Beverly Reed-Scott, organizer of the country’s largest African American parade, said at a Sunday news conference that, despite the violence, she was disappointed to see headlines about the parade focus on what she considered a “minor incident,” per the Chicago Sun-Times.
The incident occurred around 12:30 p.m. Saturday, after two young men got into a confrontation near the route of the parade, leaving an 18-year-old shot in the arm and a 15-year-old shot in the hand, CBS Chicago reports. Both teens survived and no arrests have been made as of Monday evening. The shooting caused spectators at the 85th annual parade to scatter from the scene of what is typically a peaceful tradition revered in the community. Held to mark the end of summer and the arrival of the new school year, the parade attracted an estimated 1 million spectators and some 60,000 participants.
Appearing on “Fox Chicago” Monday, Reed-Scott said that coverage leading off with the shooting was “unfair to the thousands of children that practice six months waiting for this one day to have their moment to shine.”
“The parade is for the families of the African American community to celebrate going back to school and at the very least, that could have been the lead in the story, not the shooting,” Reed-Scott continued.
According to the Sun-Times, she said she “absolutely” believes if the Chicago media would stop covering violence, it would have an impact on the issue.
