the road. The teenager’s mother added that multiple cuts, scrapes, and a large bump on his head could indicate that he was attacked or hit by someone. The NAACP is organizing a march in Bladenboro on Saturday to draw more attention to the case...

http://www.inquisitr.com

Was my 17-year-old son lynched, in the year 2014? The police still won't tell me

Friday 12 December 2014 10.41 EST - It’s hard to think such a thing could still happen in the United States. This is justice? Tell us what happened to Lennon. Tell me what happened to my son. The author, whose son was found hanging from a swing set in the middle of a white trailer park. Within hours, the police decided it was suicide.

The knock on the door came at about noon. I’d woken up feeling unwell that morning and had called the hospital where I work to say I wasn’t coming in. I was on the phone with my sister and just when the door knocked she was telling me that she’d heard a body had been found hanging in a local park. That was strange.

I opened the door and saw the police chief of our town, Bladenboro in North Carolina, standing there. “I need you to come with me to identify a body,” Chris Hunt said. That put me into a tail-spin. What was it he wanted? Who did I have to identify? I got into my car and followed him to a trailer park about a quarter of a mile from my house. It’s an exposed, lonely place, with a line of eight children’s swing sets in the center of several trailer homes that have mostly white occupants.

As we pulled up, I was directed to an ambulance parked on the grass. Just as I was coming up to it, I saw a police officer wrapping up the yellow crime-scene tape that had been put around one of the swing sets, as though as to say job done. That was really odd, I remember thinking at the time – I’ve seen lots of crime scenes over the years and they always leave the tape up, to preserve the integrity of the site, for days if not weeks.

I stepped up into the ambulance and stood over a black body bag. My 17-year-old son, Lennon, was inside. I unzipped the bag down to his waist. I was in shock, despair, but I wanted to see what had happened to him. I wanted to know why my son was here, in this desolate place, lying dead in a body bag. As I stepped back out of the vehicle, I spoke out loud and clear. “Whoever did this,” I said, “they took him down, because he didn’t do this to himself.”...

http://www.theguardian.com