The sheriff and a county commissioner for McCurtain County, Oklahoma were among the people recorded discussing hiring a hitman to assassinate a local reporter and bringing back hanging Black people down by the river (literally) after the official end of a county meeting, The Oklahoman reports.
The conversation of Sheriff Kevin Clardy, Sheriff’s Office investigator Alicia Manning and Commissioner Mark Jennings was captured after a reporter trying to catch officials having secret meetings without public notice left a running recorder after the official end of a meeting. He retrieved the device later and found it captured three hours of conversation.
A man whose voice sounds like Jennings claimed Black people have more rights than “we’ve got,” presumably meaning white people. He fondly recalled the era when white people could “[t]ake them [Black people] down to Mud Creek and hang them up with damned rope. But you can’t do that anymore. They’ve got more rights than we’ve got.” [Side note: Oklahoma passed HB 1775 earlier this year, which bars the teaching of Critical Race Theory in elementary and high schools, where it is not taught. CRT deals with issues like institutional racism in law enforcement.]
In another portion, the group discussed assassinating a local news reporter, Chris Willingham of the McCurtain County Gazette, who had filed a defamation lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, Manning and the board of commissioners. Jennings and Clardy joked that they had graves dug and an excavator ready to dispose of the body. Jennings jokes he knew hitmen in Louisiana who would “cut no fuckin’ mercy.” [Or he could just go to HireAHitman.com.]
The FBI is investigating the incident and Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has called on the officials involved to resign their positions. “I am both appalled and disheartened to hear of the horrid comments made by officials in McCurtain County. There is simply no place for such hateful rhetoric in the state of Oklahoma, especially by those that serve to represent the community through their respective office. I will not stand idly by while this takes place,” Stitt said.