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Kalyn Chapman James made history in 1993 when she became the first Black Miss Alabama. Now she is gaining new fame after a recent social media post. James took to Facebook this past Sunday after church and expressed her heartache and anger over the shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers and the accused killer Micah Xavier Johnson.
James speaks through tears and states, “I value human life. And I want to feel sad for them but I can’t help but feeling like the shooter was a martyr… I don’t want to feel this way and I know it’s not the right way to feel because nobody deserves to lose their lives. But I’m sick of this.”
James goes on to state, ” …and I know that those police officers had families and people who loved them and that they didn’t deserve to die but I’m so torn up in my heart about seeing these men — these black men — being gunned down in our community that I can’t help, I can’t help but feel like I wasn’t surprised by what the shooter did to those cops and I think a lot of us feel the same way.?
Her words seem to echo the thoughts of many but they have also served to get her suspended from her job as a host at Miami’s Channel WPBT2 TV station. The station released the statement on its Twitter account that says in part “WPBT2 South Florida PBS does not condone the personal statements made by one of its independent contractors regarding the events in Dallas. It placed the contractor on administrative leave while it actively and carefully looks further into the matter and will determine additional course of actions based on its thorough review of the matter.”
Tweets from viewers supported the actions by the station but many feel it did not go far enough and demand her termination. James’ Facebook page is filled with both supporters and detractors for her actions but she is standing by her words and thoughts. Her video has gone viral and has been seen over 300K times.
