The History of Cross Burnings in the United States

David Bianculli: This case is fascinating to me because it's decided in 2003. In 1998, Richard Elliott and Jonathan Omara attempted to light a cross on the property of Elliott's neighbor who was Black. On August 22nd, 1998, Barry Black held a Ku Klux Klan rally on private property and with the consent of the owner in Carroll County, Virginia. A neighbor in the county sheriff witnessed the event and heard attendees make negative comments concerning Black people during the rally across was lit. The cases were combined for the Supreme Court oral argument. But this was a Virginia statute that banned cross burnings as prima facie evidence of intent to intimidate. By four, that Virginia statute