Georgia Couple Facing Disorderly Conduct Charges After Hitting Black Teenagers, Calling Them ‘Monkeys’

A white Georgia couple is only facing charges of disorderly conduct after physically attacking two 14-year-old Black girls and screaming racist insults at them.

It all started on April 20, after the older couple accused the girls of letting their friends into the movie theatre through a back door. They called management, who checked on the situation but left after nothing appeared amiss.

However, after the movie, the couple took matters violently into their own hands.

Larry Gene Rader, 78, and Antonia Raquel Rader, 63, were arrested after striking the teens. Cell phone video was released of the couple harassing a group of Black teenagers and hurling racist insults.

“Hush!  Hush!  You hush!  You’re a bunch of monkeys. You’re going to end up on the streets doing drugs,” Antonia Rader said to the young girls after a confrontation where she accused them of letting their friends in through the exit door.

The mother of one of the girls said she was pulling up outside of the movie theatre to pick up her daughter when she says she saw Larry hit her child. The mother ran up and got into the middle of the chaos to protect her child. One of the female teenagers still had a black eye several days after the incident, according to WJBF.

Parents of the teenagers who were harmed are furious that the Rader’s were only charged with disorderly conduct and think the couple should also be charged with a hate crime.

Larry Rader said that he didn’t hear his wife say racist things but if she did, it “could” have made the teenagers aggressive but that he would stand by her.

“If my wife said anything like that I’m not going to get on her about it.  I’m just going to go along with that. It sounds like that could have infuriated them and made them more aggressive,” Larry said.

The less harsh sentence for the Rader’s is not surprising, considering the recent wealth of data from research showing that Black people are far more likely to be charged with crimes or given longer sentences than white people who commit the same offenses.

The case will go to court on June 11.

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