Crime
Man admits to burning a cross in their yard to intimidate a black family in Mississippi
Officials announced that a Mississippi man pleaded guilty in federal court to burning a cross in his backyard to intimidate a black family, prosecutors say. US Department of Justice.
reports this 24-year-old Axel Cox On December 2, 2020, a man from Gulfport, Mississippi, installed a picket cross in his yard, according to officials. Cox then reportedly doused the picket cross with motor oil and set it on fire in front of his black neighbors.
The US Department of Justice said Cox “pleaded guilty to violating the Fair Housing Act when he used threatening and racially derogatory remarks towards his black neighbors and burned a cross to intimidate them.”
Deputy Prosecutor General for Civil Rights, Kristen Clarke”, said: “The burning of the cross evokes a long and painful history, particularly in Mississippi, of intimidation and impending physical violence against Black people.”
reported that Black Americans are increasingly the goal of hate crimes, with the number increasing from 2019 to 2020. This includes mass shooting at Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York May 14, where a white supremacist killed 10 people. bandit, Payton Gendron19, as a part of his plea, he will probably be sentenced to life in prison without the potential for parole, reported.
“People in our communities should be free from threats and intimidation,” he said Luis Quesadadeputy director for.
“The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to hold accountable anyone who violates federal laws designed to protect civil rights.”
Cox faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fantastic of up to $250,000, or each.
Cox’s sentencing is scheduled for March 9, 2023.