Shocking racist act against Ole Miss statue results in arrest

Shocking racist act against Ole Miss statue results in arrest

The man was charged with putting a noose and a Confederate flag on the statue of James Meredith, the first black student who had to be escorted by armed federal agents to enroll in 1962.

Authorities have indicted a former University of Mississippi student on federal charges after a noose was found on a statute of a student who was responsible for integrating the school.

The statue at Ole Miss depicts James Meredith, a black student who had to be escorted by armed federal agents as he enrolled at the school in 1962 as the first African-American ever to do so, prompting anti-integration protests to descend into violence. This week, his statue was found adorned with a noose and the former Georgia flag that featured the Confederate emblem as part of its design, according to an Associated Press report.

The Justice Department said it had indicted Graeme Phillip Harris of Alpharetta, Georgia, on one count of conspiracy to violate civil rights and a count of using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students, according to the report. Attorney General Eric Holder called it a “shameful and ignorant act” that is “a violation of our most strongly held values.”

Holder further added that the Department of Justice intended to send a “clear message that flagrant infringements of our historic civil rights will not go unnoticed or unpunished,” according to the report.

Harris was an Ole Miss student at the time that the noose was placed on the statue, but he is no longer enrolled, according to a university spokesman, who noted that the case was turned over to the Justice Department.

Meredith, who is now 81 years old, told the AP that it was a shame that the university had to turn to federal authorities to handle the situation. He said the incident says the only justice for a black person in Mississippi is the federal government, and it is disappointing that is the only way African-Americans can expect justice there.

The local district attorney, however, said last year that no state laws had been broken and therefore it would file no charges. Mississippi has a hate crime law, but it requires an underlying crime in order for their to be additional charges, and the statue wasn’t damaged, so vandalism didn’t apply.

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