Marco McMillian was a 31-year old promising mayoral candidate for the city of Clarksdale, Mississippi, who was recently murder in the most brutal way possible. According to his family, he was beaten, dragged and set on fire before eventually dying. The death has sent shock waves across the country, and has brought to mind what many still remember about the late Emmett Till, who also died in a similar way in Mississippi in 1955.
McMillian’s body was found this week at the Mississippi River after he’d gone missing for a day. The sheriff’s department has a suspect, but the murder is not being investigated as a hate crime.
One of the theories regarding the murder is that the death involved a dispute in a romantic relationship between McMillian and his gay lover, but the family believes the murder was a racially-motivated hate crime.
Before his death, McMillian served as the executive director of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and executive assistant and chief of staff to the president at Alabama A&M University. He was known as an academic scholar and leader with a good reputation.
