A lingering cultural construct that brands Black boys as “bad dudes” and Black girls as young “angry Black women” stems from the same dark ignorance that caused the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and decades of racist policies passed by state legislators and policy makers. The truth is, they were the architects for what are now today’s educational equality gaps
I know this ‘read’ may appear a little harsh, but white capitalists are literally sucking the “vibranium” out of North Tulsa — our Black dollars. Why is this important? When the Black dollar leaves the community, our economic power disintegrates.
Opinion By Nehemiah D. Frank
Oklahoma students consistently perform below nearly every other state in the nation, and I imagine that this year’s test scores will be lower due to unreasonable state legislators who have seemingly sworn their loyalty to oil and gas corporations. Considering last year’s average test score ranks Oklahoma at 49th in the nation for Pre-K through 12-grade education, we can literally hear the chains clanging against the floor as the new arrivals — former students — stroll into Oklahoma prisons. Our state ranks 2nd highest in the nation for incarceration and 1st in the world for incarceration of women.
Before the “Work the Contract” initiative began on March 12th, Cameron would spend time before and after school (and on weekends) making lesson plans, grading, calling parents, making copies, planning activities, organizing group work, and meeting with his coaches, principal and data team. Now the time to complete these duties is confined to his 55 minute planning period (contractual time afforded to allow teachers to attend to business outside of their classroom) each day. His regular 80/hr work week has been reduced to forty. “I am having a hard time not bringing any work home,” said Cameron. “It feels like a slap in the face that we have to prove to our legislators how much work this takes.”
OPINION BY | Nehemiah D. Frank
Let us be frank: renaming Robert E. Lee Elementary School “Lee School” is a lash on the back of every African-American student attending a Tulsa public school, which is alarming considering 25 percent of TPS’ total student population is composed of African-American pupils.
TPS may as well remount the “No Colored” signs and command all the Negro students, Negro teachers, and Negro staff to ignore the symbol that acknowledges, values, and promotes white superiority in a 21st-century integrated educational setting.
We are demanding justice for Terence Crutcher and his family, and we demand that Mayor GT Bynum.
When African-American leaders from North Tulsa echo white supremacy, it hurts the entire black community as a whole.
Echoing white supremacy can be defined as reinforcing racist stigma or perpetuating racial falsehoods for the purpose of personal gain or out of plain ignorance. Unfortunately, this ignorance or unrighteous act is harmful for the community and the race. And the predicable, unpredictable-unforeseen damages to come will have a long-lasting impact into the future on Tulsa’s African-American community and other historic African-American towns across the nation.
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.
City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper supports good cops, not crooked ones. Why? Becuase her husband is a cop and she would never put his life in danger because she loves him.
Ten-year-old Rosa Hernandez was in in the back of a medical transport vehicle in October. She and her cousin were traveling 150 miles by ambulance through the dark Texas backcountry from her home in Laredo to Corpus Christi. Rosa has cerebral palsy and was in need of an emergency gallbladder removal.
By Contributor David Harland
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is actively implementing a policy of racial profiling by interpreting a person’s hands being in the air as probable cause for drug searches.
In a traffic stop on January 5, 2018, Rev. Dr. Eric Gill was told to exit his vehicle. When he did, he put his hands in the air as a caution. Immediately, the officer yelled “now, why do you have your hands up, that means you have drugs! Do I need to search the car!?”
Captain Paul Timmons was quoted in defense of this OHP policy, saying “it kind of raises a red flag to law enforcement officers, people get out and instantly throw their hands up.”
But Rev. Dr. Gill didn’t have drugs in his car. Instead, his wife and eleven-month-old child waited and watched as he stepped out of the vehicle.
Oklahoma City – Today Oklahoma State Conference National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) calls for a meeting with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Commissioner concerning the treatment of Dr. Reverend Eric Gill, Youth Minister at Metropolitan Baptist Church, and former Basketball Coach at Heritage Hall School. Dr. Gill is approximately 5’6”, 170lbs and physically not seen as an immediate threat to anyone.
When did putting your hands up – a universal sign of surrender – become a message of “having drugs?” This is a prime example of Betty Shelby’s irrational behavior when she killed Terence Crutcher. According to the Tulsa Police officers, they stated that he looked like a “Big Black BAD DUDE.” With his hands in the air, according to Betty Shelby, Mr. Crutcher was reaching for a gun, and no one thought to question whether his hands being next to the car window was simply a reflection. “It is evident why so many law enforcement officers are acquitted when encountering African-Americans who they say are a big bad black dude no matter their height or weight.” Said Anthony R. Douglas, President Oklahoma State NAACP.
Citizens are crying out for better policing practices across the city. On Thursday, December 28, 2017, the Terence Crutcher Foundation hosted a community town hall meeting at the 36th Street North Event Center. The evening was filled with speakers advocating for change in policies and police-officer relations with north Tulsa residents. Dr. Tiffany Crutcher was poised, eloquent, and calm whenever she spoke at the town hall. She recounted how she and her family have been treated since her brother, Terence Crutcher was shot and killed by Betty Shelby, and the subsequent trial, and she spoke of community relations with TPD and the goals of the Terence Crutcher Foundation. At the end of the town hall meeting, the audience viewed a video from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) addressing statements that District One’s city councilor, Vanessa Hall-Harper made against TPD and Betty Shelby. Hall-Harper claimed that the FOP participates in a culture of corruption, and she refused to back down whenever she was questioned about her comments. The FOP member in the video stated that he did not understand why Mrs. Hall-Harper holds those beliefs, and that is one of the biggest problems dividing the police and the FOP from the community.
225 days have passed since former Tulsa Police Officer (TPD) Betty Shelby got away with murder. And today marks 387 days since G.T. Bynum assumed the role as Mayor of Tulsa.
At the 2017 Zarrow Mental Health Symposium, Mayor G.T. Bynum told attendees that most of the 77 recommendations form the Tulsa Commission on Community Policing he created would be implemented by year’s end.
Unfortunately, time is running out on the community policing dashboard. Purportedly, only 51-percent of the 77 recommendations for community policing is implemented, and 49-percent is ambiguously in the works of being implemented.
We are excited to announce an excellent opportunity for our readers to not only win tickets to Tavis Smiley’s stage play, “Death of A King,” on February 8, 2018, but to become more knowledgeable about the life of Dr. King, the life of King that you don’t know. As Tavis Smiley’s byline says, “The man you know, the story you don’t.”
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