Stitt Targets Nichols, Tulsa’s First Black Mayor, Over Homelessness

TULSA, Okla. — Across the country, Black mayors are facing heightened scrutiny and intervention from state and federal leaders. From Donald Trump’s deployment of federal forces in majority-Black cities during his presidency, to governors sending the National Guard into urban centers, a pattern has emerged: Black leadership is being targeted.

Now, Oklahoma Republican Governor Kevin Stitt appears to be following that same playbook. On Thursday, Stitt announced Operation SAFE (Swift Action for Families Everywhere), a new initiative directing state agencies to clear homeless encampments on state-owned land in Tulsa. His announcement places direct pressure on Tulsa’s first Black mayor, Monroe Nichols.

“Tulsa is a beautiful city. I lived there for years. But today, everybody can see the disaster it’s turning into— homeless people on every corner, trash piling up, and Oklahoma families are being forced to live in fear,” Governor Stitt said in a statement.

“This is the city’s job, but Mayor Nichols and Tulsa leadership haven’t met the level of action needed to keep neighborhoods safe. Oklahoma is going to step in to do our part and clean it up. Once we’ve done so, it’ll be on the City to keep Tulsa clean and safe. If they refuse, then we’ll be forced to take further action to protect Tulsans,” the governor added. 

Nichols Calls Out Stitt’s Role in Crisis

Nichols pushed back immediately against the governor’s claims.

“First of all, Kevin Stitt has shown himself again to be an unserious person. When I took office, I inherited a homelessness crisis largely unaddressed by anyone in public office, including our two-term governor, who disbanded the interagency council on homelessness, which had a crippling impact on service providers, leading to what we have today,” Nichols wrote in a statement on social media.  

In April 2023, Governor Kevin Stitt dissolved the Governor’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (GICH), a body established in 2004 to coordinate state efforts in addressing homelessness. He cited a belief that the council was no longer effective and emphasized smaller government. 

What the Data Actually Says on Tulsa’s Homeless Population

Stitt’s controversial intervention comes even as Tulsa’s homelessness numbers show signs of slowing growth.

• The 2025 Point-in-Time Count found 1,449 people experiencing homelessness in Tulsa on a single night in January, a 4% increase from 2024.
• By contrast, homelessness spiked by 22.5% between 2023 and 2024, according to local reports.
• Over a three-year period (2021–2024), The Frontier reported an overall increase of 33% in Tulsa’s homeless population under Tulsa’s previous Mayor G.T. Bynum. 

Nichols emphasized that contrast: “Homelessness grew by over 20% the year before I took office. This year, it grew by only 4%. We have a long way to go, but we are making progress.”

Different Leadership, Different Strategies

Governor Stitt has directed the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Oklahoma Department of Transportation to dismantle encampments along highways, underpasses, and other state-controlled property. His plan offers two choices to those displaced: transportation to treatment or housing facilities, or arrest and prosecution.

Mayor Nichols has taken a different approach. His Safe Move Initiative, which he campaigned on, is designed to connect unhoused residents to permanent housing and supportive services.

“Instead of spending my time engaging in activities that won’t reduce homelessness, I have created the Safe Move Initiative, which aims to get hundreds of people off the streets for good, rather than simply shifting the problem elsewhere,” Nichols said.  

“We have a goal to end homelessness by 2030, and we’re on the pathway to doing that. I’m going to continue doing the job I was elected to do, and I am not interested in being lectured by someone who has proven time and time again that he only cares to intervene to score political points,” he added.

White Political Paternalism: A Historical Pattern in America

Stitt’s criticism of Nichols reflects a national trend of White political leaders exerting pressure on Black mayors. From Donald Trump deploying federal forces in diverse cities led by Black officials to governors intervening in local governance, Black mayors have faced disproportionate scrutiny compared to their White counterparts for over a century.

This belief traces back to Reconstruction, when the first Black members of Congress faced orchestrated campaigns to strip them of power. Opponents attacked leaders like Hiram Revels and Joseph Rainey with propaganda questioning their competence, violent intimidation of Black voters, and laws designed to dismantle their political base. These efforts weren’t about governance—they were about preserving White control by portraying Black leadership as inherently unfit.

Moreover, in 1898, white supremacists in Wilmington, North Carolina, orchestrated a coup overthrowing a democratically elected multiracial government. They discarded Black leadership with lethal force and terror and replaced elected officials. This ushered in an era of disenfranchisement—all under the guise of restoring “order.”

Today, cities led by Black mayors—such as Jackson, Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.—frequently face legislative or executive overrides from Republican-led state governments. These efforts often aim to limit their authority in areas like housing, policing, and economic reform, a modern echo of paternalistic interference.

Hence, White leaders have often undermined Black elected officials by framing their governance as inadequate. For generations, leaders have invoked the paternalistic belief that Black leaders cannot manage cities to justify interference through policy, propaganda, or force.

Power, Perception, and the Weight of History

The clash between Stitt and Nichols is about more than policy—it’s about power, perception, and history. Nichols is steering Tulsa through a crisis with long-term solutions, while Stitt opts for short-term optics rooted in paternalism. In a city still haunted by the trauma of 1921, undermining Tulsa’s first Black mayor raises a deeper question: whose leadership do we truly value, and whose progress do we recognize?

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