Leftist Narrative Shattered as Latest Mass Shooter Is Revealed to Be Black Former NFL Pro
A mass shooting occurred in South Carolina on Wednesday, but it was covered differently in the establishment media than recent shootings in Georgia and Colorado.
According to police, Phillip Adams killed five people at a house in York County before killing himself.
Adams was a former NFL cornerback who played for the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and New York Jets over a six-year career. He was black.
The York County Sheriff’s Office reported that the victims were Dr. Robert Lesslie; his wife, Barbara; their two grandchildren, Adah and Noah; and James Lewis. All of them were white.
Sadly 5 people have died as a result of the shooting. Dr. Robert Lesslie & his wife, Barbara Lesslie were both found in the home & died as a result of gunshot wounds, as well as their 2 grandchildren. James Lewis of Gastonia, was working at the home & died from gunshot wounds
— YCSO_SC (@YCSO_SC) April 8, 2021
A sixth victim, Robert Shook, was in critical condition Friday at a Charlotte, North Carolina, hospital, The Associated Press reported.
WSOC-TV reported that Shook and Lewis were HVAC workers with Gaston Sheet Metal Services in Gastonia, North Carolina, who were doing work on the Lesslies’ house at the time of the shooting.
When recent mass shootings have taken place, many on the left have rushed to blame systemic racism.
Take, for example, the killing of eight people — six of them Asian — in Atlanta on March 16. The alleged shooter is Robert Long, a white man.
The immediate response from some in the establishment media was to blame white supremacy without any real evidence. New York Times contributor Damon Young wrote an article for The Root under the headline “Whiteness is a Pandemic.”
“A line can and should be drawn from the actions of the white supremacist who walked into three Atlanta-area massage parlors yesterday, and allegedly killed eight people — six of whom were of Asian descent — to the relentless anti-Asian rhetoric pollinating national discourse over the past year,” he wrote.
“The former president, and the party of the former president, can and should be blamed for this and the sudden increase of racist violence against Asian Americans. The line doesn’t stop there, though. It extends back 400 years and has tentacles clawing everywhere white supremacy exists here, in America, which is everywhere.”
In other words, Donald Trump and white supremacy were the reason this shooting took place.
However, The Times itself reported that something other than white supremacy likely motivated Long.
“A former roommate has described a ‘religious mania’ that marked Mr. Long’s life in the years before the shooting spree. And the police have said that Mr. Long, 21, told them he had a sexual addiction, and that the shootings were an attempt to eliminate temptation,” the newspaper reported March 19.
Nonetheless, Young and other establishment media figures decided that white supremacy was the only possible explanation.
When another mass shooting happened the following week in Boulder, Colorado, many on the left again blamed “white supremacy” — before police identified the suspect as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, a Middle Eastern, Syrian-born Muslim.
One cannot help but notice the differences in the responses to the South Carolina shooting. Not only has it gotten less media coverage with no one suggesting racism was involved, but Adams’ father made other excuses for his son’s actions, WCNC-TV reported.
“I can say that he’s a good kid — he was a good kid, and I think that football messed him up,” Alonzo Adams said. “You know, I don’t think he ever did anybody any harm.”
The AP’s report repeated that claim about Adams and gave it credence, saying, “Whether he suffered long-lasting concussion-related injuries wasn’t immediately clear.”
When a white man commits a heinous crime, it’s an indictment of white people everywhere and an indicator of deep-seated racism. When a black person commits a heinous crime, it must be because he’s a harmless person who just played too much football.
Do you see the hypocrisy?
Several people pointed out the inconsistency in coverage between these two tragedies on Twitter.
“I haven’t seen this mass shooting mentioned in broadcast & mainstream press,” Andy Ngo of The Post Millenial tweeted.
I haven’t seen this mass shooting mentioned in broadcast & mainstream press:
This week, a gunman shot six people in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Five were killed, including two young children aged 5 & 9. Former @NFL player Phillip Adams is the gunman. https://t.co/YyEyeqImHt pic.twitter.com/fmnm8yJfHn
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) April 8, 2021
Paul A. Szypula questioned why the people who blamed white supremacy for previous shootings were not showing similar outrage over this one.
Why aren’t Democrats calling for an end to black supremacy after the mass murder this morning in South Carolina by black former NFL defensive back Phillip Adams?
?
— Paul A. Szypula, US Senate Candidate for NY in ‘22 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 8, 2021
Will there be months of marches for the Lesslie family and breathless coverage by the media — or will the heinous destruction of this family be ignored because the victims were white?
— Paul A. Szypula, US Senate Candidate for NY in ‘22 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 8, 2021
Reasonable people understand that mass shootings can be horrible events without being indicators of systemic racism. Killers should certainly be prosecuted to the fullest extent, but it doesn’t mean that everyone with their skin color should be somehow held accountable.
Using a tragedy to push a preferred narrative about racism in America without evidence is irresponsible, and it only happens when the shooter fits the profile that the left wants him to fit. This tragedy in South Carolina has made that fact all too clear.
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