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Rev. Gerald Davis speaks to a young, diverse crowd about social justice and coming together for the great good of all.
By Founder & Executive Editor Nehemiah Frank
Tulsa, Okla. — Last night, at Foolish Things Coffeehouse Co., I walked into a room mostly filled with Tulsan millennials.
The United League for Social Action (T.U.L.S.A.) — a group that focuses on transparency and accountability for law enforcement, implicit bias training for law enforcement, and seeks to implement a citizens review board with subpoena power for the City of Tulsa’s police department — hosted an event entitled “Speak TULSA” offering free beer coupled with a candid conversation about social justice. Heirloom Rustic Ales even donated a free keg for the organization that seeks positive social change for the city.
The event included performances by local talents.
Sterling Matthews, a poet, took on-lookers from pain to power and then to ‘woke’ and reminded the audience that we’ve come a long way but still have some distance to travel
Steph Simon rapped about the greatness of Black Wall Street and that community’s painful history; he ended with Greenwood’s resilience.
The diversity of attendees would be the first time, since returning to Tulsa, I could visually see a socially positive future; I saw OneTulsa. A crowd filled with various kinds of people who usually don’t hang together or in the same social settings; everyone got along.
Moreover, nearly 200 young people from every cliché-ish-click, racial, religious, and sexual self-identifiable [what’s your pronoun] group filled every section of the room. It was truly remarkable.
Rev. Gerald Davis, a local minister, enlightened the crowd on the importance of working together as ‘one people’ to solve today’s social ills, which was strategy and dream of Dr. King.
Since the Black Wall St Times and other organizations have been aggressively snatching the truth from under the rug of Tulsa’s color-line problem, young people are intently and purposely stepping out of their comfort zones and pushing the social needle to end racism and discrimination in the city of Tulsa.
TULSA plans to host more Speak TULSA events with the primary goals of
- building community,
- allying with national human rights organizations that are interested in documenting involved justice incidents (racial profiling, police brutality, etc.)
- providing information on how to get those stories heard, updating the community on TULSA’s recent work and findings concerning these issues and community policing,
- getting people involved
- creating an approachable setting for young people to engage with this issue and have an accessible space to get involved with different organizations.”
Nehemiah D. Frank is the Founder of the Black Wall St. Times. Frank is also the Co-Executive Producer of the “Dominic Durant Sports Show.” Frank graduated from Harold Washington College in Chicago, IL in General Studies, and earned his second degree in Political Science from Oklahoma State University. He is highly involved in community activism, a middle school teacher at Sankofa School of the Performing Arts, a blogger for Education Post, and dedicates most of his time to protecting, empowering, and uplifting his community. Frank is a 2017 Terence Crutcher Foundation Honoree and has been featured on NBC, Blavity, and Tulsa People.