Note to Herald readers

Many Herald readers were upset by a headline that appeared in the Tuesday, June 2, print edition. Coupled with the photo, it could be misinterpreted that the peaceful protesters were later involved in vandalism.

That was not our intent and we apologize if it was taken that way.

We acknowledge this is a very challenging time in our country and community, and we all have an opportunity to be better every day.

The story and photo captions in print and online were an accurate description of the protests in Richland and Pasco over the weekend, and of vandalism that damaged three Kennewick businesses.

We clearly reported that groups gathered for peaceful protests for an end to racial violence but their efforts were marred by a few wannabe looters who showed up later. We can’t ignore that a few opportunists hijacked the important message others were trying to convey.

In selecting which photos to publish, we purposely chose to run photos of peaceful demonstrators during the day instead of photos of the mayhem that occurred later at night. We intended to highlight positive events in our community rather than the negative.

This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 7:17 PM.