SDS Condemns the Racist Lynching of Trey Reed, Calls for Investigation
On Sept. 15, Demartravion “Trey” Reed was found dead and hanging from a tree on the campus of Delta State University. This act occurred not three days after threats went out to Black students, students at Black-majority colleges, and even HBCU's directly, from white supremacists earlier this month. Trey Reed's family does not believe that this was a true suicide, and prominent Black Lives Matter icon, Colin Kaepernick, and his foundation are looking to fund an independent autopsy.
The Cleveland city police have already been caught lying by Trey Reed's family's lawyer, who states that the police first told his family that he was found dead in his dorm room. Now, without reviewing security footage or entertaining the idea that this was a hate crime, they are insisting that no foul play was involved. Lynchings of Black people and similar racist hate crimes are a part of the history of the state of Mississippi, and so is the police's role in covering these crimes up. For officials to ignore the possibility that this was a lynching is a failure and negligent at best, and an active act of protection of white supremacist killers at worst.
SDS condemns what we view as a racist killing - a lynching - of a young Black man and we condemn the racist police's role in protecting the white supremacist culprits instead. The fact that a university can let this happen on their campus, refuse to conduct any real investigation, and refuse to address the lies committed by police, even when caught, is disgusting and should not be tolerated.
We've already committed to protesting and speaking out against the formation of MAGA student groups, such as of TPUSA. We have spoken out against the white supremacist threats made to Black students across universities. Now we are speaking out against anyone who would condone or commit such a foul thing as a lynching. Just like our predecessors in the 1960s, we will fight to defend the democratic rights of Black youth to go to school and live in peace, and we will meet any acts like this with active resistance - whether it's from the Klan, from white supremacist youth, or from racist, killer cops themselves.