Police in Albany, New York — the state capital — were called on the morning of Wednesday, June 11, to a downtown intersection to find a Black man hanging from a tree. Residents on social media shared video and photos of the scene and the man, who they identified as 58-year-old Earl D. Smith. As early as the same day, the Albany Police Department said in a statement: “Based upon preliminary investigation, the circumstances appear to be consistent with suicide and no evidence to suggest that the incident is criminal in nature [sic].”
But people who live in Albany and others around the country who have learned of the incident via the Internet are saying it has disturbing similarities to lynching.
Albany, a city of a little more than 101,000 that is 150 miles north of New York City, is about half white, a quarter Black, and 8% Asian, with smaller representations of other groups making up the remaining 17%. It is perhaps most known in recent years as the city where former Gov. Andrew Cuomo broadcast many of his daily pandemic reports seen nationwide. But local residents are bringing up a darker side of the city, saying racism exists in Albany too.
“He needs justice,” a young woman identifying herself as Smith’s cousin posted to the social media site TikTok. “This is upstate New York, where they pretend that racism doesn’t exist and put a black mask over it,” she said.
Another social media user who said she lives near Albany said it seems clear to her that there was foul play involved in Smith’s death, and authorities don’t seem to be doing anything about it.
“It just breaks my heart,” the woman posted. “Is anybody even talking about it?”
In his obituary, Smith is described as a jovial prankster, a cheating card player, a hard worker, and a man whose mouth knew no filter. He leaves behind a wife, Theresa Smith, four children, and 13 grandchildren. By all accounts, Smith appeared to be a man with plenty to live for.
Smith’s funeral took place on June 19 at New Comer Funeral Home in the Albany suburb of Colonie. A GoFundMe campaign launched by Malasia Saunders, who identifies herself as Smith’s niece, has raised more than $20,000 to cover the expenses.
Despite the public support, questions remain and police and Smith’s supporters do not agree on what happened to him. On June 23, Albany police doubled down on their statement that foul play did not play a role.
“Following a thorough investigation, and based on the findings from the Medical Examiner’s Office, the death has been ruled a suicide. There is no evidence to indicate that any criminal activity was involved,” the statement read. “The Albany Police Department is aware of concerns posted on social media suggesting that criminal activity was involved with this incident, which has understandably caused public concern. We have thoroughly investigated this incident and can confirm that the theories circulating online are not accurate.”
Lynching raises deep emotions. The NAACP describes the act as a public killing of an individual who has not received due process. The act was intended to terrorize the Black community, particularly in the South, during the 19th and 20th centuries, according to the civil rights organization.
House lights blackened, eyes closed as if completely engrossed in prayer, legendary late blues singer Billie Holliday sang her 1939 hit “Strange Fruit” as a strident protest against lynchings across the South using the metaphor of Black bodies as fruit. White people used violence extra judiciously as a way to enforce Jim Crow laws and customs while law enforcement officers looked the other way. The National Memorial for Peace And Justice, established in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2018, is a testament to nearly 4400 verified lynchings between the years 1877 and 1950 alone. The organization, part of the Equal Justice Initiative headed by Bryan Stevenson, describes lynching as a form of racial terror.
Serena Joyce White-Lake, a Black attorney and adjunct professor at Albany Law School, echoes the sentiment of many people in the Albany metropolitan area about Smith’s death.
“The police say their investigation is complete, I think the public deserves to know just what steps were taken in their investigation. And there needs to be a press conference. You can’t ignore that these are special circumstances,” she said.
White-Lake also made reference to the current political climate of divisiveness, given President Trump’s orders to scrub all references to diversity from education and federal websites. And she said racial terror has a connection to Albany’s history, bringing up an historically Black neighborhood of the Albany area known as Rapp Road. The neighborhood is populated by descendants of Black people who fled Shubuta, Mississippi, after four Black people — two brothers and two sisters — were found hung from a bridge on the outskirts of town in 1918.
