\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo: Tero Vesalainen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby Selena Hill <\/p>\n
July 9, 2026<\/p>\n
Community members are rallying behind Atlanta Harvest after its owner discovered the N-word carved into a watermelon.<\/p>\n
An act of racist vandalism targeting a Black-owned farmers\u2019 market in metro Atlanta has sparked an overwhelming show of community support.<\/p>\n
Atlanta Harvest co-owner EliYahu Ben Asa said he discovered the N-word carved into a watermelon last month while preparing to donate it to a local community center.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got out of the car and took a look at the watermelon, that\u2019s when I saw the racial slur carved into it,\u201d Ben Asa told WSB-TV<\/em>. \u201cI was taken aback. I was very surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than letting the incident deter him, Ben Asa said it reinforced his commitment to serve the community<\/a> through affordable, healthy food.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was disheartening to see, but it\u2019s not going to stop us,\u201d Ben Asa told 41NBC<\/em>. \u201cIt was a horrifying thing to pull out as a gift. My intention was to give it away, but I\u2019m glad that I caught it and no one else had,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n Ben Asa shared a video on Instagram talking about the incident, which went viral and prompted supporters to flood the Ellenwood market<\/a>. WSB-TV<\/em> reported that shoppers waited in long lines to purchase fresh produce in a show of solidarity just days after Ben Asa posted the video. One customer, Stephonie Wiley, said she drove 90 minutes to support the business.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw it on social media, and one, it\u2019s Black-owned, and we definitely want to support our Black-owned businesses,\u201d Wiley told the local news station.<\/p>\n Another customer, William Jones, said the racist act motivated him to take action.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>It was demoralizing, and it saddened us to the point where we wanted to support.\u201d<\/p>\n For Ben Asa, the community\u2019s response has been far more powerful than the vandalism itself.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just going to keep doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cOur work is too important. The food that we provide to the community is too important.\u201d <\/p>\n He added that he plans to file a police report and refuses to let the act of hate define Atlanta Harvest\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n \u201cThis wasn\u2019t something that I felt was necessarily a threat against my life,\u201d Ben Asa said. \u201cIt was just somebody doing some evil that wanted to spread some hate.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Asa said Atlanta Harvest will continue to combat food insecurity by providing families with access to fresh, nutritious food.<\/p>\n \u201cMy father has always taught me to never falter,\u201d he said. Never change. The work that we do is too important for us to be bogged down by any kind of bad situation.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED CONTENT: Confederate Flag Controversy Overshadows Trump\u2019s \u2018Great American State Fair\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Photo: Tero Vesalainen\/Getty Images) by Selena Hill July 9, 2026 Community members are rallying behind Atlanta Harvest after its owner discovered the N-word carved into a watermelon. An act of racist vandalism targeting a Black-owned farmers\u2019 market in metro Atlanta has sparked an overwhelming show of community support. Atlanta Harvest co-owner EliYahu Ben Asa said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10666],"tags":[17,7751,5702,4319,15891,1697,8049,2418,24080,643],"class_list":["post-35524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reparations","tag-atlanta","tag-blackowned","tag-community","tag-farmers","tag-farmers-market","tag-market","tag-racism","tag-racist","tag-supports","tag-vandalism"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/IMG_4535.jpeg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"REPARATIONS NEWS<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"(Photo: Tero Vesalainen\/Getty Images) by Selena Hill July 9, 2026 Community members are rallying behind Atlanta Harvest after its owner discovered the N-word carved into a watermelon. An act of racist vandalism targeting a Black-owned farmers\u2019 market in metro Atlanta has sparked an overwhelming show of community support. Atlanta Harvest co-owner EliYahu Ben Asa said…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35526,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35524\/revisions\/35526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}