Mississippi man pleads guilty to burning cross in yard to intimidate Black family

A Mississippi man pleaded responsible in federal court docket to burning a cross in his entrance yard with the intent to intimidate a Black household, the US justice division stated.

Axel Cox, 24, of Gulfport in south Mississippi, mounted a picket cross in his entrance yard on 2 December 2020, officers stated. He then doused it with motor oil and lit it inside view of his neighbors, who’re Black.

The justice division stated Cox “admitted that he burned the cross due to the victims’ race and since they had been occupying a house subsequent to his”.

Cox additionally used threatening and racially derogatory remarks in the direction of his Black neighbors, the division stated.

Kristen Clarke, assistant lawyer normal for civil rights, stated: “Burning a cross invokes the lengthy and painful historical past, significantly in Mississippi, of intimidation and impending bodily violence towards Black individuals.

“The Division of Justice will proceed to prosecute those that use racially-motivated violence to drive individuals away from their houses or communities.”

Cox admitted to violating the Truthful Housing Act, in keeping with court docket paperwork. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on 9 March 2023 and faces a most penalty of 10 years in jail, a high quality of as much as $250,000, or each.

Black Individuals have more and more discovered themselves the goal of hate crimes. Between 2019 and 2020, hate crimes towards Black Individuals rose by 46%, the New York Occasions reported.

“People in our communities ought to be free from threats and intimidation,” stated Luis Quesada, assistant director of the FBI Legal Investigative Division.

“The FBI and our legislation enforcement companions will proceed to carry to justice anybody who violates the federal legal guidelines designed to make sure civil rights are protected.”