Judge Weisenberger
Elected officials in the state of Mississippi perhaps need a “no to racism” clause in their contracts with their constituents. On Sunday, Miss. state Rep. Gene Alday told the Jackson newspaper that he didn’t support additional school funding because Black people get food stamps and welfare checks instead of working. And last Thursday, Justice Court Judge Bill Weisenberger turned himself in to the Madison County sheriff for slapping a mentally challenged 20-year-old Black man last May and yelling “Run, ni**er, run.”
After a grand jury finally came back with an indictment against Weisenberger on a charge of simple assault on a vulnerable adult, Weisenberger turned himself. A spokeswoman for the county Attorney General’s office confirmed Weisenberger was released on $10,000 bond, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
Both cases demonstrate that bold, public displays of racism in Mississippi are not a thing of the past. After all, last week also saw a federal judge sentence three white men for the brutal 2011 lynching of James Craig Anderson in Jackson. Anderson, who sang tenor in the choir at the First Hyde Park Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson and who was helping his partner of 17 years raise a 4-year-old child, was set upon in a parking lot shortly before dawn by a group of white teenagers who drove into Jackson—which they called “Jafrica” because of its large Black population—looking to “f**k with some n*ggers.” They beat Anderson, then drove their pickup truck over him, killing him while some of the teens reportedly yelled out the words “white power.”
These clearly are not isolated incidents. As U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves said when he sentenced the three white men, Mississippi has tried hard to slough off the horrific racism of its past, but these men tore open the wound once again with their horrible crime.
Witnesses say Weisenberger struck 20-year-old Eric Rivers, an African American, and yelled “Run, n—–, run” last May 8 at the Canton Flea Market. If convicted of the felony, the judge could face a fine of $1,000 or up to 5 years imprisonment, or both.
“From the beginning of this matter, Judge Weisenberger, has cooperated with each law enforcement and investigatory agency that wanted to know what actually occurred at the Canton Flea Market last spring,” Weisenberger’s lawyer, Bill Kirksey, said in a statement emailed to the Clarion-Ledger. “Judge Weisenberger has denied and continues to deny any wrong doing or the commission of any crime against any person.”
In addition to the public slap, Weisenberger has also been accused of imposing an illegal DUI sentence against an African American in his courtroom. Additionally, he has been accused of arresting and jailing Charles, who is African American, on the nonexistence charge of “roaming livestock.”
