Armed protesters march on Oklahoma governor’s mansion in response to police killings of Black men

Between 150 and 200 armed protesters peacefully marched on Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s (R) residence Saturday in protest of police killings of unarmed Black Americans, according to local reports, with some calling for specific Sooner State cases to be reopened.

The march was organized by 1,000 Brothers and Sisters in Arms, a gun rights group for people of color, and proceeded from Oklahoma City’s Ralph Ellison Library to the Governor’s Mansion, The Oklahoman reported. Stitt was not at the mansion at the time, having traveled to Tulsa in advance of President Trump’s campaign rally that evening, it noted. 

The crowd was predominantly made up of Black men, according to the newspaper.

“We aren’t going to allow people to come into our communities and brutalize us,” event organizer Omar Chatman said before the event, the Oklahoman reported. “If you come into our community, know we are armed.”

Chatman also urged the crowd to “be civilized” and went on to condemn Stitt for “liv[ing] in a predominantly Black side of town but allow[ing] the police to execute us when we have our hands in the air.”

He specifically cited an “intolerable” incident in which two parole officers ordered two Black children, ages 5 and 8, onto the ground. He went on to say that “All too often on this side of town, police have acted as judge, jury and executioner.”

Another speaker, Charles Pettit Sr., reportedly urged Stitt to reopen the case of his son C.J., who was killed in 2015 by a Midwest City, Okla., officer, and argued video evidence contradicts the official police report.

Marchers handed a security guard a list of their demands, which included reopening the Pettit case, requiring police officers carry their own liability insurance, state laws holding law enforcement responsible for cases where they are found to be at fault, and an International World Court investigation into potential U.S. human rights violations of Black citizens, according to the Oklahoman.