First black Miss Alabama says Dallas cop killer a ‘martyr’
The first black Miss Alabama stoked controversy online when she posted a video on social media calling the accused Dallas cop killer a “martyr.”
In the tearful two-minute clip, Kalyn Chapman James confesses that she’s prayed a lot but she doesn’t feel bad for the five police who died when sniper Micah Johnson opened fire at a Dallas rally Thursday.
“I don't feel sad for the officers who lost their lives and I know that's not really my heart,” the former beauty queen tells the camera.
“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.”
The 1993 Miss Alabama — now a Miami-area TV host — said she was just leaving church when she decided to shoot the video in her car.
“I don’t want to feel this way,” the Mobile native said.
Former Miss Alabama Kalyn Chapman James posted a Facebook Live video calling the Dallas shooter a “martyr.”
(FACEBOOK)
“And I know it's not the right way to feel because nobody deserves to lose their lives 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.”
She went on to note that she doesn’t condone violence.
“But I’m sick of this,” she said.
“I can’t stop replaying the image of these men being killed in my mind and my heart weeps.”
Though James did not immediately respond to the Daily News’ request for comment, she issued a statement to AL.com, expressing her condolences but reaffirming her feelings in the video.
“The fact that my opinion was considered newsworthy makes me feel like speaking up was exactly what I should do, because I can voice what so many people are feeling and dealing with and they should know they are not alone,” she wrote.
The University of Alabama grad told NBC affiliate WPMI that the wife of one of the slain officers reached out to her after her post went viral.
“She said that she watched my video and she wasn't mad, she understood what I was saying and that she forgave me,” the pageant champ said.
Not all reactions have been so supportive, though.
“People telling me to watch my back, people telling me to be careful, people telling me the police should never protect me,” she said.
“I apologize to anyone who was offended by my comments — my heart was not filled with hate.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/black-alabama-dallas-shooter-martyr-article-1.2707783
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