In
the early morning hours of June 26, a group
white teenagers embarked from Brandon, Miss., to a Black neighborhood
of Jackson. They came across a 49-year-old African American man,
James Craig Anderson, at the Metro Inn. After beating him, some of
the teens left in a car. Three stayed behind in a Ford F-250 pickup
and drove over him. Anderson was later pronounced dead at the
hospital.
The
hotel manager, Val Patel, who turned over surveillance tape to the
police, reported the teens were laughing as they drove off after
driving over Anderson.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation is now probing whether the attack and
killing of Anderson was motivated by hate.
“I ran that n****r over,” Dylan Dedmon
reportedly told the other teens via cell phones in the other car.
“There were racial slurs used throughout the
events which led to the conclusion that it was most likely a hate
crime,” said Hinds County District Attorney Robert Schuler
Smith. The teens are from Rankin County and drove into the
predominantly Black area of Jackson with the intention of attacking a
Black person, according to Smith.
The defense is claiming the youth were out to purchase beer.
Dedmon, 18, who drove over Anderson,
was orginally charged with murder. He is now being charged with
capital murder, which in Mississippi carries the possibility of a
death sentence or life without parole.
John Aaron Rice, 18, who participated
in the initial attack, but left before the fatal events, is being
charged with simple assault. Originally, he was also charged with
murder, but the charge was lowered. Prosecutors are still urging the
state to charge Rice with murder.
Dedmon and Rice have undergone a
preliminary hearing but neither has entered a plea.
None of the other youth are being
charged with their roles in the killing, but are being called as
witnesses. However, charges against others at the scene have not been
ruled out.
Federal hate crime laws mean that if
convicted, the defendants will face more severe sentences if the
prosecution can show that racial hatred motivated the killing of
Anderson. Hate crime legislation has been won over years of struggle
and serves to point out the intent of such crimes, which terrorize
entire communities.
“The murder of James Craig
Anderson was a cowardly act of violence that reminds us of the racial
hatred that continues to plague the South,” said Nsombi Lambright,
executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi.
Multinational unity sends message
against racist terror
Once the video of the killing was
released to the media, there was a response from the people of
Mississippi and neighboring states.
On Aug. 13, the New Horizon Church
organized a vigil that drew hundreds to a multinational march from
the church to the hotel and back. Afterwards, community leaders gave
speeches.
“We want our community to denounce
the violence of this hate crime,” said Kass Welchlin, one of the
vigil organizers.
“We
want to say to this community and to the world that we’re not only
appalled by the death of this man, but that this is not reflective of
Mississippi today,” said Bishop Ronnie Crudup, senior pastor of
New Horizon Church.
On
Aug. 21, another rally was organized at the
scene of the killing. Buses came from as far away as Atlanta and New
Orleans.
“We
going to be talking about unity. … We’re going to be talking
about why others aren’t being charged,” said Gerald Rose from
Atlanta, Ga., one of the rally organizers.
“I have only one thing to tell the media: Go
to Brandon, Mississippi, and get those
other five murderers who committed such a horrendous violent act
against my beloved brother, James Craig Anderson,” exclaimed
Brenda Anderson, the victim’s older sister.
The
Party for Socialism and Liberation stands with the Anderson family
and the many who have come to seek justice in Jackson, Miss. Real
justice against racist violence can only be won by the mobilization
of the people and ultimately by winning a social system where
divisions and hatred are not promoted in the name of profit.
