White family built lynching mockup to intimidate Black neighbor: state lawsuit

Lynching illustration Photo credit Getty Images

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A mother and her adult son are defendants in what the Illinois Attorney General says is the first-ever hate crime lawsuit filed under a 2018 state measure.

Cheryl Hampton, 67, and her son, 45-year-old Chad Hampton, systematically harassed and intimidated a Black neighbor in Carroll County, culminating in the pair using a noose to lynch an effigy of the minority resident from a tree in their front yard, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said.

Raoul’s office said Cheryl Hampton and Chad Hampton, who are white, also displayed a racial slur alongside a Confederate flag and swastikas in direct view of the neighbor’s home in far northwest Illinois.

“Our complaint alleges the defendants intentionally used the shameful history of lynching and racism in America to terrorize and instill fear in their next-door neighbor simply because he is Black. No one should be subjected to this kind of hate,” Raoul said in a news release Wednesday.

The suit, which alleges the two committed a hate crime by intimidation and disorderly conduct, seeks “civil penalties and equitable relief.”

The Attorney General’s Office said it filed the lawsuit under a 2018 amendment to the Illinois Hate Crimes Act, which allows for civil lawsuits against people who commit hate crimes. State authorities said they were assisted by Savannah, Illinois police and the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office, which has filed separate charges against Cheryl and Chad Hampton.

Although the offenses outlined in the suit allegedly took place in Northwest Illinois, Cheryl Hampton currently resides in Streator and Chad Hampton lives in Victoria, near Galseburg, authorities said.

WBBM Newsradio could not find a listed phone number for Cheryl Hampton. A man who answered at the listed phone number of Chad Hampton said, "That's untrue" when asked for comment on the attorney general’s lawsuit and hung up.

The Black resident who was on the receiving end of the alleged hate crimes said he hopes the suit helps move society forward.

“This lawsuit is about tearing off the shackles that still restrain us to this day. It’s about never giving up on the mission of our United States Constitution. We, as a nation, are better than this,” he said through the attorney general’s office.