Hate is alive and well - especially in Mississippi - where a video caught a group of white teens targeting and black man then running him over with a car and killing him. It's yet another example of what the politics of hate and division of the far right bear as their ultimate foul fruits. The messaging of the far right seems increasingly out to dehumanize others because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion - all of which makes it easier for some to feel totally free to physically harm those whom have been dehumanized. It's precisely what the Nazi regime did to the Jews in the 1930's. What's shocking in this sad case is that the murder was caught on video. Here are highlights from CNN on the disturbing story:
On a recent Sunday morning just before dawn, two carloads of white teenagers drove to Jackson, Mississippi, on what the county district attorney says was a mission of hate: to find and hurt a black person.
In a parking lot on the western side of town they found their victim. James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old auto plant worker, was standing in a parking lot, near his car. The teens allegedly beat Anderson repeatedly, yelled racial epithets, including "White Power!" according to witnesses.
Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith says a group of the teens then climbed into their large Ford F250 green pickup truck, floored the gas, and drove the truck right over Anderson, killing him instantly.
Mississippi officials say it was a racially motivated murder. What the gang of teens did not know was that a surveillance camera was focused on the parking lot that night, and many of the events, including the actual murder of Anderson, were captured live on videotape.
The group of teens that night was led by 18-year-old Deryl Dedmon, Jr., of Brandon, Mississippi, according to police and officials. "This was a crime of hate. Dedmon murdered this man because he was black," said Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith. "The evidence will show that."
Dedmon led and instigated the attack from early in the evening, he took part in the beating of Anderson, and Dedmon was also the actual driver of the Ford 250 truck that would serve as the murder weapon, according to officials.
As the teens were partying and drinking miles away from Jackson that night, in largely white Rankin County, Dedmon told friends they should leave, saying "let's go fuck with some niggers," according to law enforcement officials.
Dedmon pummeled Anderson repeatedly as he crumpled to the street, according to officials, though this is not visible in the videotape. Finally, after the beating some of the teens left and some got into the green truck.
At this moment on the video, Anderson becomes visible, as he staggered into view 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, according to testimony given by some of the teens to detectives. "I ran that nigger over," Dedmon allegedly said in a phone conversation to the teens in the other car.
It's frightening stuff and it's the result in part, I suspect, of the constant message put out by the Tea Party and Christianists that America - read whites - are under siege and losing control of the country. Sadly, I suspect that we'll see more murders like this. And not just of blacks.
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