Racist Mississippi man, 24, pleads guilty after burning a cross to intimidate his black neighbors

A Mississippi man has pled guilty in a Federal court to a hate crime after burning a cross in his front yard to intimidate his black neighbors.

Axel Cox, 24, from Gulfport, admitted to using ‘racially derogatory’ terms against the black family and threatening them, simply because they started living next door to him.

Cox gathered supplies from his residence, put together a wooden cross in his front yard and propped it up so his Black neighbors could see it, before dousing the cross with motor oil and lighting it on fire.

He later admitted he burned the cross because of the victims’ race. Cox faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the crime.

Axel Cox, 24, has pleaded guilty in a Federal court to hate crimes after burning a cross in his front yard to intimidate his black neighbors

‘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.’

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‘The collaboration among the Gulfport Police Department, the FBI, the Civil Rights Division and our office brought this defendant to justice,’ said US Attorney Darren LaMarca for the Southern District of Mississippi.

‘We will continue to work with and for the good people of Mississippi to eradicate such racist intimidation.’

Cox signed a plea deal Thursday after acknowledging that he violated the Fair Housing Act, designed to protects people from discrimination, authorities said on Friday.

His sentencing is scheduled for March 9, 2023. 

In 2018, Graham Williamson, 38, and Louie Bernard Revette, 37, were also convicted under the same act in the US District Court at Hattiesburg for burning a cross outside a black family’s home made out of household items.

The practice has been historically associated with the Klu Klux Klan, who used cross burning as an intimidation tactic. The KKK last held a cross burning ceremony in Cedar Town, Mississippi, in 2016.

Hate crimes against Black Americans rose by 46% between 2019 and 2020, according to The New York Times.

Cox, pictured, gathered supplies from his residence, put together a wooden cross in his front yard and propped it up so his Black neighbors could see it, before dousing the cross with motor oil and lighting it on fire