Calm before the storm? (not about Hurricane Ivan)

Last week, I heard about this. Winston Deroyal Carter was found dead near Tuskegee, AL; on August 19, this article ran in the local paper. Since then, not one peep.

A 29 year old African American man found hanged from a tree in small town Alabama will always raise questions, and rightfully so, given the state's long dark history of racial violence. Remember, in the South the past isn't dead -- it isn't even past (Faulkner).

The lynching/Tuskegee part caught my eye first. Then the full name clicked. I've asked around, and there are people who know the name. People ask if it's the same guy; the age is about right, we agree...

In Tallassee, AL, not very far away at all, football is a religion in the truest Alabama sense of the word. Deroyal Carter was a player in Pee Jinks (little league) who starred in fall 1986. I did P.A. announcing for the games.

Fall of 1991, I worked the ticket gate. Our neighbor coached the junior varsity. They dominated all their competition. Among the standouts on that tearm was a tailback and kick returner named Deroyal Carter.

The Wall Street church where the funeral was held is just down the road from where my dad grew up, maybe 2 miles. It's a very small world, indeed.

Is there an ongoing investigation? Possibly. Any outrage? outcry? The word from the Southern Poverty Law Center is basically wait and see, don't over-react.

I'm asking everyone I know with any Tallassee connections what, if anything, they might have heard. I'll keep asking. And share whatever I might find.

But it seems there truly is nothing new under the sun.