Think of a small group of young white men driving sixty miles to go hunting. Hunting not for deer or raccoon, but for a black man. A scene from an old movie exposing the Ku Klux Klan? Unfortunately not. Rather, on July 7, 2011, the Associated Press reported that earlier in the month two young white men drove to a predominantly African-American section of Jackson, Mississippi, stopping at a hotel just off the highway, and allegedly assaulting James Craig Anderson, a 49 year-old African American auto worker. The men were reported as using their pickup truck to run over the man, resulting in his death. The prosecutor stated: "Dedmon murdered this victim because he was a black man. We do have information that they were rejoicing after killing the victim." The alleged assailants were jailed, with Dedmon held without bond.
Two days ago the family of James Anderson filed a wrongful death suit against the group of teenagers who were allegedly involved in the assault and murder. Ironically, Anderson's long-term male partner, with whom he was raising a daughter, was not allowed to join the suit because of the Defense of Marriage Act as well as the lack of protection for LGBTs under Mississippi law. The lawsuit names seven people who are depicted as piling into two vehicles and going on a hunt for a black man, any black man.
The Southern Poverty Law Center joined the Anderson family in filing the wrongful death suit. For more information on this matter, go to their news release. To view a CNN video covering the case click here.
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