Jesse Jackson Calls For FBI to Investigate Jelani Day Case As Local Officials Have Been “Difficult”
Rev. Jesse Jackson is adamant that Jelani Day’s death is a murder and is urging that the FBI investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the aspiring doctor’s death.
Day’s funeral took place Tuesday morning in Danville and during the service, Jackson Sr., compared the 25-year-old’s death to that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy who was lynched and brutally murdered in Chicago in 1955, with his bruised and battered remains being found.
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Following the service Jackson spoke to the media to call out the local police for failing to properly investigate the case.
“Jelani was brutally murdered in Peru, Illinois and found faced down in the Illinois River,” Jackson said in a statement. “We are requesting a thorough investigation because local officials have been very difficult to deal with. They have not been forthcoming. We are requesting that the FBI and the Department of Justice conduct a thorough investigation because it smells like another Emmett Till case all over again.”
Days fraternity, the Alabama A&M set up a petition to get federal involvement in his case as the local police are reportedly incapable and the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office denied Jelani’s mother access to his body for months, leading her to believe that he was still missing and not deadThe petition has over 28,000 signatures as of Tuesday.