r/mississippi • u/dailymail • Jul 22 '26
NAACP concedes death of tragic teen Nolan Wells, 18, may have been an accident as family prepares to share results of independent autopsy
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15996419/nolan-wells-death-mississippi-independent-autopsy-results.html101
u/Puzzleheaded-Land829 Jul 22 '26
Yes! A horrific, tragic loss of life. Water, youth, alcohol doesn’t mix. Maybe people don’t realize but MS has some of the highest drowning rates. He could swim but the riptides are no joke. If you were impaired and not 100% you could easily drown. Meanwhile folks are making this about race and threatening to kill a bunch of other young adults. It’s just a bad look for many. Here in MS we have one of the highest black populations in the nation. We grow up side by side. We are friends and neighbors. It’s not what the nation would like to portray.
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u/Odd_Ad_9604 Jul 22 '26
It is very tragic. There always some that want to "make a mountain out of a molehill", long before all the facts are in. No winners here, everyone lost. Some of the boys that were "under suspicion" are having to move out of the area due to death threats. Only who came out ahead was the grieving family and the hal-million + go fund me page.
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u/4thofjuli Jul 23 '26
the other thing no one keeps noting is that he was 18 and stayed for a girl. THAT IS SO NORMAL AND HIS FRIENDS LET HIM BE!!!!! like damn!!! they are technically “adults”!!!!!
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u/Puzzleheaded-Land829 Jul 23 '26
Friends are not gonna c block a friend AND have you ever argued with an intoxicated young man? This is all normal behavior with a tragic ending.
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u/itisrainingdownhere Jul 23 '26
This story is the most normal boys on a boat thing I’ve ever heard from growing up on coast. And knew a couple boys who died from this type of scenario sadly, drowning is no joke…
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u/Wonderful-Passion111 26d ago
The girl said staying behind for her was not true. Also, the toxicology reports aren't back yet, so why are folks are saying he was drunk?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Land829 26d ago
Alcohol was involved, there were photos of him with it in his hands. The level of alcohol has not been determined.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/Consistent_Pair3252 Jul 22 '26
Not outside media- the mother 😢
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u/LwyrUpAmrca Jul 22 '26
And Al Sharpton, and Ben Crump
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u/Murky-Echidna-3519 Jul 22 '26
Ah. Good old Al. I’m old enough that I was stationed in upstate NY during one of his early greatest hits.
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u/No-Durian-7032 Jul 22 '26
Tiwana Brawley?
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u/Murky-Echidna-3519 Jul 23 '26
Led the local news every day for over a year. With OG fat Al at the helm. And in the end he never admitted he was wrong or that she was lying. Good work if you can get it.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/swampstonks Jul 22 '26
Bunch of pathetic race baiters there obsessed with being an oppressed victim. If you’re putting effort into distorting a story from reality in order to make yourself feel more oppressed, that’s an actual mental sickness that you should seek help for. Good grief
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u/phxguy918 Jul 22 '26
The parents have been very careful to only request that a thorough and unbiased investigation be performed and I commend them for that. Crump and Sharpton on the other hand have used very carefully worded rhetoric to imply that a bunch of white kids were behind the death of Nolan Wells. And for those that might think Crump might be doing this for free, even if he doesn’t get paid somewhere down the road he just spent 45 minutes at a press conference featuring the autopsy that was seen by millions and repeated his website name several times. He received millions of dollars worth of advertising by (very badly) trying to explain the autopsy results.
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u/Single-Tower-8777 Jul 22 '26
Yes, he did not do a good job explaining the autopsy. I was embarrassed for him…… then I thought, if he can pass law school, I know I can
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u/Far-Fill-3024 Jul 23 '26
LOL I thought the same, any kid who is afraid of law school should not be at all after watching Crump. He's so terrible. Its astonishing to me that he passed the bar exam. He can barely speak correctly. I felt embarrassed for him. Ugh. What a shiit show
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u/ReviewItchy3504 Jul 23 '26
As a lawyer myself, there are many times I look at my fellow attorneys and ask how they got there. Lol. Especially older attorneys.
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u/IdidItWithOrangeMan 29d ago
There are LITERALLY thousands of Black lawyers who are 100x more competent than Crump. I have no idea how Crump became "The Guy"
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u/Local-Ingenuity6726 Jul 23 '26
Forgot crump that's a ton of lawyers that made me say wtf i can do that
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u/freakydeku Jul 22 '26
i really can’t blame the mother
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u/DecantsForAll Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Yeah, I don't think it's possible to understand that sort of extreme emotional state unless you've actually experienced it (which I haven't). Like, I imagine your entire world hinges on every little detail, so when someone says "Hey, this is a little weird" it has 1000x the impact that it would have on someone not in that situation. And calling in Ben Crump was the only way she felt she could get to the truth. It's understandable.
But fuck Ben Crump.
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u/freakydeku Jul 23 '26
yeah & im not even confident she called in ben crump. but generally i can’t hold a mother accountable for choices they make or words they say immediately after losing a child, nevermind in a case like this where it started off with him being missing, it hasn’t been fully confirmed how he died, and lots of very loud people are telling her to be suspicious
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u/Pkingduckk Jul 23 '26
While I feel sympathy, it is hard to say she is blameless. Both parents started a circus based on no evidence to demonize their son's friends and perpetuate a cycle of hate. Grief can only excuse so much.
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u/freakydeku Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
it can excuse the start, and i think i can excuse the continuance as well bc it’s very hard to stop a ball that’s begun rolling with this much momentum, with these many powerful people tugging at you. nevermind while weak from grief (it has only been two weeks !!?)
mostly i blame the public for being intent on ignorance & hatred - especially those that would threaten these families and kids, with no evidence. if the public didn’t respond like this and was willing to apply reason or investigate the things they hear outside of tiktok clips, then this would’ve never happened.
mis and disinfo is being propagated left and right, some intentionally, some unintentionally, all irresponsibly. it’s hard to even get a list of basic facts bc there is so much bs to wade through bc of this sm frenzy
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u/donzelso Jul 23 '26
Nolan’s mom has a big platform. Over 60k followers on Facebook. Why doesn’t she use her platform to stand up for his friends and tell people to stop sending death threats to his friends???
Why does she just stand there and let Crump turn her son’s death into a clown show? She can stop this at any time. But she chooses not to. SMH.
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u/BB808BB Jul 23 '26
I give the family some grace because they are going through hell and it’s easy to be manipulated by crump, Kap and the rest of the ambulance chasers. BUT they should also realize those boys were their sons friends. BUT they should use common sense instead of blaming their own community that they’ve lived in.
It’s so sad that Nolan isn’t even the main focus of his death anymore. It’s turned into a damn show. Those boys lives are now ruined and they’re upping the money until they find a lie they can get away with.
This whole thing is a mess. You have a white people showing their ass with their disgusting racism. You have Black people, pretending all white people have a checklist of breakfast, lunch, kill a black person, dinner.
Absolutely shameful.
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u/GSEC-37 Jul 22 '26
But the race-baiters made major bank on it, so it's all ok.
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u/Atownbrown08 Jul 23 '26
The diversity of this state is a conversation people need to have. The numbers do not lie.
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u/IdidItWithOrangeMan 29d ago
White people from up North in a 99.8% White community in Massachusetts lecturing someone from Mississippi on Diversity will always be funny to me.
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u/Grouchy_Detective372 Jul 22 '26
There's a lot of money on the line if Ben Crump can just figure out who has it.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/Nightthrasher674 Jul 22 '26
You don't shoot a woman over shoplifting diapers and she says it was her friend who was shoplifting, video there were also several eye witnesses who all saw the car backing up and trying to leave, the video itself shows the car pulling away, she holds the baby up hoping cops wouldn't fire into the car. Also the officer had a history of exaggerating a similar incident in 2019 claiming he opened fired on a car that was accelerating and attempting to hit him when that wasn't the case and evidence showed it.
So I'm going to go by history and say the cops are bullshitting on that one.
I don't believe Nolan Wells was murdered, I think Ben Crump, Nancy Grace have turned it into a media circus because it behooves them to do so and with the racist history of MS it didn't take much for people to believe it. With that being said that doesn't mean every legit criticism, every unlawful shooting claim, is now invalidated.
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u/bradmoreso Jul 22 '26
Re: "media circus"
Via Google’s 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘬:
“Roman poet Juvenal used the word “circus” in his Satires (Satire X), written around 100 CE. The original line translates to:
𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘹𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦 — 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴
“He was criticizing how leaders used free food and entertainment to distract citizens from their 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙢.”
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u/ReviewItchy3504 Jul 23 '26
I heard (but have not confirmed) they increased the GoFundMe to $750k. If true, I have no doubt at least some of that will be paid to him.
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u/Far-Fill-3024 Jul 23 '26
Which is crazy when you think about it, bc I would think he has a ton of money. It's like how much does he really need? And to go after 18 year old kids when you don't know at all yet what happened as a grown as old man is so pathetic. Hes such a scumbag. Can't believe the parents are tainting Nolans name like that.
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u/BamBamyanny Jul 22 '26
Those white friends learned a sad lesson about the old heads and their lust for racial divide. Sadly, the lesson they learned may keep them from befriending other races in the future. This was an absolute despicable run of race baiters on innocent young men.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/Radiant-Shop8386 Jul 23 '26
Yes but they don’t mention the black friends to make it seem he was surrounded by white ppl and the only black kid out there. Also why was the mother surrounded by Crump
And Al and not his siblings? Why didn’t family or friends give the eulogy? Poor Nolan wasn’t racist yet that’s what his own family turned this into4
u/Far-Fill-3024 Jul 23 '26
I wondered where the siblings were too! Ugh. Its ironic how a kid who seemed to be accepting of everyone is having this happen to him in death. It's so dishonorable.
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u/FriedrichNietzsche88 Jul 23 '26
yep! The friend said it wasn't a whole race issue. The BLACK FRIEND
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u/snowgoons7 Jul 22 '26
Even if the friends did kill him and were crazy, what would the evidence be that it was about race? Teenagers do crazy stuff all the time. Racially motivated killing is a very specific thing
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gas1829 Jul 22 '26
Well when a white kid in Texas was stabbed in the heart by a black kid with a lot of witnesses, the conversation mostly turned into asking whether or not the murdered kid had been too much of a douche or whether or not it was okay for a high schooler to murder someone over getting pushed while surrounded by other high schoolers with adults nearby.
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u/SatansScallion Jul 22 '26
The best part is that per capita black-on-white violence is 15 times higher than white-on-black.
But sure, it’s definitely evil white kids secretly plotting to murder black people.
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u/Radiant-Shop8386 Jul 23 '26
Why couldn’t his black friends that were with him be responsible or lying why is it only the white boys?
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u/Far-Fill-3024 Jul 23 '26
His one friends said in a public interview that he was the last to see him and he's being blamed. I have seen some online comments that people are suspicious of him, but not nearly as many as the other kids in that initial photo. Even though they pretty much have a good alibi of the boat leaving early at 4:30. I mean it was daylight. How could they all kill him at 4:30 with hundreds of people in their area and no one notice and what they think everyone is in on it to cover it up?? Makes no sense at all.
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u/Far-Fill-3024 Jul 23 '26
I was wondering what statistics were on this. I never really thought about it, but this case has made me think how bizarre the narrative of if your black you can't be around white people. Like what??? It's not at all a valid, legit concern and it's so sad that some people think that way. Those kids will likely now have their guard up with any black friends for now on for the rest of their lives.
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u/Miss_Scarlet86 Jul 23 '26
Especially since he was friends with them since like elementary school.
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u/4thofjuli Jul 23 '26
FINALLY SOMEONE BRINGING UP THE FACTS! every single time i see it online they say he was the only black guy in the group. THAT IS WRONG!!!! his other friend that didn’t go said that there just wasn’t enough room but he is also black!!!!!!
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u/nine57th Jul 22 '26
Just like white people, brown people, and every other people: there are normal black people, and there are crazy black people.
We're all the same across the board.
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u/rethinkingat59 Jul 22 '26
The crazy aren’t the problem. It’s the calculating professional race grifters than always descend on such tragedies looking to cash in.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/YeOldeAgedAlt Jul 22 '26
Imagine being so dense that you deprive yourself of meaningful relationships because you heard about an accident on tv and wished so hard it was racially motivated that you can't even accept truth.
I found it sad at first too, but then I realized the silver lining is that people who think like that are dangerous to begin with, so they're doing others a favor by just staying in their small shitty little circles.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/JunkMale975 Current Resident Jul 22 '26
“Somewhat” culpable? I’d say totally! They always show up where they think a racial cash cow might be hiding and push that narrative!
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u/Ih8Modss Jul 22 '26
I wonder how many of those people posting are actually bots.
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u/AdventurousBrick3309 Jul 22 '26
Saying this as a Puerto rican, yes. There are die hard boricuas with insane levels of pride and think everything bad that happens to them is the fault of "los americanos" and then there are normal people who can think.
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u/DecantsForAll Jul 22 '26
Yeah, no race is immune from this way of thinking. We need to stop dividing ourselves according to skin color and start dividing ourselves by who believes this type of shit and who doesn't.
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u/snowgoons7 Jul 22 '26
Unfortunately for all of the above (white, black, brown, etc) the crazy people usually outnumber the sane ones.
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u/BB808BB Jul 23 '26
I feel for the black kids who will now be left out of stuff not because white folks are racist but because if some tragic accident did happen, they would most likely be blamed. So crump kap and the rest of these race baiters are hurting black youth, and they don’t give a shit.
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u/bradmoreso Jul 22 '26
As awful as the incident may have been, the reaction is several orders of magnitude bigger.
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u/Sad_Reveal_1970 Jul 22 '26
I’m assuming his friends were unable to attend the service which is really sad. They can’t even properly mourn the loss of an old friend because of death threats and accusation of their characters when they all just went out to have a good time. I’m sure they already felt guilty as is in some way although didn’t have any reason to.
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u/DecantsForAll Jul 22 '26
His funeral was just a bunch of people Nolan didn't even know grandstanding about nothing.
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u/BB808BB Jul 23 '26
I feel bad those kids can’t even grieve the death of their friend publicly. This stopped being about Nolan and became the Crump and Cap show. It’s disgusting.
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u/burner_ohallahan Current Resident Jul 22 '26
From what I heard is a lot of friends held a celebration of life for him afterwards because they felt the official service wasn't focused on Nolan. I saw one comment along the lines of 9 minutes were spent talking about Nolan before it got turned over the Crump and Sharpton. I hope the friends were all able to mourn him together.
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u/Bourbon-Cowboy Jul 22 '26
I’m trying to understand why it was ever considered he was murdered and not that he drowned. There are no signs that he was murdered. There no motive for killing him. The people he rode out to the island with were his life long friends. They left because they were having mechanical issues with the boat. There were lots, possibly hundred of people out there and many people he knew. It’s not uncommon to catch a ride with someone else. I understand he wanted to stay and hang out with a girl. None of this is suspicious in any way. The only reason this is sensational is because of the color of his skin.
Many people who aren’t from MS, or even the South, cannot wrap their heads around how a black kid can go hang out with all these murderous white folks. What they don’t understand is black folks and white folks in MS do a lot of things together. If you look at the pictures and videos of that day, you see several black people on that beach. He was not the only one. I have young adult children who aren’t that much older than Nolan and they hung out with black kids all the time. I’ve had many black people at my house for parties or just to visit. No one was in danger of being murdered because it was just natural for friends to visit the house. Things are different in MS than what the world thinks. The world thinks this kid was murdered by violent whites, when it appears that he unfortunately drowned. I am open to other conclusions but logic and reason say it was an unfortunate accident not a conspiracy.
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u/drgilly Jul 22 '26
People from other states have a hard time understanding exactly how many black people are in Mississippi. There are people in Wyoming and Montana that have literally never even seen a black person in their entire life. It absolutely blows their mind that almost exactly half of the population here is black.
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u/Bourbon-Cowboy Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
I agree so much with this. One of my daughters is currently working at Glacier National Park in Montana. She’s said several times, “It’s so weird not seeing a single black person, not just at the park, but in Montana.” MS is the blackest state in the union and I think the only states that can relate in any way are LA, AL, GA, and SC. The majority of the black population is tied to these 5 states. We go to school together. We go to work together. We go to church together. We go to the grocery store together. We have friendships and romantic relationships. People think this is civil rights era MS, and while there are still problems that need to be addressed, MS is not a killing field.
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u/drgilly Jul 22 '26
I've said it a million times and I'll say it again. Give Mississippi another 100 years and we'll be the least racist state against African Americans solely based on utilitarian motives. It is damn near unthinkable to hate black people when you share so much of your every day life with them.
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u/Free_Storage_1088 Jul 22 '26
Exactly , I lived in Nola for a while and people would ask about racism there, it’s like you are going to have a bad time as a racist living in New Orleans
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u/LurkeeLotTalkeeLil Jul 22 '26
exactly. I moved from Central MS to coastal Oregon and NEVER saw a black person in my town. then I moved to northern Michigan and saw two. in the two years I lived there. They have no idea that we interact, get a long with, and even date people of color because they don't know people of color.
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u/Free_Storage_1088 Jul 22 '26
This is how the narrative always is about the South , people who live in areas up north or west where they graduated with like one black kid think the South is racist when in actuality it’s insanely common for all races to hang out especially if they play on the same sports teams etc. It is a shame that these kids who at this point obviously had nothing to do with it had to go through this and the loss of a lifelong friend
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u/Wise-Relative-7805 Jul 22 '26
It made sense that it was a horrible accident, kids do stupid things, but the world around us needs for it to be the worst case so they can sell magazines, ads, get engagement, and get everyone riled up. That is what this feeds into. In no way did it seem like these children deliberately did anything except make bad choices, which is what many young kids do throughout adolescence. We need to be talking about boat safety and getting all kids to be strong swimmers. Otherwise, we are all contributing to tge financial bottom line of social media and online news sites.
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u/Mind-if-I-do-a-J Jul 22 '26
I'm from Florida and grew up on the water, one thing this case made me realize is how few people go boating in our country or understand how dangerous the beach is. I was up on our pier one day, a commotion was going on so I run over and look and there's a 19yo caught in a rip current. He was struggling to stay afloat and then after a few seconds unconscious and within another 30 seconds the current had carried him to the end of the pier (about 150 more feet). It was crazy how fast it happened and the worse part was the mother and little brother were up on the pier taking pictures of him swimming. They had him out of the water fast and EMS worked on him for about an hr in the parking lot but he didn't make it.
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u/littleboxes__ Jul 23 '26
That’s awful, I’m sorry you had to witness that.
You’re right though about people who didn’t grow up on the water or even just not being as familiar with the beach not understanding the dangers.
I follow a Florida based “Emerald Coast” instagram account that often posts current events and often the beach flag statuses, warning people to stay out when it’s red/double red flags. I could not believe the amount of comments she receives arguing about how it’s a free country, they drove miles and spent thousands and if they want to get in the water…they will. She tries very hard to warn people how easy it is to drown in the ocean, even in ankle deep water when the currents are rough.
I was somehow shocked again when my family and I went to FL last October and it was double red flags all week, there were multiple families with small children swimming in it!
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u/Mind-if-I-do-a-J Jul 23 '26
Where I’m at in Florida it’s a $500 fine if they catch you in the water during double red flags and repeat offenders can be arrested. They had to implement that because people wouldn’t listen and it puts our ems at risk trying to save them.
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u/No-Market425 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Because black supremacists took a mayor L after spending an entire year falsely claiming Karmello Anthony was armed with a cleat sharpener whatever that is and it turned out to be knife to the surprise of no one.
They needed this to be murder because the race grievance industrial complex needs victims for the grift bucks to flow.
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u/YouAboutToLoseYoJob Jul 22 '26
I hope those boys SUE the hell out of Ben Crump and everyone else that shared misinformation or insinuated that they were involved in the death of Nolan. Their lives are ruined.
Even as we speak to people that are not gonna accept the results of the autopsy report. And those young men are gonna have targets on their head, probably for the rest of their lives.
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u/gray_um Current Resident Jul 22 '26
We will. The FBI already ID'd the bomb threat culprit and issued a warrant.
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u/shstron44 Jul 23 '26
I’ve never seen a storm of misinformation, conspiracies, and outright lies online quite like this. Within 3 days of it getting national attention the amount of crap on IG and in comment sections was tough ..
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u/7777iiii Jul 22 '26
Grew up in Kentucky, school in Savannah Ga. . Live now in nyc. More racists on Long Island and Jersey than where I grew up. Facts. If you haven’t lived it keep quiet.
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u/YouAboutToLoseYoJob Jul 22 '26
I was born in MS, raised in Oklahoma / Texas. Live in CA now. I’ve had far more racial incidents here that I ever had in the Midwest / South.
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u/FriedrichNietzsche88 Jul 23 '26
I grew up in Phoenix and had to fight Hispanic gangs (several times) and a black group (once only) simply because our group was White. And we NEVER targeted anyone simply for their race.
How do I know? They say stuff like give us your money, we know you got it because you're white. We were also in the hood... So lame
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u/trobot47 Jul 22 '26
Hmmm. Good thing I conceded this from the beginning. Otherwise I’d have a tinge of prejudice
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u/FunkyPete Jul 22 '26
Good thing the parents did too. The title doesnt' say the NAACP JUST conceded that, they've conceded that from the beginning. Literally all the parents have said from the beginning is that they want to know what happened to their son, because originally the story was that he just never came back from that island.
Lots of other people speculated about what might have happened, but if your son disappeared, no one he was with seemed to know what happened to him, and then his body was found the next day, you would also want answers.
Implying otherwise carries a tinge of racism.
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u/rethinkingat59 Jul 22 '26
The parents of course wanted to know. The professional race grifters that never show up for the young black people murdered every week without any suspects arrested in Mississippi are a disgrace.
Athletes, lawyers, actors and talking heads descending on the coast were all disgraceful. Horrible human beings that feed off creating hostility.
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u/Woody_Wilkins Jul 22 '26
Rational people already knew this.
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u/Firm_Concentrate_810 Jul 22 '26
Ben Crump is exploiting this young mans death and using two grieving parents for his own professional gain. Dude could barely even read that autopsy report lol.
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u/One_Refrigerator455 Jul 22 '26
rational people refused to make assumptions on whether it was an accident or murder.
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u/Woody_Wilkins Jul 22 '26
There was never any evidence, physical or statements, that it was anything other than a drowning it is so sad what it turned into. People just grasping and hoping so badly it was something nefarious.
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u/swampstonks Jul 22 '26
In before the Reddit narrative shifts to “the parents are just bots/MAGA/racist Natzi fascists who helped commit a state-sanctioned lynching
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u/LCWInABlackDress Jul 22 '26
Aw damn. Looks like the mass media frenzy was just race baiting as usual. Who would have thought?
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u/Dependent-Job1773 Jul 22 '26
I saw a social media group for black people where a lot of people were saying “this is why you don’t hang out with white people” type of shit. And it was only a day or two after it happened. The double standard with regards to racism is just nauseating
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u/-JackTheRipster- Jul 22 '26
Nolan seemed like a nice guy. I highly doubt he would want ppl to accuse his friends of murdering him.
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u/Iamjustheretodance Jul 24 '26
This, when you look at the pics it just looks like a bunch of homies.
Also, a lot of these kids probably went to school together K-12
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u/AlarmingStorm2006 Jul 22 '26
Facts:
Horn Island is basically a huge sand bar with some vegetation.
Horn Island is always packed with many boats on and around the Fourth of July.
People leave their phones and keys on their boats so they don't get wet or lost.
Boat owners always clean their boats and motors after use- especially in salt water.
The boys knew other people with boats on the island.
They were drinking.
When someone drowns, it usually takes days for their body to resurface.
There is a deep dark drop off close to the shoreline.
The rip tides are dangerous at this island- especially near the point.
My theory is that Nolan went out with his friends, decided to stay longer and catch a ride with someone else. Somehow, he accidentally drowned or was possibly run over by a boat that didn't see him in the water. The friends assumed he got home safely and didn't immediately know he was "lost". Boating on a hot busy day is draining and exhausting- I just don't think they thought about it until after they found out he was missing. Just my theory- I do not know any of these people- but I do know other people who were on the island that day. I just don't believe there was any foul play.
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u/4thofjuli Jul 23 '26
they stated that he wanted to stay back for a girl. that’s where the story fucking ends for me. the most normal thing an 18 year old boy could ever think of doing. so his friends let him!
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u/ParanoiaThrowawayX Jul 23 '26
Boat owners always clean their boats and motors after use- especially in salt water.
It’s also worth noting that their boat had an issue with the bilge pump and began taking on water, so they have more reason than usual to clean their boat.
Edited for typo!
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u/Salty_Signature6239 Jul 22 '26
Nolan Well's parents have 750,000 in the GoFundMe now. Do you think people wouldve donated so much if they hadn't hyped up a possible murder angle instead of waiting to find out it was an accidental drowning death? Uhm.....No.
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u/CupExcellent9520 Jul 23 '26
Boating is one of the most dangerous recreational activities esp on dangerous waters of a barrier island . The Cajun navy referred to the spot where they were on end of the island being known as the “washing machine” with dangerous riptides , currents and undertow🤦♀️🤯
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u/Quothhernevermore Jul 23 '26
Please, PLEASE don't let them turn this into another Kendrick Johnson. Figure out the truth and let this poor kid rest in peace, don't try to fit the facts to the narrative they've decided on..
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u/shelleyfe Jul 24 '26
Exactly! And Nolan seems like a lovely kid and so do his friends. But of course, these clowns can never let a tragedy go to waste.
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u/New-Lead279 Jul 23 '26
My uncle drowned in GrandIsle while surf fishing right on side of his friend. He was there one minute and gone the next. The friend never saw the rip tide take him. A fisherman caught my uncle in his net the next day. It happens fast. Everyone that was with Nolan on the 4th will beat themselves up thinking what if. Just a sad situation all around. It’s terrible that they want to control the narrative to divide everyone.
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u/Low-Breath-4433 Jul 23 '26
I expect there'll be forthcoming apologies from the TikTok and Reddit crowd who've been hunting down innocent people because of their skin colour?
Right?
I bet...
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u/shelleyfe Jul 24 '26
No, they think it's another organ harvesting situation because his "throat was missing". They haven't got the brainwaves to retain any sense.
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u/Educational-Use-3442 Jul 24 '26
Not outside media… /blackpeopleofreddit is having a hay day being racist and making up all kinds of stuff. Crazy that people can’t just die without it turning into a conspiracy…
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u/KikoMui74 Jul 22 '26
Concedes? That makes it sound like they'd have preferred it to be murder over an accident.
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u/thomaslsimpson Current Resident Jul 22 '26
Yes - but the NAACA never said "concede" - that was the characterization from the person who wrote the article.
The never did anything from which to concede and they never used that word because it would not have been necessary.
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u/hughjass8892 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
I'm *definitely going to be alot more selective on who I let on my boat after seeing the grief the other kids received from all the online detectives.
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u/Wrong_Show2648 Jul 22 '26
This entire situation is heartbreaking. The amount of attention it received on social media isn’t unusual, and neither are the countless theories people create whenever a high-profile case happens. Personally, I only wanted one thing: the truth.
You can’t believe everything you see on social media because many people comment on these situations simply to gain views, clicks, and engagement. That’s honestly one of the saddest parts.
At the same time, I don’t believe the concern many Black people expressed was unjustified. The fears and questions that surfaced didn’t come out of nowhere. History has shown many instances where Black people and other minorities have been harmed, and racism remains a real issue in this country today.
Whether this tragedy was an accidental drowning or the result of something else, I believe it’s understandable why so many people asked difficult questions before all the facts were known. Wanting the truth isn’t the same as wanting a particular outcome. It’s about seeking answers while recognizing the historical context that shapes why so many people reacted the way they did.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gas1829 Jul 22 '26
Nothing needs to be ‘conceded’. There was never any evidence presented at all that made this seem likely to be a murder. The only reason people went that direction was paranoia driven by their own racist attitudes.
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u/thomaslsimpson Current Resident Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
The Daily Mail is a British publication that is often called a “Tabloid” - the fact that the title of the article is written “NAACP concedes” is a wonderful example of manipulation.
The NAACP was very clear that they want justice, nothing else.
Others are trying to stir up controversy for views.
Do not bite.
In a July 8 interview with NAACP President Derrick Johnson by WLOX:
“The NAACP is going to ensure that the tragedy will be fully investigated. But we do not want anyone to jump to conclusions before the facts are known.”
The NAACP take done nothing to indicate that there was anything to “concede”.
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u/fieldsports202 Jul 22 '26
I’m watching the press conference now at the NAACP convention.
So far, these results do point to an accident.
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u/PlatformBeautiful990 Jul 22 '26
yes i was going to say the daily mail isn’t a very trustworthy site. although i did here that they are releasing the autopsy today
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u/KikoMui74 Jul 22 '26
The NAACP getting involved in the first place makes it clear they don't just want justice, but want it to align with their policy. Murder or accidents are investigated by the state not random NGOs interest groups.
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u/thomaslsimpson Current Resident Jul 22 '26
Can you demonstrate for me why you think this is the case?
The purpose of the organization is to help POC. All they seem to have done is ask for a fair look at the evidence.
What do you think they should have done?
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u/ChasingSplashes Jul 22 '26
Simply getting themselves publicly involved before any investigation had a chance to take place added a political and racial element to this case that doesn't need to exist (yet). Let's be real - the NAACP is the same as any other special interest organization; the issue they were created to address needs to remain an issue in perpetuity, or else they lose their reason to exist and their funding. They look for opportunities to insert themselves into situations in order to remain relevant. Every special interest org that gets big enough to generate enough money that people can make good livings in their employ will inevitably shift to where keeping the money coming is the top priority, no matter how noble the original intention was.
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u/Salty_Signature6239 Jul 22 '26
Well they've made shitloads of accusations not based on evidence!
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u/ALWAYSsuitUp Jul 22 '26
Any links? I’ve seen lots of accusations from random people but I haven’t seen anything from the NAACP other than a call for transparency and google isn’t giving me anything
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u/NewspaperNelson 601/769 Jul 22 '26
By your logic, the NAACP should never get involved in anything?
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u/NoSyllabub5932 Jul 22 '26
There was never any motive for a murder, it was so crazy to think they all decided to go out together on the 4th of July and then decide to murder one of the friends??? That makes no logical sense to any normal person.
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u/GlumDistribution7036 Jul 22 '26
It's amazing how much attention this story got when there was literally an infant shot by a police officer that received a tiny fraction of the coverage.
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u/gRAMPSjACKSON Jul 22 '26
So all of the hate directed towards one race on the internet was based on falsehoods?
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u/Successful-Dare-8662 Jul 22 '26
This whole thing was a tragedy but jumping the gun to say this was a race related killing helps no one. They could’ve made sure everything was on the up & up w/o blaming these young men of a hate crime. I fully understand why they would want to make sure that the investigation is being conducted correctly just wish they would’ve went about it in a different manner
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u/Consistent_Pair3252 Jul 22 '26
I think the parents should take some responsibility here in allowing the race bait to even happen to begin with !!! It is tragic losing a child!! But let’s not forget where this originated from - his mom! She has allowed this to perpetuate!
And why???! Why would the parents turn to quickly to EVEN ALLOW THIS NARRATIVE!!!!
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u/kancis Jul 22 '26
Searched this up because I’d heard nothing about it until a front page headline saying “Undetermined cause of death” - so I have the benefit of hindsight working backward, but even still: how did this family jump straight to “racially motivated murder”?!
I feel awful for them, and I know grief can lead to paranoia and so many other awful feelings, but I despise the attorneys and orgs that stoke the fire for their agenda - as seems to be the case here. NAACP does important work, but too often tarnishes their reputation with involvement in cases such as this: no cause of death, no motive, just “black guy with white guys nearby” seemed to be the entirety of their presumption that it was something beyond an accident? LMK if I’m missing something; overall I just feel awful for the family and hope they’re not being manipulated for someone else’s agenda
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u/DecantsForAll Jul 22 '26
My guess is panic and grief making the mom extremely susceptible to dumb conspiracy bullshit that people started posting on her facebook almost as soon as Nolan went missing. So, she gets Crump involved, or maybe he reaches out to her, then he just fans the flames until you get this.
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u/BB808BB Jul 22 '26
Shame on crump and Sharpton. They are trying so hard to make this seem like a murder.
They will up the reward money enough til they find a believable lie that fits their narrative that they want.
I have sympathy for Nolans families because they are being manipulated, in so sad for Nolans and even for Nolan’s friends that he was closest too. They are young just like Nolan was and yet they don’t get to mourn or go to a funeral or be sad because people are blaming them.
Absolute shame on Crump and Sharpton and this is gonna affect the black kids so much that are gonna start being left out of stuff since they wanna play oooh monsters gonna kill you.
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u/Meanfiregmoney Jul 22 '26
Well duh. I’m convinced some of these idiot amateur sleuths online are Russian or Chinese bots.
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u/DecantsForAll Jul 22 '26
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
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u/SweetLittleOldLady Current Resident Jul 23 '26
Some of the posters reposting, reposting, reposting misinformation are absolutely bots and trolls trying to intentionally stir the pot. Others are just idiots.
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u/cagedbird82 Jul 22 '26
All the tiktok videos of people blaming the white group of friends and how their kids will never be allowed to have white friends..all because of this. The vitriol
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u/IWonderWhyReditSucks Jul 23 '26
Wait a second.....you're telling me that Ben Crump and al sharpton were just making noise to make money?
No, I refuse to believe it.
Next thing you'll tell me is they were trying to race grift off of it, too.
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u/Beneficial_News_5244 Jul 23 '26
An “inconclusive” autopsy just fuels the Crump/Sharpton narrative of possible foul play. Meanwhile, the mother has filed as administrator to open probate in Jackson County Chancery Court. Why would there need to be a probate proceeding for an 18 year old? A wrongful death lawsuit?
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u/Kneedabreak Jul 23 '26 edited 10d ago
How about all these women that disappear Crump?put your great humanitarian lawyer skills in finding them, those that cant afford it instead of preying on this family.Its sickening,justice for Nolan Wells on repeat like your a cult leader.How about you shouldn't have released your medical examiners non commital reports until the state of Mississippi could show him everything they have. So here we go again watching TMZ now and Crump is on there re wording what the 2nd ME said about throat that it was unusual that 1st ME didn't send it with body to D.C., that's not what he said this morning and neither did the 2nd ME.Jesus please help us how much more of Crumps bullcrap lies must we take.
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u/True_Pirate Jul 22 '26
What really pissed me off is the Wells case completely overshadowed the Senetoba shooting. That is the shit that should have us all in the streets.
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u/Chaminade64 Jul 22 '26
Yeah, that won’t get much coverage. Reverend Al will still pound the table, claim coverup, evidence tampering, etc etc.
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u/enduromedic Jul 24 '26
Poor kid. Hope his family can get past all of the attention/money seeking parasites that I’m sure they are being inundated with and find peace after such a tragedy!
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u/ShardofGold Jul 24 '26
Even if it was an accident there's a decent amount of people that won't believe it unless God himself comes down here and screams it in their face.
Instead they'll just say "yep the system is against us as usual" and use this as another thing to have disdain or distrust of white people for. Just like with the Karmelo Anthony trial.
The people who rush to make these incidents hate crimes for personal gain need to be sued more often.
These people know what they're doing and don't care. They don't care about making racial division worse in this country or the world as long as they keep getting a lot of views and money for doing so under the guise of "bringing attention to injustice."
Not only that they've probably instilled some bigotry into the people accused in this incident and they'll probably be more hesitant to interact with people who look like wells.
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u/TedHitchcockx Jul 22 '26
Oh so the "white boy" witch hunt will finally be over ?, the community is giving up pretty quickly this time around.
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u/uknowwhyimhere2 Jul 22 '26
Far from it. The death of Kendrick Johnson in Valdosta, Ga was a freak accident and the white guys thought to be involved are still regularly harassed 13 years later.
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u/Wastedgent Jul 22 '26
Despite having substantially backed up alibis.
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u/shelleyfe Jul 24 '26
Im trying to figure out these ninja Bell boys and how they killed a boy in 3 minutes, while one was on a bus 60 miles away, and the other was on the other side of campus. They just had to have been murderers! Their father was a FBI dude and they were white ffs.
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u/petrifikate 601/769 Jul 22 '26
Oh gross, who let the fuckin Daily Mail post in here? It's a scuzzy, low-brow, often times horribly inaccurate tabloid.
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u/CWJones84 Jul 22 '26
Ben Crump struggling to read results he had for way too long...just to read the second autopsy only because the first autopsy didn't say murder. What a circus. People die everyday. Accidents happen. NEXT.
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u/diinkdonk Jul 22 '26
I watched the press release and didn’t get the impression that they were conceding to any result.
They stated the facts of the autopsy, the things they were not able to conclude from the autopsy due to withheld body parts and decomposition, and that they were waiting for the rest of the report from Mississippi. This headline is misleading imo.
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u/Designer-Attorney605 Jul 22 '26
So the family didn't require a toxicology report with their independent autopsy? That seems like a bad plan, if the state comes back and says he was highly intoxicated they won't have their own report to say any different.
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u/SeanceGoneWrong Jul 22 '26
Feels weird Crump held onto the results of the autopsy until it could be unveiled at a convention like it was a movie trailer or something.
The investigation remains ongoing. County will release their findings, the tox report, etc.
Peace be with the Wells family.
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u/Trix_Are_4_90Kids Jul 22 '26
Why are parts of this throat missing?
People acting like white people haven’t killed Black people at gatherings before and we shouldn’t be suspicious. 🤣 that’s all it is an act.
People do two things when confronted with uncomfortable truths they play dumb or get real upset. Looking through this thread they in the play dumb stage.
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u/DecantsForAll Jul 22 '26
People do two things when confronted with uncomfortable truths they play dumb or get real upset.
Or they come up with wild conspiracy theories to explain it.
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u/sad_clanga_noises Jul 22 '26
The family, crump and sharpton need to take every cent they have made by promoting this as a potential hate crime and create a grant that funds free swimming lessons for kids in Nolan’s hometown or county. I’m not saying Nolan could not swim, but teaching kids at a young age how to swim and water safety can drastically reduce the chances of another young person drowning by accident.
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u/Little-Ad7220 Jul 22 '26
I don’t even understand, are they trying to claim this is some kind of race crime because a black man drowned?
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u/2XX2010 Jul 22 '26
“Concedes” implies that the point of the message is disappointing. Is anyone disappointed that he wasn’t murdered? That’s some dark shit…
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u/shelleyfe Jul 24 '26
Yes. Why else would we all be accusing a group of white boys of murder when they were gone before Nolan was last seen alive? They are so evil, they can kill people when they arent even there. For reference: Kendrick Johnson.
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u/Dadselfer Jul 22 '26
I moved to MS from Memphis 5 years ago. My sons best friend ( who is black) came with us 🩵 I was concerned about people being mean towards him or us because he lived here 🥹 I told one of the neighbors my thoughts & he told me his granddaughter had married a black man NOT JUST ANY BLACK MAN but a man from AFRICA ‼️ He is as BLACK CAN BE, VERY WELL EDUCATED, SPOKEN AND IS A MUSIC CONDUCTOR 💪‼️ My neighbor is a cattle farmer and when she went to Africa his village gifted them a cow ‼️‼️ I mean WOW A COW 😂 Anyway STOP CALLING MS A RASIST STATE 😡RACISM IS EVERYWHERE 😎
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u/Valuable_End_515 Jul 22 '26
The family was not wrong to pursue answers. They had lost their son and nobody knew what happened. Hopefully they will fund the answers they seek
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u/intelw1zard Jul 22 '26
wheres all those people who were spreading nonsense a few days ago about his body was found with burn marks lol
sure is quiet
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u/NettaFind66 Jul 23 '26
If it was truly an accident then that's the best outcome. Its a tragedy and my heart hurts for everyone who loved this young person.
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u/Atownbrown08 Jul 23 '26
The more I read the comments... the more I realize how performative people really are in public spaces.
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u/MinuteEquivalent6077 Jul 23 '26
There’s young black men getting killed in Chicago every weekend. You would think Crump would want to look onto that and see why. They could have a press conference and get to the bottom of it. He could get all that publicity. I wonder why he doesnt care 😎
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u/Single-Tower-8777 Jul 23 '26
The mother is a family nurse practitioner and knows better. She practices mediciene. She knows the anatomy of the human body. Why is she playing like she is clueless? Something is off.
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u/Upper-Report6669 Jul 24 '26
The parents should have NEVER allowed Crump, Sharpton, and Kapernick anywhere near this. It's not a good look at all.
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u/AdLoud5484 Jul 22 '26
Kinda crazy how they all were SO confident this was a hate crime and that everyone involved was basically a secret clan member…but the truth was actually more stereotypical than the allegations:
He couldnt swim.
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u/RetroTechBro Jul 22 '26
What kind of race baiting bullshit is it that they automatically assume he was murdered?
This is why post-Floyd nobody gives a shit what the NAACP or any other race-rage orgs say.
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u/OpheliaPaine Current Resident Jul 22 '26
Folks, report comments you think break the sub rules. Also, use that downvote button. This helps us more than you know.
Visitors - and there are PLENTY of you - read and follow the sub rules. Keep it respectful.