Jermaine Dupri demands tougher policing after 7-year-old girl shot in Atlanta
The So So Def founder wants to end the gunfire in Atlanta.
Jermaine Dupri doesn’t care what anybody thinks of his recent call for tougher policing in his hometown.
On Thursday (Dec. 24), the veteran producer hit up his Twitter timeline to vent his frustrations about the ongoing gun violence in his own city after a 7-year-old girl was shot near Phipps Plaza in Buckhead Atlanta. The victim, Kennedy Marie, was in the backseat of her mother’s car when a stray bullet struck the young girl in the back of her head. Fortunately, Kennedy’s mother and aunt were able to rush her to the hospital. Kennedy survived the shooting, however, the shooter is still on the run.
“If you really from the A, it’s time for us to come together and stop all this shooting shit at Lenox and now Phipps,” Dupri tweeted. “The police need to get tougher, the profiling needs to go to code red and I can give a fuck about y’all getting mad about me saying this. Lil kids getting shot is wack.”
According to Interim Police Chief Rodney Bryant, there’s currently a $15,000 reward for any vital information that will lead to the arrest of the person or people who are responsible for Kennedy’s injuries.
Jermaine Dupri has been advocating for change a lot lately. In November, the So So Def founder connected with Ne-Yo, Johnta Austin, and Bryan Michael Cox to release their new single “Change.” The song also features contributions from artists like Kirk Franklin, Common, Rotimi, Eric Bellinger, Anthony Hamilton, and the Detroit Youth Choir. Dupri explained that the true purpose of the record is to call attention to all social justice issues.
“We created the song to call attention to these long-standing issues,” Dupri said about the record. “Members of the global community are now awakened to issues affecting BIPOC. The global pandemic forced us all to reevaluate everything from our health to police brutality and systemic racism. We are now witnessing a paradigm shift that creates an opportunity for real impactful change. ‘Change’ only resonates the need for topics that should have always been prioritized.”
Watch the full report about the shooting below.