Well, that was fast. When news broke about Phil Stair, the now former sales manager for the Genesee County Land Bank, blaming the Flint, Michigan water crisis on its predominantly Black residents, the response was strong and swift. Stair, who was recorded saying the contaminated water problem is due to “fucking n----rs” who “just don’t pay their bills,” was urged to resign with even Congressman Dan Kildee (D) publicly condemning Stair’s hateful rhetoric.
The audio footage, captured undercover by a local activist, shows Stair shamelessly using racist words and attitudes to blame the victim.
“Flint has the same problems as Detroit—fucking ni**ers don’t pay their bills, believe me, I deal with them,” Phil Stair7, sales manager for the Genesee County Land Bank said on May 26th during a conversation with Truth Against the Machine reporter and environmental activist Chelsea Lyons in Flint.
He was driving to a restaurant with Lyons and another individual, who he’d met that night, when he made the comments, which were recorded and later obtained by TATM.
Stair did go on to try and clarify: “I don’t want to call them ni**ers, shit I just went to Myrtle Beach, 24 guys, and I was the only white guy; I got friends, I mean, there’s trash and there’s people that do this shit. They just don’t pay their bills. Well, Detroit, didn’t collect on their bills, so they charged everybody else, but- Flint- Flint had to pay their bill to Detroit.”
The evidence was just too damning for Stair to deny. News of his resignation broke this morning on MLive.com after his boss, Michele M. Wildman, accepted his resignation:
Wildman addressed the county Board of Commissioners Monday morning, saying she accepted Stair's resignation and apologized for his remarks.
"I am deeply troubled by (the statements)," she said. "The citizens of Flint deserve to have trust in their public officials."
Good riddance.
You can listen to the record of Stair’s statements below: