Karen Gilbert

We have to end the war waged by the legal system against Black, Latinx and Indigenous communities at the hands of state sanctioned violence.

Nothing has actually changed in policing, TPD’s policies and Tulsa’s city government from 2017 — when I first began closely examining Tulsa’s community policing efforts — till now. All of the efforts that the public sees were planned behind the scenes by activists and citizens who would not and will not be silent because their community is over-policed, scrutinized, and portrayed as being a “high crime” area on television shows like Live PD.

According to the Tulsa Public Schools Strategic Plan, 25.7 percent of students are chronically absent. Research shows that students who have more than ten unexcused absences are less likely to succeed in their classes, less likely to graduate, and more likely to have problems with education and employment later in life.