Jackson Free Press

Reporter-turned-activist Eric Walker is the project curator of the Fate of Hate campaign. Fate of Hate is a grassroots movement focused on media and dedicated to producing public service announcements that promote a message of love and equality in communities across America. Walker started the movement after covering the hate-crime murder of James Craig Anderson in Jackson.

Born in Miami, Fla., Walker went to high school at Miami Lakes Educational Center and went on to attend college at Miami's Florida International University, where he majored in mass communication and journalism. Walker graduated from FIU in 2009 and spent the next three and a half years working for CableTAP TV in Miami. He started work as a video editor and went on to become associate producer and then a reporter. After leaving Miami, Walker took a reporter job at KLFY, a CBS affiliate in Lafayette, La. He remained there until 2011, when he moved to Jackson and took a job with Channel 12 WJTV. Walker was working as a reporter for WJTV the day James Craig Anderson's story broke.

On June 26, 2011, a group of young men that included Jonathan Gaskamp, William Montgomery, Deryl Dedmon and others drove into Jackson after a night of heavy drinking with the intent to attack African Americans. The group frequently drove around Jackson at night using slingshots and throwing beer bottles at African Americans they passed. When the group encountered Anderson in a motel parking lot, they cold-cocked him and punched him. As he lay on the ground, Dedmon got in his pickup truck and ran Anderson over, killing him. Dedmon was sentenced to life in prison on March 21, 2012.

"I was working Anderson's story from day one, when it was first classified as a hit and run," Walker said. "I stuck with it as the facts started coming out that it was a hate crime."

Walker covered rallies for Anderson and spent time talking to his family and the police, even during time off because he was so immersed in the story. "It sent chills through me when I saw the video footage of Dedmon running over Anderson; how a human being could do that to another human being. I felt a sense of unfairness when I put myself or my family in Anderson's shoes.

Press coverage of the case dismayed him. "The media never gave enough sense of who he was as a person. He was a family man, a factory worker, and all these things were played down in the media. I felt folks around here had a lackadaisical attitude about it because so many people in Jackson are desensitized to crime in general."

Walker started Fate of Hate as a way to increase awareness in the wake of Anderson's murder. The organization currently runs PSAs in Washington, D.C., Denver, Memphis, Nashville, and Kansas City, looking to inspire local communities. Fate of Hate does not run PSAs in Jackson out of respect for Anderson's family.

"Our slogan in Fate of Hate is 'We need each other,'" Walker said. "We are supposed to be interdependent, not independent. We all need to come together in a progressive world. Our organization's color is purple, the color of royalty, because we believe the Jackson and the state of Mississippi are royalty. We aim to change how people perceive Mississippi across the country."

Rapper, producer and actor David Banner—who was in the film "The Butler" alongside Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker—officially endorsed Fate of Hate, pledging to spread the word via social media, radio and TV interviews. Walker hopes that someone with Banner's celebrity appeal will get his organization's message out to more people across the country. Walker met with Banner Saturday, Nov. 3, to make plans with him. Walker hopes that Fate of Hate will double or triple its number of supporters with Banner's help. Fate of Hate currently has more than 20,000 followers on Twitter and thousands more on Facebook.

Check out Fate of Hate's website at thefateofhate.org and see some of the group's PSAs on YouTube. For information, call 601-951-9377 or 601-832-3575.