January 6th 2024.
The small town of Raymond, Mississippi, is home to a pauper’s cemetery where some 215 bodies have been found. These graves are marked with metal rods and numbers, and are intended for people who have no known family. Surprisingly, the families of the deceased were never contacted by officials.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is now representing the families of Marrio Moore, Dexter Wade, and Jonathan Hankins, all of whom were buried in the cemetery without the knowledge of their relatives. Gretchen Hankins, Jonathan's mother, said, "It's like they just threw him out like trash, just like they did with the others."
Activist Arthur Reed recently visited the site and reported that the deceased were placed in body bags and put into shallow graves. Describing the visit in an interview with Fox 26’s Isaiah Carey, Reed said, “The stench from the bodies are drawing buzzards…it’s so inhumane for anybody to do anyone like that, Isaiah it’s just horrible.”
The story of Dexter Wade is particularly heartbreaking. He had an identification, yet his family was not notified of his death. They had been searching for him until recently learning that he was buried in the pauper’s cemetery. Reverend Hosea Hines, the senior pastor of the Christ Tabernacle Church, empathized with the families during an interview with The Chicago Crusader. “It really saddens my heart to know that their relatives went that long, some over a year, not knowing if their loved ones were dead or alive and then coming to the realization that they had been buried in a pauper’s grave behind a jailhouse,” he said.
Fortunately, current Jackson police chief Joseph Wade has implemented a new death notification policy that will provide relatives with a notification and details about their loved-one’s deaths. Ben Crump and his co-counsel Dennis Sweet also expressed their commitment to getting justice for the deceased and their families. During a press conference, Crump said, “People all across America are scratching their heads in disbelief about what’s happening in Jackson, Mississippi, with this pauper’s graveyard.” He went on to ask, “What is going on in Jackson, Mississippi?”
The families of those buried in the pauper’s cemetery and the nation as a whole are hoping for some answers. It is clear that justice needs to be served for the deceased and their families, and for the entire town of Raymond, Mississippi.
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