TULSA, Okla. — 10 years ago, Tyrance Billingsley II was finishing his studies at Tulsa Community College when he learned that another TCC student had been killed by police.
Billingsley did not know Terence Crutcher personally. But he remembers the heaviness that descended over the North Tulsa community after a police officer killed the unarmed Black father on Sept. 16, 2016.
Ten years later, Billingsley believes Crutcher’s death became a turning point for a city still struggling with racial inequity and the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
“Terence’s blood, in so many ways, although senseless, was a catalyst to Tulsa and Greenwood’s resurgence,” Billingsley, founder and executive director of Black Tech Street, told The Black Wall Street Times.
His words captured the complicated truth hanging over the Terence Crutcher Foundation’s 10th-anniversary Memorial Gala. None of the progress celebrated that evening would have been necessary had Crutcher made it home alive.
Wednesday, September 16, marks exactly 10 years since Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby shot and killed Crutcher as he stood near his stalled vehicle with his hands raised. Shelby was later acquitted of first-degree manslaughter. Crutcher was 40 years old.
In the years since, his twin sister, Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, and their family have transformed their grief into a foundation focused on justice, public safety, mental health, youth leadership, strong families and economic investment in North Tulsa. Billingsley said Dr. Crutcher embodies the same spirit that enabled Greenwood to rise from destruction.
“She has embodied perfectly what it is to be of the Greenwood spirit—to know that an injustice was done and you were denied justice, but to keep pushing and to allow other people to benefit and be brought out simply because of a tragedy that happened with you,” he said.
State Rep. Ron Stewart said the foundation’s reach has expanded far beyond Tulsa and Oklahoma. “It’s amazing that it’s been 10 years, but when I reflect on how much advocacy and how many things have been accomplished in his namesake, it’s amazing,” Stewart said. “This has been a national impact.” Both Stewart and Billingsley were honorees at the gala.
A father remembers the moment everything changed
Before the gala began, Rev. Joey Crutcher spoke with The Black Wall Street Times, recalling that he was waiting for his son at Antioch Baptist Church on the day he was killed. Terence had started a music appreciation course at TCC’s Northeast Campus, and his father expected him to arrive at the church after class. Instead, he received the news that his son had been shot.
“That moment forever changed my life,” the Rev. Crutcher said.
He remembered teaching young Black boys, including his son, to raise their hands during encounters with police so officers could see they were not carrying a weapon.
“He had his hands in the air, and he wasn’t safe,” he said.
A decade later, Crutcher said he remains grateful to those who refused to let his son’s name disappear. “Ten years later, we have kept Terence’s name alive,” he said.
From grief to an institution
During the official program, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols praised the Crutcher family for choosing to serve an entire community while carrying its own grief. Nichols said it would have been understandable for the family to focus exclusively on seeking justice for Terence. Instead, the family built an institution that has supported young people, strengthened families, organized residents and challenged Tulsa’s leaders.
“You’ve inspired a generation of changemakers,” Nichols told Dr. Crutcher. “You’ve given people who never had a seat at the table a seat at that decision-making table, and you have dramatically reset the table for reform in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
The foundation’s work has grown around four central pillars: empowered youth, safe and healthy communities, strong families and connected neighborhoods—including youth leadership programs, community organizing, violence intervention, mental health resources and the development of Greenwood North at the former North Pointe Shopping Center.
Sheyda Brown, the foundation’s former deputy director, said the organization’s influence cannot be understood through numbers alone. “How do you measure a young person discovering their power for the first time, or an adult voting for the first time at age 67?”
Brown asked the crowded room of hundreds of supporters. “How do you measure a fellow who changes their whole life direction and goes on to change other people’s lives through law or policy?”
Investing in Tulsa’s young people
Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Ebony Johnson highlighted the foundation’s investment in education. Through its partnership with TPS, the foundation has supported literacy instruction from retired educators, expanded STEM learning, and operated its LEAD youth-development program across five high schools.
Johnson said 40 students participated in LEAD, receiving professional development, college and career support, and opportunities to advocate at the Oklahoma Capitol. All 13 seniors in the program were accepted into college or career programs. 35 students also received introductory artificial-intelligence training through Black Tech Street.
The foundation’s impact also extends into community-based violence prevention. Berthaddeus Bailey, managing director of My Brother’s Keeper at ImpactTulsa, said the organization helped push Tulsa to recognize that public safety involves more than policing.
“Safety is mental health. Safety is education. Safety is youth leadership. Safety is voting. Safety is canvassing. Safety is preventing violence before it even happens,” Bailey said.
The foundation now employs credible messengers, people with direct knowledge of the city’s neighborhoods and the forces driving violence, to intervene before conflicts become deadly. When a young man was recently killed in the program’s service area, Bailey said those workers supported the grieving family and even contributed their own money toward the funeral. “That’s not in the grant,” Bailey said. “That’s in their character.”
The foundation’s impact reaches beyond Tulsa
Before delivering the gala’s keynote address, Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, reflected on the national significance of the foundation’s work. Nelson said Crutcher’s killing came as Black communities across the country were already reeling from the deaths of Michael Brown and others killed by law enforcement.
“This one stood out because of the complete senselessness of that death and the disregard of the officers to take any responsibility for what they had done,” Nelson told The Black Wall Street Times.
She said it is difficult to overstate what the Crutcher family accomplished while simultaneously grieving, fighting for accountability and demanding that the public recognize Terence’s humanity.
“If you think about what wherewithal it took for a family that was grieving to organize themselves, to think about how to honor the legacy of their loved one and to make an impact in order to prevent that same tragedy from happening to other families—and to do all of that in the midst of mourning and grieving and fighting and insisting that they be seen and heard—it is just remarkable,” Nelson said.
LDF has worked alongside the foundation for much of the past decade. Nelson said the family’s advocacy now represents more than the fight for one man. “I am just so grateful that the Crutcher family, and Dr. Tiffany Crutcher in particular, have dedicated themselves to this work,” Nelson said. “Not every family can do that. But they are able to do it, and they’re doing it not just in honor of Terence, but also in honor of all families who have been victimized by this criminal legal system.”
A legacy still in motion
The gala did not present the 10th anniversary as the conclusion of the foundation’s work. Speakers repeatedly emphasized the unfinished fight for police accountability, independent oversight, economic justice, and greater investment in North Tulsa.
Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper said remembering Crutcher must involve more than saying his name. “The greatest way we honor him is by continuing the work—by fighting for justice, investing in North Tulsa, protecting our children, strengthening our families and building the kind of community where we and every Black family have value to their lives,” Hall-Harper said.
Ralikh Hayes, a senior community organizer with LDF who has worked with the foundation for seven of its 10 years, described its growth as “the biggest lesson in power” he had witnessed. “TCF went from an idea in Dr. Crutcher’s mind to an institution in the Tulsa landscape,” Hayes said.
“There are so many organizations that haven’t survived the last 10 years. Institutions are more than just culture. They are also physical spaces.” He pointed to the foundation’s acquisition of the former North Pointe Shopping Center as evidence the movement is putting down permanent roots.
“To Dr. Crutcher and the TCF staff, I love you guys,” Hayes said. “I deeply appreciate you, and I’m so proud of you. I look forward to being here again in 10 years.”
Terence Crutcher Foundation recognizes 2026 honorees
The foundation recognized 9 people whose work reflects its commitment to justice, education, health, economic opportunity and community development: Tyrance Billingsley II of Black Tech Street; Ebony Easley of the Art 4orms Foundation; Dreisen Heath, founder of the Why We Can’t Wait Reparations Network; State Rep. Ronald Stewart; Dr. Jabraan Pasha, senior advisor for community health to Mayor Nichols; Dania Diaz of the Shawn Carter Foundation and Team Roc; Kevin Perry of Perry Publishing and Broadcasting Company; Ralikh Hayes of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; and Karin Portlock, a partner at Gibson Dunn representing the Estate of Terence Crutcher in its ongoing federal civil-rights lawsuit against former Officer Betty Shelby.
Support the Terence Crutcher Foundation
The work of building Terence Crutcher’s legacy continues. Donations support the foundation’s efforts to empower young people, strengthen families, build safe and healthy communities, and connect North Tulsa neighborhoods. Donate directly to the Terence Crutcher Foundation.
