Cracker Barrel Beating: Where Verbal Anarchy Has Taken Us?

judy-howard-ellis

Judy Howard Ellis

Contributor
Posted:
09/17/09
A beat-down at the doors of a local Cracker Barrel. Isn't it disturbing to think that a simple act like taking your daughter to a restaurant can lead to being beaten in front of her?

Fox 5 in Atlanta initially reported Monday that a 35-year-old woman was beaten Sept. 9 by a 47-year-old man at a Cracker Barrel near Morrow, Ga. The woman, Tashawnea Hill, a U.S. Army Reservist, alleges that she asked the man to excuse himself after he nearly hit her 7-year-old daughter when they were entering the restaurant. In response, the man, Troy West, allegedly beat Hill with his closed fists, kicked her and called her racial slurs. According to an updated Fox 5 story on Wednesday, West alleges that Hill spit on him, prompting him to beat her up. Hill denies the spitting allegation. Hill, who is African American, told CNN Wednesday night she was called the N-word and the B-word by West, who is white.







West is charged with battery, disorderly conduct and cruelty to children. He was released on $5,000 bond. Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating the incident as a possible federal hate crime.

Could it be that the verbal anarchy happening in Washington infects what happens in America's streets -- or is it vice versa?