Lynwood City Manager on LASD Shooting in Compton: 'Chickens Come Home to Roost'

Jose Ometeotl, the city manager of Lynwood, California, posted a note on his Instagram account this weekend that referred to the shooting of two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies as the “chickens come home to roost.”

The post was accompanied by an image of Malcolm X, who was affiliated with the Nation of Islam at the time he made that statement.

The two officers were shot and critically wounded Saturday evening in Compton, which is near Lynwood, as they sat in their patrol car. Both were hospitalized, but are expected to survive. The killing was applauded by some Black Lives Matter supporters, who are angry with the LASD over the death of a black man, Dijon Kizzee, earlier this month. Police say Kizzee was armed when he fought with LASD officers.

Bill Melugin of FOX Los Angeles posted Ometeotl’s comments, in which he condemned the shootings but said that the attack was “to be expected” because of the “political climate and leadership” of LASD Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

The original context in which Malcolm X used that phrase referred to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Ironically, Malcolm X was suspended from the Nation of Islam for his comment.

As he recalled in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the leader of the radical religious group, Elijah Muhammad, admonished and punished Malcolm X for his statement.

The crisis marked the beginning of Malcolm X’s alienation from the group. He eventually left and adopted a somewhat more moderate course.

Update: The city council of Lynwood has responded, according to Melugin, saying that Ometeotl’s views are his own and do not reflect the views of the city.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Ometeotl had once worked for State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.