To the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States Department of Justice, United States Congress, and appropriate federal,  civil rights authorities...

We, the citizens and civilians , community leaders, advocates, activists, and concerned Americans, are demanding a thorough, independent, transparent, and effective federal review and investigation into the death of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune of Jackson, Mississippi.

On August 3, 2026, Tasia Fortune was found deceased, hanging from a tree behind a vacant home in Jackson, Mississippi. Authorities reported that her body may have been there for approximately three to four days before she was discovered. Her identity was subsequently confirmed by the Hinds County Coroner's Office, and her remains were sent for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of her death. Authorities have stated that the investigation remains active.

At this time, authorities have not publicly determined that Tasia Fortune was murdered, lynched, or the victim of foul play. That uncertainty is precisely why we are demanding that every reasonable possibility be investigated fully and independently.

A Black woman being found hanging from a tree in Mississippi cannot be treated as an ordinary death without an exhaustive examination of the circumstances surrounding it.

WE ARE NOT ASKING THE FBI TO PREJUDGE THE CASE.
We are asking the FBI to INVESTIGATE THE CASE.

We demand that federal investigators examine whether

1. Tasia Fortune's death was homicide, suicide, or another manner of death.
2. The scene was altered, staged, or manipulated.
3. There is evidence of restraint, assault, struggle, trauma, or defensive injuries.
4. DNA, fingerprints, digital evidence, surveillance footage, phone records, vehicle information, or other forensic evidence connects another person to the scene.
5. The location where her body was discovered was selected intentionally.
6. There were witnesses or individuals who had contact with Tasia before her death.
7. Her disappearance or whereabouts during the days before her body was discovered can be independently reconstructed.
8. Any evidence was overlooked, mishandled, destroyed, or improperly preserved.
9. Racial bias, intimidation, discrimination, or other civil-rights violations played any role.
10. Any federal civil-rights or hate-crime statutes may apply.
11. The circumstances surrounding her death are consistent with other suspicious deaths that may warrant comparison.

THIS IS ABOUT MORE THAN ONE WOMAN...... 

America has a documented history of racial terror against Black Americans.

The Equal Justice Initiative has documented nearly 6,500 racial-terror lynchings of Black people between 1865 and 1950, including more than 4,400 documented lynchings between 1877 and 1950. EJI also notes that thousands more victims were likely never documented.

Lynching was not merely murder. It was a mechanism of racial terror, intimidation, and social control.

And Mississippi carries a particularly painful history of racial violence.

The FBI itself has investigated previous deaths of Black Americans found hanging from trees in Mississippi. In 2015, federal authorities investigated the death of Otis James Byrd, a 54-year-old Black man who was found hanging from a tree in Port Gibson, Mississippi. Federal investigators ultimately concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish homicide and closed the federal investigation.

That history makes it reasonable for the public to demand an investigation that leaves no stone unturned.

BLACK PEOPLE ARE ALSO DISPROPORTIONATELY REPRESENTED IN MISSING-PERSON RECORDS.
According to the FBI's 2025 National Crime Information Center statistics, 498,038 missing-person records were entered into NCIC during 2025.

Among those entries:

95,682 were Black females.
91,553 were Black males.
At the end of 2025, 12,268 active missing-person records involved Black females.
13,939 active missing-person records involved Black males.
These numbers do not prove that all of these disappearances involved criminal activity, homicide, or racial violence. They do, however, demonstrate the enormous number of missing-person cases that exist within the United States and the importance of accurate reporting, investigation, identification, and accountability.

We refuse to allow missing people to become forgotten people.

We refuse to allow suspicious deaths to become unanswered questions.

And we refuse to allow the circumstances surrounding the death of a Black woman to be dismissed without a complete examination of the evidence.

OUR DEMANDS
1. A FEDERAL REVIEW OF TASIA FORTUNE'S DEATH
We demand that the FBI and appropriate federal authorities conduct an independent review of the circumstances surrounding Tasia Fortune's death and determine whether a federal investigation is warranted.

2. A COMPLETE FORENSIC INVESTIGATION
We demand preservation and examination of all available physical, forensic, digital, surveillance, telecommunications, medical, toxicological, and other evidence relevant to the case.

3. INDEPENDENT AUTOPSY REVIEW
We demand that the findings of the official autopsy be subject to appropriate independent forensic scrutiny and that Tasia Fortune's family receive meaningful access to information concerning the cause and manner of death, consistent with applicable law.

4. FULL TRANSPARENCY FOR THE FAMILY
Tasia Fortune's family deserves timely answers regarding what happened to their loved one.

We demand meaningful communication between investigators and the family throughout the investigation.

5. CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
We call upon the United States Congress to establish a national investigative framework for suspicious deaths involving Black Americans where circumstances reasonably raise concerns of racial violence, potential lynching, staged suicide, or other civil-rights violations.

6. A NATIONAL ANTI-LYNCHING INVESTIGATIVE PROTOCOL
We call for legislation requiring law-enforcement agencies in all 50 states to immediately preserve evidence and notify appropriate federal authorities when a death presents objective indicators of possible lynching, racial violence, staged hanging, or other circumstances suggesting a federal civil-rights violation.

We specifically call for consideration of a federal protocol requiring automatic federal notification and review—not an automatic presumption of murder—when a Black person is found hanging from a tree under suspicious or unexplained circumstances.

The purpose is not to predetermine guilt.

The purpose is to ensure that no potential crime is prematurely dismissed.

7. A NATIONAL DATABASE FOR SUSPICIOUS RACIAL DEATHS
We call for the creation of a national database tracking suspicious deaths involving potential racial violence, including cases initially classified as suicide, accident, or undetermined when credible evidence later raises questions about that classification.

8. ACCOUNTABILITY AND INDEPENDENT OVERSIGHT
If evidence demonstrates that investigators failed to properly preserve evidence, investigate credible leads, protect civil rights, or follow required investigative procedures, there must be mechanisms for independent review and accountability.

WE ARE ASKING FOR JUSTICE—NOT A PREDETERMINED CONCLUSION.
Signing this petition does not mean declaring Tasia Fortune's cause of death before the evidence is complete.

It means demanding that the evidence be found, preserved, examined, and taken seriously.

It means demanding that her death receive the same urgency, professionalism, dignity, and investigative resources that would be expected for anyone else.

It means saying that a Black woman's life matters.

It means saying that her family deserves answers.

It means saying that suspicious circumstances deserve investigation.

And it means saying that America must never return to a time when racial violence could be hidden, ignored, or explained away without accountability.

TASIA FORTUNE DESERVES THE TRUTH.
We call upon the FBI, the Department of Justice, Congress, Mississippi officials, and law-enforcement agencies nationwide to hear the voices of the people signing this petition.

Investigate thoroughly.

Preserve the evidence.

Follow every lead.

Protect the integrity of the investigation.

Give the family answers.

And if a crime was committed, hold whoever is responsible accountable.

JUSTICE FOR TASIA FORTUNE.
JUSTICE FOR EVERY MISSING BLACK WOMAN AND MAN.
JUSTICE FOR EVERY VICTIM OF RACIAL VIOLENCE.
NEVER AGAIN SHOULD A FAMILY HAVE TO BEG FOR ANSWERS.
We demand justice.
We demand transparency.
We demand accountability.
We demand the truth.