The Lynching of Javion Magee

You have to give the mainstream media credit they tried hard not to make the jump to racism and lynching for about 24 hours, but here were are.

A week ago in Henderson, North Carolina about 200 miles northeast of Charlotte, just a little past Raleigh on I-85 a young black man was found dead. But Javion Magee wasn't just ordinary dead he was by some accounts lynching dead.

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breese

Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees 

Pastoral scene of the gallant 

South The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth 

Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh 

Then the sudden smell of burnin' flesh 

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck 

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck 

For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop 

Here is a strange and bitter crop  

This famous anti-lynching poem was written by Abel Meeropol, a teacher, songwriter, and member of the American Communist Party. 

His inspiration for the poem was this photo of the hanging bodies of J. Thomas Shipp and Abraham S. Smith.

Smith age 19 and Shipp age 18 were young African-American men who were murdered in a spectacle lynching by a group of thousands on August 7, 1930, in Marion, Indiana. 

They were taken from jail cells, beaten, and hanged from a tree in the county courthouse square. They had been arrested that night as suspects in a robbery, murder and rape case. A third African-American suspect, 16-year-old James Cameron, had also been arrested and narrowly escaped being killed by the mob; an unknown woman and a local sports hero intervened, and he was returned to jail. Cameron later stated that Shipp and Smith had committed the murder..

The poem was published in a union publication in 1937 and then set it to music. It was most famously performed by Billy Holiday, who first sang “Strange Fruit” in 1939. 

But even in 1939 twisting the facts to suit your agenda was not new. Meeropol saw the photo but changed the venue 500 miles south to fit the narrative and the Jim Crow era.

Afterall Poplar and Magnolia trees don't grow in Indiana but even in 1939 the facts didn't matter.

JAVION MAGEE

Now 94 years after the hanging of Smith and Shipp a black man found by a tree is automatically a lynching.

The Vance County North Carolina Sheriff’s Office released their findings shortly after meeting with Javion Magee’s family members and their attorneys on Wednesday, around the same time the family attended a press conference.

The below timeline and investigative findings show the journey of Magee, a 21-year-old truck driver, who left Pennsylvania for a delivery to North Carolina before being found dead the next morning in Vance County.

INVESTIGATIVE FINDINGS

Pathologists with the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner’s Office have conducted an autopsy. Preliminary findings from that autopsy show Magee “did not have any defensive wounds and there were no signs of physical or sexual assault.” Further findings of the autopsy are pending a toxicology report.

Investigators found that the rope was “wrapped around his neck a total of 11 times and the other end of the rope was wrapped around a tree branch. The rope was tight.”

Further, a cardboard wrapper for the blue rope was found lying next to Magee with the “Ozark Trail” brand on it, which is sold at Walmart.

To get a more complete picture of what happened before his death, investigators said they are now submitting search warrants to access Magee’s phone.

TIMELINE

The following timeline was compiled using 911 calls, witness statements and the GPS on Magee’s commercial vehicle he was operating for his job as a truck driver.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

~1 a.m. — Javion Magee leaves Hazelton, Pennsylvania after picking up a load of goods to deliver to the Walmart Distribution Center in Henderson, N.C.

6:50 a.m. — Truck makes a stop at a truck stop on Highway 207, 12 miles North of Ashland, VA for approximately one hour.

7:50 a.m. — Truck leaves the truck stop and travels on Highway 1 South, making its way toward N.C.

8:50 a.m. — Truck continues onto I-85 South in Petersburg, Virginia, traveling south into North Carolina.

10:04 a.m. — Truck enters Vance County and travels to Chex Truck Stop in Middleburg. Surveillance video shows Magee walking into the truck stop alone, using the restroom and getting food. Magee is seen walking back to his truck and getting in his truck alone.

12:21 p.m. — Truck leaves Chex Truck Stop traveling south on I-85 into Henderson.

12:37 p.m. — Truck arrives at the Walmart Distribution Center in Henderson and the contents are unloaded.

4:53 p.m. — Truck leaves the Walmart Distribution Center. Within five minutes, GPS shows the truck is idling in a dirt parking area in front of 285 Vanco Mill Road in Henderson. This is approximately ½ mile from the Walmart Distribution Center.

5:44 p.m. — Truck travels northwest on West Andrews Avenue.

5:49 p.m. — Truck pulls onto Young Street and is idling.

5:53 p.m. — Truck goes to a parking lot at the corner of West Andrews Ave. and Vance Street.

At this time, the sheriff’s office said Magee exited the truck and walked to a local smoke shop at 422 East Andrews Avenue to purchase tobacco products. Surveillance footage shows Magee is alone while purchasing something at the store.

~6:01 p.m. — Truck leaves the area, traveling west on Andrews Ave. to the intersection of I-85 and merges onto I-85 south.

6:11 p.m. — Truck travels to the Walmart Supercenter located on N. Cooper Drive in Henderson.

At this time, the sheriff’s office said Magee is seen on surveillance footage from at least five cameras walking into the store, purchasing a blue in color Ozark Trail rope, and exiting the store— again, while alone.

Magee was wearing a white t-shirt, black shorts, white socks, and dark-colored crocs. While exiting the Walmart, he is seen leaving the store with the blue rope in his hand.

6:22 p.m. — Magee returns to his truck to leave the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter.

While leaving, the sheriff’s office said Magee was seen stopping and exiting his truck. He gave $228 in cash to a homeless person sitting at the entrance. Investigators found and interviewed this person. He allegedly told this person, “I don’t know how much it is, but if I had more I would give it to you.”

6:28 p.m. — Magee pulls into the Hampton Inn Hotel located on Ruin Creek Road and parks around the back of the building. Surveillance footage from the hotel shows Magee walking from the back of the hotel to the front wearing the same clothing and carrying a black backpack.

6:32 p.m. — Magee speaks to the hotel clerk and exits the hotel at 6:34 p.m., walking towards the back of the hotel.

6:35 p.m. — Truck is turned on and is seen on video surveillance leaving the hotel parking lot and making a right turn onto Ruin Creek Road.

6:45 p.m. — Truck approaches the intersection of Andrews Ave and US-1 Highway.

6:50 p.m. — Truck exits US-1 Highway onto Vanco Mill Road.

6:52 p.m. — Truck pulls back onto the dirt lot at 285 Vanco Mill Road and the ignition is turned off.

The sheriff’s office said surveillance footage from the area shows Magee exiting the driver’s side of the truck and walks “alone towards the wood line on the eastern side of the dirt lot” with an object in his hand.

Magee walks around a trailer and to the front gate of a tractor and truck repair shop before walking back to the wood line of the lot, investigators said.

7 p.m. — Surveillance video shows Magee re-enter the truck and the GPS shows the truck ignition is turned on. From the video, it does not appear Mr. Magee has anything in his hand at the time he re-enters the truck.

7:28 p.m. — Truck is still in an idling state.

7:30 p.m. — Ignition is turned off for a final time.

Investigators said Magee is seen on video walking away from the truck towards the trees, alone, and he does not return.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

10:08 A.M. — Vance County 911 received a call from the owner of the repair shop, reporting a man with a rope around his neck on the outside of the fence at 285 Vanco Mill Road.

The 911 caller stated that the male was not breathing and appeared to have died by suicide.

The investigation began shortly after Vance County EMS, Bearpond Fire Department and Vance County Sheriff’s Office officials responded to the scene.

CEDAR'S TAKE

The unfortunate death of Javion Magee has been turned into a national spectacle of embarrassing proportions. The family has undoubtedly been contacted by race baiters Benjamin Crump and Al Sharpton already.

. 

It is only a matter of time before Donald Trump and Maga "extremists" are blamed for his lynching.

The common leap to the conclusion of something sinister is so automatic that a rope and tree is always the KKK, the White Supremacists, and Lynching. Even more so if that rope and tree are in the south.

Never mind that being on the road is lonely, isolating and unfriendly life. That four years into the Harris/Biden administration we are all struggling financially.  Never mind that Bidenomics is not working and than even a young man with a CDL,18 wheels and 500 horsepower can inexplicitly feel that life sucks and that there is only one alternative. 

And yet rather than working to avoid sure tragic outcomes, the media and race baiters persist.

Don't be like Sharpton, Crump and Kamala Harris check on your family and friends,even coworkers today.

Peace y'all CP