Mississippi Burning - Wisconsin V. Mitchell

Wisconsin V. Mitchell

The film itself shaped history when, on October 7, 1989, a group of African Americans became enraged after drinking and discussing the film, particularly the scene in which a white man beat a young black boy who was praying, and one of the group incited the others to beat up a passing 14-year-old white boy based on his skin color. The ensuing court case Wisconsin v. Mitchell (1993) was not only one of the few high-profile cases about a hate crime perpetrated by African Americans against whites but also led to a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling that a state may consider whether a crime was committed or initially considered due to an intended victim's status in a protected class. The case became thereby an important precedent pertaining to First Amendment free speech arguments for hate crime legislation.