Two white men in Tulsa, have been arrest for a shooting spree in the black neighborhoods of Tulsa that have left three black people dead and two others wounded.
Horace Boothroyd III wrote a diary about this earlier this morning however he failed to note these extremely important facts.
According to Al Jazeera English [on TV minutes ago, not in the web piece quoted below] there are other reason for believing these killings were racially motivated.
THOSE THAT FAILED TO ARREST TRAYVON MARTIN'S KILLER BEAR A RESPONSIBILITY FOR THESE MURDERS!
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My dairy on Malawi was schedule to publish @ 9:30 this morning. It will have to wait. [or not] I didn't know I could publish two diaries in one day.
According to Reuters:
(Reuters) - Police acting on a tip arrested two white men on Sunday for a shooting spree in Tulsa that left three dead, two wounded and rattled the predominantly black neighborhood.
Tulsa police spokesman Jason Willingham said police were not prepared to label the shootings racially motivated hate crimes after the arrest of Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 32, on murder charges just before 2 a.m. (0600 GMT) Sunday.
"At this point we don't have a motive," Willingham said. "Obviously there's still a lot of investigation to do. Hopefully in the coming days we'll be more clear on what exactly the reason was."
In response to a tip, police put the suspects under surveillance and they were arrested at a home north of Tulsa, Willingham said. England and Watts were charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill, police said.
The shootings early Friday set the predominantly black north side of Tulsa on edge after a victim told police the gunman was a white man in a pickup truck who stopped and asked for directions before opening fire.
FBI and U.S. marshals joined the manhunt, swelling the task force to 30 officers, Willingham said.
"It's been a long 48 hours but we're glad we were able to get them into custody. It's been an all hands on deck type situation to get these guys in custody," he said.
From Al Jazeera:
Federal authorities are helping Oklahoma police investigate the shootings of five of African-Americans, three of whom were killed, within a few hours.
Three men and one woman were shot within 1.6km of each other in north Tulsa at around 1am local time on Friday morning, police and community members said.
Police said that a fifth victim, 31-year-old William Allen, whose body was discovered outside a nearby funeral home around 8am on Friday, was likely shot at about the same time as the others.
Each of the victims were African-American, but Chuck Jordan, Tulsa police chief, said it was too early to know whether the shootings were racially motivated, and police have not yet been able to prove forensically that the shootings are linked.
...
As investigators searched for the killer, the attacks sparked anxiety among Tulsa's black community, leaving many people worried that the shooter, or a copy-cat criminal, will continue the assault.
"People are fearful ... . They are afraid they can't walk down the street," said Jack Henderson, Tulsa city councilman who represents the district in which the shootings took place.
Authorities asked people to come forward with any information on the shootings.
"All citizens of Tulsa understand the significance of this event," Dewey Bartlett, Tulsa's mayor, said.
But the Reverend Warren Blakney Sr, the local chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organisation, said "avid distrust" between the black community and the police department had raised concerns that the shootings would not be fully investigated.
"We have to handle this because there are a number of African-American males who are not going to allow this to happen in their neighborhood," he said.
"We're trying to quell the feeling of `let's get someone' and we will make as certain as we can that this isn't pushed under the rug."
More, later....
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center:
Men Arrested in Tulsa Shooting Spree Posted Racist Material to Facebook
According to his Facebook page, Jake England’s father Carl was shot and killed two years ago. Oklahoma press are reporting that his death was the result of a domestic dispute. On Thursday, England posted this racist message about his father’s death, “Today is two years that my dad has been gone shot by a fucking nigger.” Another grim posting from Thursday reads, “I hate to say it like that but I’m done if something does happen tonite be ready for another funeral later.”
England and Watts were friends on Facebook and Watts posted a sympathetic reply to England’s message about his father’s death. “I kno i miss them 2. My last memories were great ones of them. Its nt goodbye its c u later,” read his post. Watts, who hasn’t put anything on his Facebook page since April 13, refers to some of his friends as “haterz.” Another post read, “O.b.a.m.a. Let me define. One big ass mistake america!”
The racists have already labeled this the "Tulsa Revenge Killings." From a website that displays the Confederate flag on the front page they say:
The shooter has been arrested … and, lo and behold, this was an entirely predictable retaliatory strike against the Black Undertow:
"Today is two years ago that my dad has been gone shot by fucking niggers"
Note: The shooter appears to be of American Indian ancestry. The African-American who shot and killed his father is serving a six year sentence.
2:28 PM PT: I'm going down to the beach now. Easter and Venice Beach is in it's glorious. Eighty degrees and the Venice Drum Orchestra is playing in front of the Venice Bistro. I badly need this right now so I won't pass it up.
But before I take my leave I want to apologize. I think I was a little too hard on Horace. He broke the story here in the middle of the night, that's the main thing.
I just think racism side must not be ignored. IMHO, more than any other single question. I believe that this whole enterprise known as the United States of America, succeeds or fails depending on how we resolve this question. To me that means, and to this extent I am an American exceptionalist, that this whole experiment known as humanity on the planet Earth, hangs in the balance.
The reason for that has mainly to do with slavery, by which I mean the most primitive form of human exploitation incorporated into the foundations of the most advanced capitalist country in the world. Racism is the whole social, political, cultural and most importantly ideological product of that economic engine.
Anyone who thinks that we have somehow put this question behind us is a fool.
BBL
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