PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2016-09-27 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did the U.S. Ignore the 'Racist' Murder of an Elderly White Woman? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • On 1 September 2016, the conservative click bait web site US Herald shared a story that claimed a grisly murder of an elderly white woman in Georgia was a racially motivated gang killing: Dorothy Dow's grandson, Grant Dow, contacted us and confirmed the crime was not motivated by race, but that hasn't stopped a variety of blogs and web sites from claiming it was a case of reverse racism. As a result, Dow said that aside from dealing with his grandmother's death and the resulting criminal trial, he has been forced to try and battle the false narrative, going so far as having to personally convince a white supremacist group to cancel a planned rally in October 2016 over the murder. Grant Dow said the crime was a burglary: It had nothing to do with race. It just happened [the suspects] were black, and my grandmother happened to be white. Dow said he has the word of the white supremacist group, which the Newman Times-Herald identified as Georgia League of the South, that the October rally has been cancelled. He added that the issue has snowballed and gotten completely out of control, as groups rushed to align the story with their own political agendas: Of course, US Herald didn't provide any evidence (other than the circumstances of the crime) documenting that the race of the victim and suspects was a factor in the killing, and local news reports didn't indicate any racial motivation was behind the attack. Instead, as Dow said, the motivation seemed to be theft, as the attackers apparently demanded money from the victim, then beat her, poured liquid on her, set her on fire, and left. Dorothy Dow initially survived the 4 August 2016 attack but succumbed to injuries three weeks later: A search on Facebook for the term Dorothy Dow reveals that multiple web sites are spinning the story. Freedom Daily wrote on 28 September 2016: The US Herald story also claimed the attackers were members of a gang, but there was also no mention of the suspects' membership in any organized gang in any of the news reports on the incident. The suspects, Justin Grady, 38, Cortavious Heard, 18, Mina Ellery, 17, and Angel Harmon, 17, are all being held without bond on charges of felony murder and malice murder. Grady had previously worked in the blueberry fields next to Dow's home and had helped the family during harvest seasons. While the Meriwether County Sheriff's Office did not wish to comment and the District Attorney's Office did not return our request for information, the charges brought against the suspects do not include hate crimes, which are defined as any offense committed due to perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person, according to federal law. Dow's assault and murder was no doubt horrifying and brutal, but no evidence suggested the attack was motivated by racial animus. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url