The FBI announced on Wednesday the sentencing of three grown men for taunting African-American middle school students in Louisiana.
James Lee Wallis, Tony L. Johnson and Brial Wallis admitted to hanging a dead raccoon from a noose on a flagpole in front of Beekman Junior High School, in Beekman, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, out of anger at the school’s new busing policy. They admitted to wanting to scare African-American students away from the school.
James Lee got eight months, Brian Wallis got five months and Johnson got six months, while all three received an additional year of supervised release, during which they must attend a “cultural diversity and sensitivity program,” says the FBI.
“Every child, regardless of race, is entitled to an education free from intimidation or discrimination,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in a statement. “Unfortunately, acts of hate such as this one are all too common in this country in 2012.”
