A Mississippi man pleaded guilty in federal court to burning a cross in his front yard with the intent to intimidate a Black family, the US justice department said.
Axel Cox, 24, of Gulfport in south Mississippi, mounted a wooden cross in his front yard on 2 December 2020, officials said. He then doused it with motor oil and lit it within view of his neighbors, who are Black.
The justice department said Cox “admitted that he burned the cross because of the victims’ race and because they were occupying a home next to his”.
Cox also used threatening and racially derogatory remarks towards his Black neighbors, the department said.
Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said: “Burning a cross invokes the long and painful history, particularly in Mississippi, of intimidation and impending physical violence against Black people.
“The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute those who use racially motivated violence to drive people away from their homes or communities.”
Cox admitted to violating the Fair Housing Act, according to court documents. He is scheduled to be sentenced on 9 March 2023 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.
Black Americans have increasingly found themselves the target of hate crimes. Between 2019 and 2020, hate crimes against Black Americans rose by 46%, the New York Times reported.
“Individuals in our communities should be free from threats and intimidation,” said Luis Quesada, assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division.
“The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to bring to justice anyone who violates the federal laws designed to ensure civil rights are protected.”
Axel Cox, 24, from Gulfport, admitted to using ‘racially derogatory’ terms against the black family and threatening them, simply because they started living next door to him.
‘Burning a cross invokes the long and painful history, particularly in Mississippi, of intimidation and impending physical violence against black people,’ said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
‘The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute those who use racially-motivated violence to drive people away from their homes or communities.’
‘The collaboration among the Gulfport Police Department, the FBI, the Civil Rights Division and our office brought this defendant to justice,’ said US Attorney Darren LaMarca for the Southern District of Mississippi.
‘We will continue to work with and for the good people of Mississippi to eradicate such racist intimidation.’
Cox signed a plea deal Thursday after acknowledging that he violated the Fair Housing Act, designed to protects people from discrimination, authorities said on Friday.
His sentencing is scheduled for March 9, 2023.
In 2018, Graham Williamson, 38, and Louie Bernard Revette, 37, were also convicted under the same act in the US District Court at Hattiesburg for burning a cross outside a black family’s home made out of household items.
The practice has been historically associated with the Klu Klux Klan, who used cross burning as an intimidation tactic. The KKK last held a cross burning ceremony in Cedar Town, Mississippi, in 2016.
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