Belle Glade, Fla.
Florida prosecutors launched an inquest this week to determine whether a man found hanging from a tree in Belle Glade had been lynched. Police concluded that the man, Feraris “Ray” Golden, committed suicide. But rumors immediately circulated in the rural Palm Beach County community that Golden, 32, had been lynched, his hands tied behind his back. Friends said Golden, who was black, had been dating a white policeman’s daughter. Civil-rights activists demanded an inquest. “We’re not saying it’s homicide, we’re not saying it’s suicide,” said Linda Johnson of the local NAACP. “We just think there are some questions that need to be answered.” There has not been a documented case of death by lynching in the U.S. in two decades.
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