If this is an African American family that headline alone should have the people of Atlanta incensed. The subheading for the story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution online reads: Dropped watermelon may have led to shooting of wife and child, police say.
I don’t know about you, but I find that use of verbiage both racist and making an attempt to sensationalize a horrendous crime and tragedy. Once again, I’m assuming no white person was involved. If they were, they wouldn’t say anything about the watermelon until later in the story. Thankfully, a smart person was quoted in the report. But then again, they could’ve been used for jokes as well. Last name a coincidence? I don’t think so:
Maggie Beck-Coon, a research and communications coordinator for the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, took exception to police reports that the violence was initiated over a watermelon.
“People are not shot or killed over a dropped watermelon. People shoot their family members when that person is perpetrating domestic violence,” Beck-Coon said in an e-mail.
What the headline and story should have said was the 55-year old grandfather, Robert L. Cook Jr., shot his six-year old grandson during some sort of dispute. No one knows exactly what happened. The neighbors have seen the grandfather “cussing” at the boy in a fierce way, but never imagined it would come to this.
