It s 2017, and lynchings of black people still happen, just as they did during Jim Crow. Case in point- how an 8-year-old boy in New Hampshire nearly lost his life because of some racist white teens who hung him from a tree with a rope. Luckily, the child was able to remove the rope himself and make it home.The whole incident started when the victim, a Claremont, New Hampshire resident was playing outside. The teens in question allegedly hurled racist slurs at the child, who is biracial in a 96% white town, and threw rocks and sticks at him. Things escalated when they all stood on a picnic table and took turns putting the rope of a tire swing around their necks. Then, they took the child and, according to Lorrie Slattery, a grandmother of one of the kids present, took the child and said: The (teenagers) said,  Look at this,  supposedly putting the rope around their necks,  Slattery said.  One boy said to (her grandson),  Let s do this,  and then pushed him off the picnic table and hung him. He swung three times before he was able to get down, and wound up having to be flown to a hospital for life-saving treatment. What is most appalling is how little national media attention this is getting. Further, Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase wants to make sure these horrific little racists are  protected  due to their  mistakes.  He won t even say whether or not there will be criminal charges, and certainly is not releasing their names. In fact, the only reason this is getting any attention at all is because the boy s mother, Cassandra Merlin, posted the following images on social media:This is a story that needs to blow up nationwide until this child receives justice. These attempted murdering racists need to be thrown in jail for the foreseeable future and charged with a hate crime. I won t hold my breath on it, but spread it far and wide. Make it go national until they have no choice but to act.It s the least we can all do.Featured image via screen capture from The Root