Oklahoma Official Caught on Tape Fantasizing About Lynching Black People Resigns
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s office confirmed on Wednesday that McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings has resigned after he and three other county officials were recorded fantasizing about lynching Black people and hiring hitmen to murder local reporters.
The four officials — Jennings, Sheriff Kevin Clardy, Sheriff’s Captain Alicia Manning, and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix — were recorded discussing a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, Manning and the Board of County Commissioners brought by McCurtain Gazette-News Reporter Chris Willingham. The Gazzete News first reported on the recording on Friday.
“Yeah, I ain’t worried about what he’s gonna do to me,” Manning can reportedly be heard saying on the tape. “I’m worried about what I might do to him. My papaw would have whipped his ass, would have wiped him and used him for toilet paper […] if my daddy hadn’t been run over by a vehicle, he would have been down there.”
“I know where two big, deep holes are here if you ever need them,” Jennings allegedly responded. Sheriff Clardy then reportedly volunteered his excavator to assist in the digging of holes.
Jennings also complained about how lynchings are no longer legal. “Take them down to Mud Creek and hang them up with damned rope,” he allegedly said. “But you can’t do that anymore. They’ve got more rights than we’ve got.”
At one point in the conversation the group joked about the body of a woman who had been killed in a house fire. “I’m hungry!” One voice can be heard exclaiming, as the county officials compare how burnt bodies fall apart to barbeque.
Stitt has called for the resignations of all four individuals. “I am both appalled and disheartened to hear of the horrid comments made by officials in McCurtain County,” the governor, a Republican, said in a statement released Sunday. “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.”