Outcry after noose put around neck of black student in Mississippi

Derrick Johnson, left, president of the Mississippi NAACP, left, talks to Stacey Payton, center, with Hollis Payton, behind her, parents of a high school student, in front of the Stone County Courthouse in Wiggins, Miss., on Monday.

A rights group in the US state of Mississippi has demanded a federal hate crime investigation after the family of a black high school student said white students put a noose around his neck.
At a news conference, the Mississippi NAACP demanded a federal hate crime investigation.
“No child should be walking down the hall or in a locker room and be accosted with a noose around their neck,” state NAACP President Derrick Johnson said during a news conference in Wiggins. “This is 2016, not 1916. This is America. This is a place where children should go to school and feel safe in their environment.”
Hollis and Stacey Payton, parents of the alleged victim, attended the news conference but didn’t speak. Their son, an unnamed sophomore, wasn’t present.
The NAACP said the incident happened during a break in football practice and that the noose was “yanked backward” while on the student’s neck.
Johnson wouldn’t say whether the noose left marks. State NAACP spokeswoman Ayana Kinnel said the family indicated the student returned to practice after the incident.
Stone High has about 800 students, about a quarter of whom are black, according to state figures. The school is the only public high school in the 18,000-resident county.
Mississippi has struggled with a history of racial division. It is the last state that still incorporates the Confederate battle emblem in its state flag. In 2014, two out-of-state students at the University of Mississippi placed a noose on the campus’ statue of James Meredith, the black student who integrated Ole Miss in 1962. Both pleaded guilty to using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students and employees. Neither attends the school anymore.
Names of the students alleged to have assaulted the Paytons’ son weren’t immediately released.
Stone County Sheriff’s Capt. Ray Boggs said officials believe something close to what the Paytons described did happen and he’s still investigating. He said all the students involved are younger than 17 and he expects any charges would be filed in youth court, where records are closed to the public.

Source: Arab News