Tis the season for racist Oklahoma politicians!
Last week, Unite Norman apostle Kelly Lynn – the Norman City Councilmember who very unsuccessfully tried to hide a 1997 drug arrest from voters – put on his tackiest Christmas sweater and dropped some racist comments during a City Council meeting.
The comments came during a presentation that showed, unsurprisingly, that Norman police use force against Blacks 3.4 times more than Whites.
After the presentation, Dyer called the data "total garbage." Then, while going into a rant about how stats and data can be manipulated and say "whatever they want," he reached deep into his bag of racist tropes and stereotypes and quoted some random, FBI stats that ignore context to make it look like Blacks are more likely to commit crimes than Whites, and therefore deserve the excessive force.
Well, at least I think that's the point he was trying to make. It's challenging to go inside the mind of a jolly ole' racist.
Here's his quote:
“Looking at FBI statistics, African Americans are way more responsible for murder, robbery, all kinds of violent crimes, way disproportionate to their percentage of population. The numbers are outstanding,” said Lynn. “This seems like a big waste of time to me.”
Knowing what we know about Unite Norman, you'd think they'd be out celebrating, tossing bricks in the air after hearing one of their own boldly speak such race-baiting nonsense, but in a surprise move, it looks like they don't want to touch the comments with a 39-and-a-half foot pole!
The Norman Transcript caught up with Councilmember Rarchar Tortorello. Like Kelly Lynn, he was backed and elected by Unite Norman. Unlike Kelly Lynn, he doesn't appear to be a spry little racist looking to score brownie points with alt-right...
Ward 5 Councilor Rarchar Tortorello, who, like Lynn, is a self-identified conservative who also was endorsed by a movement to support police funding, Unite Norman, said he was appalled by Lynn’s comments.
“I just want people to know that conservatives don’t think like that. That’s not our train of thought,” Tortorello said. “We know that there are many factors that affect why police interact with people of color more often than people of non-color.”
Tortorello also said many of the factors that contribute to those crime statistics were not included in either the FBI’s analysis or the CPE report.
Tortorello, who is now a spokesperson for Unite Norman, also said: “I have a daughter who is Black. I don’t want her questioning her ethnicity as being prone to committing crimes. That would be horrible for anybody’s kids to hear this. When I heard the comments, I’m thinking of my daughter and if she’s hearing the comments. She’s met him several times.”
“I know he was quoting stats, but I think it’s the way it came across that got people upset,” he said of Lynn’s remarks.
I think Tortorello makes some excellent points, but I do disagree with his statement “I just want people to know that conservatives don’t think like that."
Based on what I've observed living in this Conservative state for 43 years, I think a more accurate quote would have been “I just want people to know that 25% of conservatives don’t think like that. "
Kelly Lynn issued a statement about the ordeal on Friday. Unlike his drug arrest in the 1990s, he didn't try to expunge the racist comments from his record. He simply thanked other racists for supporting him and vowed to never kowtow to the woke mob...
I don't agree with what Kelly Lynn said or implied, but I do give him credit for not compromising his personal values and giving some fake apology to the WOKE mob. If you're a racist who thinks Blacks or more apt to commit crime simply due to their skin color and, as a result, deserve to be victims of racial profiling, police violence, etc., be loud and proud and wear it like a tacky Christmas sweater. The more people who know you're a racist the better.
