Mississippi man who burned cross to intimidate Black neighbors pleads guilty to hate crime

Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by Bald-Eagle619

A Mississippi man pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime after he burned a cross in his front yard to intimidate his Black neighbors.

Axel Cox, 24, of Gulfport, admitted that on Dec. 3, 2020, he gathered supplies from his home, made them into a wooden cross and propped it up in his yard so his neighbors could see it, the Justice Department said in a news release Friday.

He then doused the cross with motor oil and set it on fire. Cross-burning was used in the Jim Crow era by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups as a form of racial intimidation of Black people.

"Cox admitted that he burned the cross because of the victims’ race and because they were occupying a home next to his," the release stated.

He also admitted to using threatening and racially derogatory remarks toward the family, prosecutors said. The neighbors are only identified by their initials in the court documents.

A grand jury indicted Cox in September. His attorney did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday.

"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."

Cox faces a maximum of 10 years in prison at his sentencing on March 9.

Blizzardsaurus on December 3rd, 2022 at 22:55 UTC »

What a loser. 24 years old…for some reason I always think of racism as being an older person thing, like “Hey, younger generations are more sensible, we know the score, we know racism is bullshit.”

Then I see shit like this, I realize this punk was still pissing his diapers by the time I knew racism was bogus, and I just don’t get it.

PaMike34 on December 3rd, 2022 at 22:13 UTC »

So does an man make a plan to do some shit like this? Put it on his calendar? Hey Dave wanna go fishing Saturday? No, I have plans. Also, this is shit that doesn’t need to be done. I barely get the stuff done that has to be done. These people are motivated. These fuckers are strange. Even if I was racist I doubt anyone would know. I just don’t have the kind of energy it takes to be a legit racist piece of shit.

Bald-Eagle619 on December 3rd, 2022 at 21:47 UTC »

Full details :

Axel Cox, 24, of Gulfport, admitted that on Dec. 3, 2020, he gathered supplies from his home, made them into a wooden cross and propped it up in his yard so his neighbors could see it, the Justice Department said in a news release Friday.

He then doused the cross with motor oil and set it on fire. Cross-burning was used in the Jim Crow era by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups as a form of racial intimidation of Black people.

"Cox admitted that he burned the cross because of the victims’ race and because they were occupying a home next to his," the release stated.

He also admitted to using threatening and racially derogatory remarks toward the family, prosecutors said. The neighbors are only identified by their initials in the court documents.

A grand jury indicted Cox in September. His attorney did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday.

"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."

Cox faces a maximum of 10 years in prison at his sentencing on March 9