You Are The Power, a non-profit organization, is offering a $50,000 reward for information that could help with investigations into the death of Rasheem Carter, a Black Mississippi man whose remains were discovered after he told his mother he was being pursued by White men.
According to NBC News, the mother of the murdered 25-year-old stated her son called the police for assistance and told her over the phone that he was being chased by White males in trucks. Carter’s family was unable to contact him soon after and reported him missing on October 2, last year.
According to ABC News, on April 29, Carter’s family and community members protested for transparency in the inquiry into his murder. The demonstration was also in response to the recent discovery of additional Carter remains.
“This has really been a struggle for our family, but we’re going to do the best we can to fight,” Carter’s mother, Tiffany Carter, said. “We’re going to do what we gotta do to get the justice that we deserve to have.”
Announcing the $50,000 reward in an Instagram post, You Are The Power also stated that when Carter “needed help, police refused.” “But we can help bring justice to Rasheem’s killer(s), and closure to his loved ones,” the organization added.
Carter, a welder, has been working in Taylorsville after receiving a temporary contract. However, according to his mother, he and at least one coworker had a misunderstanding in October, causing him to flee the work site because he feared he was in danger.
“He said, ‘I got these men trying to kill me,’” Tiffany Carter previously said. She explained that she then told her son to seek help from the nearest police station, and did not hear from him again.
After Carter’s body was discovered on November 2, the Smith County Sheriff’s Department initially stated on Facebook that there was no “reason to believe” the Black man’s death was the result of foul play. However, according to family attorney Ben Crump, the department later retracted those assertions.
During a news conference on March 13, Crump told reporters that he believed the 25-year-old’s body had been severed, adding that it was “not a natural death.” However, some relatives claim that authorities informed them that Carter’s body had been severed by wild animals.
Crump, however, also said Carter’s spinal cord was not attached to his head when the body was found, adding that it was located at a different place. “There is nothing natural about this. It screams out for justice,” he said. “What we have is a Mississippi lynching.”
The attorney and the deceased Black man’s family are calling on the Justice Department to take over the case and initiate a civil rights probe. “This was not a natural death,” said Crump. “This represents a young man who was killed.”