during a botched drug deal admits to the shootings. So why is another black man in jail for the deaths and the white man walking free?
Born in the mid-'80s, Renato Hughes, Christian Foster and Rashad Williams came into this world in the days of Jheri curl and feathered hair. By the time they were old enough to register style, hair had morphed into high-top fades and asymmetrical bobs. But the boys, growing up as neighbors and family friends, weren't fashion-obsessed. They opted to play sports, learn tae kwon do and go to summer science camp.
The three friends flourished in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. All came from stable, working African-American families, and as teens they attended college preparatory schools. The boys enjoyed success in athletics and were active in church and community. No one would have predicted that as young adults Christian and Rashad would not survive an ordinary vacation to a small lakeside town. And nobody could have foreseen that Renato would be held without bail for their deaths, despite another man's admission to having shot them.
Clearlake is the larger of the two cities in Lake County, but with the 2000 census putting its population at 13,000, it can hardly be called a metropolis. Its black population percentage is more than double the rest of the county at 5.2 percent, or just under 700 people--still not exactly diverse. The post–WW II economic explosion saw a small trend in black families from the Bay Area vacationing and buying homes in the area, as secure jobs in shipbuilding and other manufacturing became more accessible to black communities.
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http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/06.13.07/lake-county-killings-0724.html