Axel Cox, 24, of Gulfport, Miss., was charged with violating the Fair Housing Act after burning a cross in entrance of a Black household due to their race.

Mississippi Department of Corrections by way of AP

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Mississippi Department of Corrections by way of AP

Axel Cox, 24, of Gulfport, Miss., was charged with violating the Fair Housing Act after burning a cross in entrance of a Black household due to their race.

Mississippi Department of Corrections by way of AP

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi man who burned a cross in his front yard to intimidate his Black neighbors pleaded responsible to a hate crime in federal courtroom, the Justice Department introduced Friday.

Axel Cox, 24, of Gulfport, was charged with violating the Fair Housing Act over the December 2020 incident, in accordance with courtroom information.

The Justice Department stated Cox gathered provides from his residence, put collectively a wood cross in his entrance yard and propped it up so his Black neighbors may see it. He then doused it with motor oil and lit it on hearth. He additionally addressed the household with racially derogatory language, information say.

A grand jury indicted him in September. Cox’s lawyer, Jim Davis, filed a discover of intent for him to plead responsible to the cross burning on Nov. 22, 2022. Davis didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Thursday.

The Ku Klux Klan and different white supremacist teams have lengthy practiced cross burnings to intimidate Black and Jewish folks.

“Burning a cross invokes the long and painful history, particularly in Mississippi, of intimidation and impending physical violence against Black people,” stated Kristen Clarke, assistant lawyer basic 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.”

A sentencing listening to is scheduled for March 9. Cox faces a most of 10 years in jail, a fantastic of as much as $250,000 or each, in accordance with the Justice Department

The Gulfport Police Department and the FBI Jackson Field Office investigated the case.