Chance The Rapper on Austin Bombings: ‘Someone Is Serial Murdering Black and Latino Men and Women’
Chance The Rapper has commented on the recent wave of bombings in Austin, which appear to be targeting black and brown people.
"Someone is serial murdering Black and Latino men and women in Texas right now. One of them was just a boy. Hold your leaders accountable. Even if you aren’t from Texas, your elected officials should be talking about this. #AustinBombings," he wrote on Twitter today.
Earlier today (March 20), an explosion took place at a Fed-Ex facility in San Antonio, injuring one person. The latest explosion comes after four explosions, two of them deadly, hit Austin over the course of the past month, reports CNN. Additionally, there was one other package besides the one that exploded earlier today that officials believe was loaded with an explosive device. Officials believe the San Antonio explosions are connected to the Austin bombings.
The first three explosions in Austin—one on March 2, and two more on March 12— killed or wounded three African-American people and one Hispanic person, and police have not ruled out that they could possibly be hate crimes. The fourth blast on Sunday injured two white men.
This past Saturday, The Roots concert at the SXSW Festival in Austin was canceled due to a bomb threat, though a man was arrested later that night in connection to the threat.
Chance, who recently received the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Awards, has long been politically and socially active. In 2017, he was named among this year’s most charitable celebrities. His comments come as officials scramble to find clues as to who's behind the explosions, leaving Austin residents are in state of "panic."
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