Oklahoma city councilman makes racist comment in meeting on racist policing

A Ken named Kelly from a town called Norman is in hot water for making racist remarks while on city council.

Kelly Lynn–because this story can’t have enough first names–is an elected official in Norman, Okla., a city about two hours southwest of Tulsa most famous for housing the University of Oklahoma. He let out his inner bigot in a meeting while the city council discussed a report on racial disparities in policing; you’ll be shocked to learn that in Norman, cops disproportionately use force against black people compared with whites.

While the rest of council listened to the presentation, which was being given by the Center For Policing Equity, Kelly was busy digging in his bag of racist tropes.

From the Daily Beast

Rather than trying to understand the statistics that Black people disproportionately deal with more police force than white people, Lynn claimed that Black Americans “are way more responsible for murder, robbery, all kinds of violent crimes.” Norman Mayor Breea Clark said Lynn’s comments “were wildly inappropriate & offensive. …I have zero issue publicly denouncing this behavior.” Councilwoman Brandi Studley said Lynn’s claim that Black people are inherently more likely to commit violent crimes was “extremely disturbing and racist.”

It’s a safe bet that Lynn doesn’t know the latest FBI data contradicts him in several categories of violent crime, or that how communities are policed impacts who gets arrested, or that Norman’s police chief said during the same meeting that he accepted the disparity data and is willing to work to improve. A quick Google search might’ve told him that a white man was arrested just this month after shooting a woman in Norman, then going on the run.

Lynn’s comments fall right in line with his campaign website, where he calls other members of city council (perhaps the ones who called out his racist comment?) a “radical clique”, and vows to “support our police, not defund them”, making no mention of the racial disparities in the department.