Yesterday I saw something I hoped I would never see happen.
Someone shot and killed a television reporter and cameraman live on the air.
It is a television journalist’s worst nightmare.
24-year old Alison Parker was the reporter.
27-year old Adam Ward was her photographer.
The journalists for WDBJ were interviewing a city official about tourism and commerce when 41-year old Vester Flanagan walked up, open fire and unloaded 15 rounds into the three victims, emptying the gun’s entire magazine.
The two journalists died at the scene.
The city official is in critical condition.
Vester Flanagan whose TV name was Bryce Williams was a disgruntled former reporter who had worked with both journalists at the same station before being fired for erratic behavior.
The station’s managers and his co-workers say Flanagan was fired because he had become increasingly difficult to work with.
They say he wasn’t a good on-air reporter.
But Flanagan saw it differently.
In a manifesto he reportedly sent to ABC News, Flanagan says he had been discriminated against because he was black and gay.
He reportedly wrote in the manifesto that he had been attacked his entire life by white women and black men.
The station’s general manager says that Flanagan had even filed suit against the station claiming racial discrimination.
The GM, station managers and fellow employees say the claims were nonsense.
A judge later threw out the claim.
In fact, in 2000, Flanagan had filed a similar claim against a Tallahassee television station which, according to his attorney, was settled.
Right after yesterday’s double murder, Flanagan, using his TV name, Bryce Williams, tweeted out his frustrations and posted videos of the shooting.
He wrote on twitter, “Alison made racist comments…. EEOC report filed… They hired her after that??? Adam went to HR on me after working with me one time…. I filmed the shooting see Facebook.”
Fellow employees of WDBJ say Flanagan not only became increasingly difficult to work with but became almost paranoid, obsessed with being a victim of homophobia and/or racism.
His former colleagues of all different ethnicities say they never saw any type of discrimination towards Mr. Flanagan, just that he was a bad reporter.
Psychologists say Flanagan used racism as a cover for his own shortcomings and in so doing his downfall became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The discussion about Flanagan has mainly centered on mental health and whether Flanagan was mentally ill.
The other, lesser discussion, has been whether he was racist.
If one looks objectively at Flanagan’s actions and history, one can’t help but come to the conclusion that both are probably true.
Flanagan killed the two young people because they were white.
He admitted as much.
And yes, anyone who does what he did was also out of their mind.
23 thoughts on “Don Lemon: Yes, The Virginia Shooter Was Racist”
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He was not a racist, he was mentality ill, crazy, and full of anger and everything else. Look at his past, he had issues with everyone including black men and himself.
You’re full of it. That may have been true 40 years ago, but if anything the pendulum has swung totally in the other direction.
I’ve been in management for over 20 years, and I can tell you that every company I’ve worked for has gone out of it’s way to recruit and hire blacks. I can also tell you that in case where there are multiple candidates of relatively equal qualifications, we will ALWAYS hire the minority candidate.
And believe me, it is far more than just “token” hires. Where I now, we recruit heavily at Diversity Career Fairs and we offer internships open only to residents of minority neighborhoods of Boston. Not only that, but we even have an HR person dedicated specifically to doing outreach in the minority community.
Trust me, if you are black and want to work, there are plenty of companies that want to hire you.
Thank you for replying Pat, because at my job the pendelum has swung so far the other direction that we’re literally hiring incompetent idiots just because they’re a minority!?!? … and it pisses off us minorities that actually know what we’re doing because when theyre incompetence is blatantly obvious it makes us look bad & of course its a HR nightmare to terminate them out of fear of them screaming discrimination.. smh
Timothy/Pat,
You are absolutely correct. What’s so sad is that some black folks have become so mirred in negativaty and victimhood that they only see racism abd discrimination in everything. Now, I don’t doubt that racism exists, like I said; everyone has their biases, even us black folks against each other. That may be part of the reason we don’t work together to create our own economy within this country by networking with each other. But on here, we get folks that say, there are no good jo s for black people, then you have others who say that the good jobs we have don’t really matter because we are token hires! How do you win? You can’t with some people. My suggestion is if you don’t like the status quo, start your own business where you call the shots and run the show. There you go, excuse solved.
I agree with you!
First of all, I believe the shooter should not have killed the victims. However, it wasn’t surprising that the station was going to respond that the shooter had mental issues and was required to go to EAP. In my opinion, management will send employees to EAP for almost any issue, especially if the employee is one who they no longer want to be a part of their company. EAP is supposed to be used in a positive manner, but in most cases it is marked to start a process which is not usually in the employee’s favor.
The incident doesn’t negate the fact that discrimination papers were filed a while ago by the shooter. As my mom was say, where there is “smoke”, there is “fire”. Of course, any negative information which can be found involving the shooter will be exposed. Will a thorough investigation be conducted on the victims’ characters as well? At this point and due to the outpouring sympathy, I doubt it.
Bev you did read the fact that he had numerous incidences at different employers right?? .. lemme guess they were all picking on him too & he shoulda found them & killed them too?? .. not sure if your trying to vindicate his actions or what but your argument sounds pretty pointless at this point in time
As the parent of a child who works in a newsroom here in DMV neither of us have sympathy! Come on Don he looks like you and what gets those jobs and job jealous because the blonde STAR whom also gets those jobs took his. The preferred hires CLASHED..end of story. Let’s move on to the next tragedy for the media to exploit. They worked in a very cut throat biz. That presser by station lacked diversity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can’t really understand your jibberish but it sounds like your trying to justify what this sick fuck did, seriously?!?!… alot of careers are cutthroat & yes being a minority can sometimes make it harder, but if your not up for the challenge then you do what normal people do you CHANGE CAREER FIELDS, not blame your lifes failures on everyone else & kill people
Cave n!@@ers are defensive and rigid racist. Nubian people don’t waste your time trying to reason with a brain dead neanderthal apes. They have poisoned the world with their hatred. You reap what you sow, enjoy the harvest mayonnaise monkeys. They should have never been let out of the caves of Europe.
I have a problem with folks generalizing an entire race , no matter what the color. There are folks in ALL races with issues and as far as trying to blame Obama you’re pissing in the wind ! Now Trump is a different story !
Dylan Roof and this guy wanted to create a race war and hatred amongst people of the opposite color. I reject their message and choose not to go down their path.
I find that so many on here are defending this man as a ‘helpless victim’ of the ‘evil white man’s America.’ Most everyone has some bias against others for one reason or another. The good thing with most people is that those biases never leave that person’s brain. This man shot and killed two white people. If the situation were reversed, the same people on here deflecting blame would be the same ones crying racism, black lives matter, blah, blah, blah. Even if there were no racial motives, the very act of a white person killing a black person is automatically racist. A black person kills a white person and your rune changes real quick. I’m so sick and tired of this poor old victim me, my ancestors we’re slaves so everybody on Earth owes me something. News flash! People are people and have the capabilities to harm others, no matter the race. Black people around incredibly callous when they start screaming black leaves matter ( which they don’t really when we are wiping ourselves out), yet blow off every else while screaming, look at me I’m a victim! If we don’t change our focus to progression, we will be stuck in this quagmire of failure forever
@African American Woman
Post of the Day … Very well written advice that we can all learn from
I don’t think he shot them bcs they were white. He shot them bcs he felt they had wronged him, along with the station. OtherwiseOtherwise, he would have probably not targeted someone he knew.
Timothy Green:
Read the “TRUE” history for a change! Whites created racism that started with the Indians! Have you ever read the story regarding the “Trail of Tears?” The history of “Slavery?”…
Are you truly that ignorant & stupid?!?! … before “whitey” was violating the Indians, they were violating eachother. Before “whitey” came & took slaves from Africa, Africans were enslaving eachother … When we as blacks are around only other blacks we’ll find other reasons to discriminate against eachother, ie that guys carribean or african black not American black & that applies to EVERY OTHER CULTURE .. places like New York & Chicago you have the separation of whites into Italian, Jews, Germans etc etc many discriminating against the other. Racism & discrimination are not specific to any one color or ethnicity its a PEOPLE “problem”
Good maneuver Don. When someone’s life parallels your life that much it is best to distance yourself from him because you know everyone is looking at you now. Smart move.
Don Lemon:
America is racist! It is where racism was created by whites; they created this monster called “racism,” and when they are victims, all of a sudden, it’s not right.
Im going to need you to take your meds & dial back on the stupidity, before you post foolishness in a grown peoples discussion forum… “America created racism”.. racism & discrimination existed far before America & will be around far after .. mankind always finds ways to discriminate against each other if its not about color its about religion or where you stay
So, will our Racist-in-Chief be weighing in on this case, the way he does whenever the victims are black and the killer is white?
That reasoning sounds incredibly plausible. It could be that if one feels as they are the victim all the time, something I think a lot of people today claim, instead of learning how to be conquerors through the One who made us conquerors, then the only way is to lash out at others. I remember one of the Die Hard movies with Bruce Willis and Samuel Jackson and Bruce accused Sam of being a racist and it turned out he was correct in that assumption. So yeah. I can go with that conclusion. How sad. How very sad.
So the theory is that he got caught up in always being the victim in life, so retaliated against the “evil” white man & woman?? … sounds like this man had all around issues with everyone, but i could see a very strong possible racist connection being made, especially since that’s exactly what would be said if the colors were reversed .. extremely sad times we’re living in