One of three men investigated in the desecration of the James Meredith statue was indicted and charged with two federal civil rights crimes. Graeme Phillip Harris of Alpharetta, Georgia, turned himself in to authorities in Oxford Friday morning, according to Police Chief Calvin Sellers.
Harris and two others were being investigated for hanging a Georgia confederate flag and tying a noose around the neck of the statue of James Meredith, the first black student enrolled at the University of Mississippi, in February 2014. Of the three, only Harris has been identified. He is free on bond but is only free to travel in Georgia and Mississippi.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. released a statement Friday regarding Harris’ indictment.
“This shameful and ignorant act is an insult to all Americans and a violation of our most strongly-held values,” Holder said. “No one should ever be made to feel threatened or intimidated because of what they look like or who they are. By taking appropriate action to hold wrongdoers accountable, the Department of Justice is sending a clear message that flagrant infringements of our historic civil rights will not go unnoticed or unpunished.”
“This is definitely a step in the right direction,” said Black Student Union President Briana O’Neil. “It just goes to show that you can’t do hateful things at The University of Mississippi and get away with it. We don’t tolerate that kind of behavior at Ole Miss.”
Correl Hoyle, senior psychology major who has sat at the Meredith statue for an hour every day following the incident, shared similar emotions.
“Racism is a huge part of our country. Hate in general is a huge part of this world,” Hoyle said. “We can either learn from it and better ourselves or we can keep ourselves in an ignorant and dark age.
“I’m hoping that (Harris’) mistake teaches other people that hate is not OK anymore.”
Pontus Anderson, a sophomore management information systems major, said that though the indictment has shed more negative light on the university, the efforts Ole Miss and its students have taken to combat these issues should overpower the issues of its past.
“No one’s sitting back,” Anderson said. “The whole community’s being proactive, and no one gets to see that side of things.”
Freshman public policy leadership and African-American studies major Allen Coon said the university and the state of Mississippi could be doing more to promote civil rights.
“The fact that the noose wasn’t enough to get the (Sigma Phi Epsilon) chapter to leave, it was the hazing, that’s kinda indicative of a problem,” Coon said. “I feel like Mississippi as a state needs more civil rights policies, especially with the history the state has.”
Chancellor Dan Jones and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Brandi Hephner Labanc sent an email to students Friday, thanking the efforts of UPD and the FBI working in Oxford.
“I can’t help but feel the pain of the student and the parents who will now feel the full weight of our justice system but also feel the pain of our campus community and the entire Ole Miss family, which suffered greatly from the terrible act committed a year ago,” Hephner Labanc said in the email.
“It has taken time, but the process has worked, and I’m confident justice will be done,” Jones said in the email.
Lacey Russell contributed to this report.
