I am shocked at the choice of the picture on the front page (Monday, April 16) to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. I realize that this was not a staff picture, but it seems to be a pretty poor and disrespectful way to remember the deadliest rampage in American history.
I lived and worked in Richmond, Va., during the massacre. I had students with siblings, friends and cousins at the university with whom they could not get in contact. There were parents in our community who could not find their children for hours. This tragedy shook the community to the core.
I cannot imagine how horrified the family of Kevin Sterne would be to see their son carried like a sack of potatoes on the front page of a major college newspaper.
Yes, this tragedy was gruesome, and yes, this picture exists. But why, exactly, did the editors of The Post use it?
This tactless choice can do nothing but hurt those who have already been victimized. It doesn’t even matter if this article ever makes its way to Blacksburg. It has already caused damage. If nothing else, it paints us as classless and insensitive. Is this the message we want to send?
This is the second poor editing decision made by The Post in the past week, and I, for one, am extremely disappointed by it.
Katie Smyser is a graduate student studying history.
