The Killing of James Craig Anderson: June 26, 2011

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Adapted from Wikipedia.[1]


James Craig Anderson was a 49 year old black man who died after being repeatedly beaten, robbed and run over by a pick-up truck in Jackson, Mississippi. His death has become a high-profile civil rights investigation; authorities allege that his death was intentional and racially motivated.[2]


Anderson was "helping his partner of 17 years, James Bradfield, raise the 4-year-old relative for whom Mr. Bradfield has legal guardianship," The New York Times reported on August 23, 2011. "There was no indication that Mr. Anderson's sexual orientation was a factor in the crime," added The Times.


The Times interviewed the Rev. Brian Richardson of Castlewood Baptist Church in Brandon, Mississippi, who attended Mr. Anderson's funeral, and is white. Rev. Richardson said that Daryl Dedmon, the white teenager alleged to have deliberately run over Anderson with his truck, had called Richardson's son, 18, "derogatory words for homosexual and mocked his friendship with black students when they were in high school together."[3]

The Killing

Anderson was near his truck in the parking lot at the Metro Inn in Jackson, Mississippi at 5 a.m. on June 26.


According to prosecutors, two vehicles carrying partying white teenagers from nearby Brandon, Mississippi pulled off the nearby freeway and into the parking lot.[1][3] The teenagers repeatedly beat Anderson repeatedly and robbed him, the district attorney said, citing video from a motel security camera and witnesses.[1] One car drove off but a green 1998 Ford F-250 allegedly driven by Daryl Dedmon, a white teenager, deliberately ran Anderson over, killing him.[4]


Witnesses reported that at least one teenager yelled “white power” and that Mr. Dedmon boasted about beating Anderson, using racial slurs.[5]

Investigation and charges

Dedmon has been charged with capital murder and the incident is being described as a racially motivated hate crime.[1] Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith said racial slurs were used during the attack. "This was a crime of hate," he told CNN. "Dedmon murdered this man because he was black."[6]


Another teenager, John Aaron Rice has been charged with simple assault for allegedly assaulting Anderson before he was killed and was released on $5,000 bail.[7] As of August 23, 2011 none of the other teenagers has been charged.


The FBI has opened an investigation into the crime as a civil rights violation.[8]

Reaction

On August 14, 2011, about 500 people marched in Jackson to denounce the "racially motivated hate crime."[9]

References

  1. ↑ First accessed August 23, 2011.
  2. ↑ Kimberly Severson, "Killing of Black Man Prompts Reflection on Race in Mississippi". New York Times, August 22, 2011. "James Craig Anderson's Death: FBI Investigates Fatal Rundown Of Black Man In Mississippi". Associated Press. August 18, 2011.
  3. ↑ Kim Severson, "Weighing Race and Hate in a Mississippi Killing", New York Times, August 23, 2011, page A1, A3.
  4. ↑ Kimberly Severson, "Killing of Black Man Prompts Reflection on Race in Mississippi". New York Times, August 22, 2011. "James Craig Anderson's Death: FBI Investigates Fatal Rundown Of Black Man In Mississippi". Associated Press. August 18, 2011.
  5. ↑ Kimberly Severson, "Killing of Black Man Prompts Reflection on Race in Mississippi". New York Times, August 22, 2011.
  6. ↑ Nicole Sperling, "March Aims to draw attention to Slaying of Black Mississippi Man". Sacramento Bee. August 15, 2011.
  7. ↑ "James Craig Anderson's Death: FBI Investigates Fatal Rundown Of Black Man In Mississippi". Associated Press. August 18, 2011. Nicole Sperling, "March Aims to draw attention to Slaying of Black Mississippi Man". Sacramento Bee. August 15, 2011.
  8. ↑ "James Craig Anderson's Death: FBI Investigates Fatal Rundown Of Black Man In Mississippi". Associated Press. August 18, 2011.
  9. ↑ Kimberly Severson, "Killing of Black Man Prompts Reflection on Race in Mississippi". New York Times, August 22, 2011. Nicole Sperling, "March Aims to draw attention to Slaying of Black Mississippi Man". Sacramento Bee. August 15, 2011.
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