Mississippi’s Racist Past Emerges: Brutal Hate Crime Caught On Tape

There is a very storied past that many care not to remember in the State of Mississippi during the Civil Rights era in America. Tales of lynchings and indiscriminate murders of black people without repercussions were the order of the day during a time when the life of a black person was considered insignificant, and backed by racist all white juries who often acquitted vicious murderers. That was a long time ago, but far to often we see crimes reemerge that mirror that Southern State’s culture of Race Hate. Most recently the ghost of Mississippi’s past reared it’s ugly head when James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old auto plant worker, was standing in a parking lot, near his car.

A group of intoxicated teens from a town 16 miles away were on a mission to hurt a black person. The ring leader, John Aaron Rice edged the group on when he said, “let’s go fuck with some niggers”. Full of alcohol, on a mission of hate, the group of teens which also included several females piled into cars and drove 16 miles to a predominantly back section of Jackson. The group exited the Rte 20 ramp and saw Anderson in a Motel parking lot alone just before dawn. The group of teens is seen pulling into the parking lot, and stopping where Anderson is standing and began pummeling Anderson repeatedly as he  lie crumpled to the street. After the beating several of the teens left the area, but Deryl Dedmon, Jr and several other teens (females) climbed inside  of a green F-250 pick up truck. At this moment Anderson is seen as he staggered on the side of the road. and walked towards the headlights of the truck. The truck suddenly surges ahead, running over Anderson, then continuing at high speed away from the scene. Shortly after he allegedly drove the truck over Anderson, Dedmon allegedly boasted and laughed about the killing. “I ran that nigger over,” Dedmon allegedly said in a phone conversation to the teens in the other car. However, what the teens did not know was the entire incident was caught live on a video via a camera mounted on top of the motel.

The actual killing of James Craig Anderson on tape  (Warning: Video contains disturbing and graphic content)

After the beating and subsequent murder, the group of teens met up at a local McDonalds where witnesses say Dedmon was describes as unremorseful and even laughing about the brutal killing of a man for no provocation other than that he was black. We see from viewing the surveillance video that Anderson was alone that early morning in Jackson, completely vulnerable, and the attack went on for several minutes as the teens ran back and forth from their vehicles to where Anderson was on the ground. According to authorities they were able to piece together what had actually occurred after interviewing eye witnesses to the crime. It’s alarming to think that people actually stood by while this beating went on and no one came to Anderson’s aide. We recall incidents from Mississippi’s darker days that citizens were unwilling to cooperate with Police out of fear of retaliation from racist whites who were known to instill fear in anyone wanting to talk. It’s also hard to come to the realization that sadly, this same fear exist today. Though Police were able to take Dedmon into custody, I’m troubled that other teens inside the truck with him were not charged in this murder. The standard is that parties acting in harmony with others in the commission of a felony crime typically are charged in unison as if they were in fact the perpetrator themselves. Neither of the females inside of the truck that drove over Anderson mashing him to death called Police or reported the incident to authorities, and they too rightfully should be charged with murder as well. Then again this is Mississippi and we are familiar with the backward ways of how the Criminal Justice System plays out in that neck of the woods. Also, it’s a very disturbing fact that they may even walk or that their trial may even result in lesser charges considering the history of Mississippi juries. Although this story was reported by CNN, there hasn’t been much publicity or a public outcry denouncing this senseless violence, and particularly from the African American Community. Had the victim in this crime been a white person and the perpetrators  had been black, the surveillance video would almost certainly went viral! As sickening as this crime is, one must resolve at a even more disturbing perspective that such a obvious crime of hate has occurred with little more than a ripple from black people. No Black Leader (if there are even any true ones in existence today), Politician, Clergy, or even a member of Mr. Anderson’s family has come forward to display disgust at these tragic , heartless, and sickening events.

Walk Not Alone! 

The Emmit Till Story

Birmingham Church Bombing

How soon it seems that we have forgotten the struggles of many of our ancestors, their bondage, and the struggle for true freedom here in this Western Civilization. It might serve a greater and deeper understanding here to highlight the fact that those liberties and freedom that we enjoy today, would not have come to fruition without the aide of many of our God Fearing white brothers and sisters, but even they could not curtail many of the tragedies depicted in the images below!

These race hate crimes in 2011 can only and properly be associated with old Jim   Crow.  As the dust of the Civil war settled, many Blacks saw an era of prosperity and hope. This dream was cut drastically as a concerted effort was begun by whites to destroy any advances which Blacks had made for themselves. This effort was extremely successful in removing Blacks from the many state and federal offices which Reconstruction had allowed them to hold. But this was not enough. The architects of the revived South needed something more to further the cause of white supremacy and Black oppression. Out of this need, the era of Jim Crow was born with its “separate but equal” claims. And with it came a wave of violence against America’s newest citizens. The social atmosphere of white supremacy which Jim Crow had managed to create soon became a tide of hatred. Bolstered by the idea of the inferiority of Blacks and the protection of “white womanhood,” whites saw it as nothing to trample Blacks in a storm of violence. These attacks included lynchings, burnings, and race riots. And though the majority of this violence took place in the South, the North was by no means immune. For more than a century, angry whites made the life of Black America a continuous nightmare.  It seems that black America’s only escape from the harsh realities of racial brutality is to enact similar if not greater acts of violence against Racist American Whites! How soon we forget!

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

David Adams

A Self proclaimed geek, Sympathizer for the homeless, Social Change Advocate, Crime Blogger, Promoter of Awareness for Missing and Exploited Children, and a mobile technology enthusiast. A recognized Journalist and Human Interest Writer championing the plight of the masses whom are without a voice of their own.

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There is a very storied past that many care not to remember in the State of Mississippi during the Civil Rights era in America. Tales of lynchings and indiscriminate murders of black people without repercussions were the order of the day during a time when the life of a black person was considered insignificant, and backed by racist all white juries who often acquitted vicious murderers. That was a long time ago, but far to often we see crimes reemerge that mirror that Southern State’s culture of Race Hate. Most recently the ghost of Mississippi’s past reared it’s ugly head when James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old auto plant worker, was standing in a parking lot, near his car.

A group of intoxicated teens from a town 16 miles away were on a mission to hurt a black person. The ring leader, John Aaron Rice edged the group on when he said, “let’s go fuck with some niggers”. Full of alcohol, on a mission of hate, the group of teens which also included several females piled into cars and drove 16 miles to a predominantly back section of Jackson. The group exited the Rte 20 ramp and saw Anderson in a Motel parking lot alone just before dawn. The group of teens is seen pulling into the parking lot, and stopping where Anderson is standing and began pummeling Anderson repeatedly as he  lie crumpled to the street. After the beating several of the teens left the area, but Deryl Dedmon, Jr and several other teens (females) climbed inside  of a green F-250 pick up truck. At this moment Anderson is seen as he staggered on the side of the road. and walked towards the headlights of the truck. The truck suddenly surges ahead, running over Anderson, then continuing at high speed away from the scene. Shortly after he allegedly drove the truck over Anderson, Dedmon allegedly boasted and laughed about the killing. “I ran that nigger over,” Dedmon allegedly said in a phone conversation to the teens in the other car. However, what the teens did not know was the entire incident was caught live on a video via a camera mounted on top of the motel.

The actual killing of James Craig Anderson on tape  (Warning: Video contains disturbing and graphic content)

After the beating and subsequent murder, the group of teens met up at a local McDonalds where witnesses say Dedmon was describes as unremorseful and even laughing about the brutal killing of a man for no provocation other than that he was black. We see from viewing the surveillance video that Anderson was alone that early morning in Jackson, completely vulnerable, and the attack went on for several minutes as the teens ran back and forth from their vehicles to where Anderson was on the ground. According to authorities they were able to piece together what had actually occurred after interviewing eye witnesses to the crime. It’s alarming to think that people actually stood by while this beating went on and no one came to Anderson’s aide. We recall incidents from Mississippi’s darker days that citizens were unwilling to cooperate with Police out of fear of retaliation from racist whites who were known to instill fear in anyone wanting to talk. It’s also hard to come to the realization that sadly, this same fear exist today. Though Police were able to take Dedmon into custody, I’m troubled that other teens inside the truck with him were not charged in this murder. The standard is that parties acting in harmony with others in the commission of a felony crime typically are charged in unison as if they were in fact the perpetrator themselves. Neither of the females inside of the truck that drove over Anderson mashing him to death called Police or reported the incident to authorities, and they too rightfully should be charged with murder as well. Then again this is Mississippi and we are familiar with the backward ways of how the Criminal Justice System plays out in that neck of the woods. Also, it’s a very disturbing fact that they may even walk or that their trial may even result in lesser charges considering the history of Mississippi juries. Although this story was reported by CNN, there hasn’t been much publicity or a public outcry denouncing this senseless violence, and particularly from the African American Community. Had the victim in this crime been a white person and the perpetrators  had been black, the surveillance video would almost certainly went viral! As sickening as this crime is, one must resolve at a even more disturbing perspective that such a obvious crime of hate has occurred with little more than a ripple from black people. No Black Leader (if there are even any true ones in existence today), Politician, Clergy, or even a member of Mr. Anderson’s family has come forward to display disgust at these tragic , heartless, and sickening events.

Walk Not Alone! 

The Emmit Till Story

Birmingham Church Bombing

How soon it seems that we have forgotten the struggles of many of our ancestors, their bondage, and the struggle for true freedom here in this Western Civilization. It might serve a greater and deeper understanding here to highlight the fact that those liberties and freedom that we enjoy today, would not have come to fruition without the aide of many of our God Fearing white brothers and sisters, but even they could not curtail many of the tragedies depicted in the images below!

These race hate crimes in 2011 can only and properly be associated with old Jim   Crow.  As the dust of the Civil war settled, many Blacks saw an era of prosperity and hope. This dream was cut drastically as a concerted effort was begun by whites to destroy any advances which Blacks had made for themselves. This effort was extremely successful in removing Blacks from the many state and federal offices which Reconstruction had allowed them to hold. But this was not enough. The architects of the revived South needed something more to further the cause of white supremacy and Black oppression. Out of this need, the era of Jim Crow was born with its “separate but equal” claims. And with it came a wave of violence against America’s newest citizens. The social atmosphere of white supremacy which Jim Crow had managed to create soon became a tide of hatred. Bolstered by the idea of the inferiority of Blacks and the protection of “white womanhood,” whites saw it as nothing to trample Blacks in a storm of violence. These attacks included lynchings, burnings, and race riots. And though the majority of this violence took place in the South, the North was by no means immune. For more than a century, angry whites made the life of Black America a continuous nightmare.  It seems that black America’s only escape from the harsh realities of racial brutality is to enact similar if not greater acts of violence against Racist American Whites! How soon we forget!

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

David Adams

A Self proclaimed geek, Sympathizer for the homeless, Social Change Advocate, Crime Blogger, Promoter of Awareness for Missing and Exploited Children, and a mobile technology enthusiast. A recognized Journalist and Human Interest Writer championing the plight of the masses whom are without a voice of their own.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

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