Investigation underway after Black man was found hanging in Georgia

Jon Powell
·2 min read
Police line tape on a street Description automatically generated
Police line tape on a street Description automatically generated

On Thursday (Feb. 22), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) announced that an investigation was underway after a Black man was found hanging from a tree near a popular trail in Towns County. Sautee Nacoochee resident Trevonte Jamal Shubert-Helton, 29, was discovered by a hiker just north of High Shoals Falls at the Swallow Creek Wildlife Management Area. "The preliminary investigation indicates this death is an isolated incident and Shubert-Helton was by himself at the WMA," a press release from GBI read. "Shubert-Helton will be taken to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office where an autopsy will be performed. This investigation is active and ongoing."

The tragic incident sparked plenty of responses on social media, with Twitter user scorpioniceyes writing, "Black people are still being lynched to this day and y'all want us to forget our history." C0SM0C0W tweeted, "This was absolutely a hate crime. North Georgia is incredibly racist, especially in the Sautee Nacoochee area."

Back in January, the Georgia city of Statesboro held a marker ceremony that memorialized nine men who were lynched in Bulloch County, which is a few hours south of Shubert-Helton's hometown. "We live in a world shaped by the violence and terror of the late 19th and early 20th century,” said Statesboro-Bulloch Remembrance Coalition Co-Chair Chris Caplinger, who is also a history professor at Georgia Southern University. “Memorializing the victims of racial violence is a first step toward building a more inclusive community.”

Coalition Co-Chair Adrianne McCollar added, “We are building coalition in our community around racial justice. I am proud of the steps that we have taken together to heal old wounds. This work is hard because it forces us to look back on some of the most tragic times in our shared history. But it is work worth doing. The installation of the marker with unanimous support from the City of Statesboro Council shows that we are moving our city forward together."

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