Earlier this month, on Oct. 17. Ferguson activist Melissa McKinnies found her 24-year-old son #DanyeJones dead, hanging from a tree. McKinnies, well known in her community, having participated in numerous protests in Ferguson since the Aug. 2014 death of Michael Brown, believes that her son was lynched. In a Facebook post that has since been deleted, McKinnies shared graphic images of her son under the caption, “They lynched my baby.”
Jones’ death has once again stirred conversation around various other activists in Ferguson who have died since 2014 under seemingly suspicious circumstances.
In 2014, Deandre Joshua, 20, was found shot once in the head, and then set on fire inside his car the same day a grand jury refused to indict Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Prominent Ferguson activist Darren Seals was also found dead inside of a burning car back in 2016. He had also been shot. And then there was the 2017 death of Edward Crawford, the activist captured in the iconic photo tossing a canister of tear gas away from those protesting Brown’s death. Police claimed that he died of a “self-inflicted” wound while in the back seat of his own car. More here.