As all of the teachers have slowly and sullenly headed back to their collective classrooms throughout the state, a large portion of the state’s elected officials — who happen to be mostly Republicans — are actively trying to undo what little progress was made through the legislative remedies as a result of the teacher walkout.
Today’s legislators are treating lower and middle-class students and public school teachers, of every race, to the likes of, how white legislators treated African-American students and their Black pedagogues during legal segregation.
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.
The City of Tulsa and the Community Service Council released the first annual Equality Indicators report today at Tulsa City Hall, which uses data to measure equality using a tool developed in partnership with the City University of New York Institute for State and Local Governance and The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities network.
Oklahomans have asked themselves the million dollar question or perhaps the billion dollar question: Why are public schools inadequately funded in Oklahoma when the state boasts natural resources that have created some of the worlds wealthiest people?
Healthy Neighborhoods Overlay vote shows that the city’s political powers are willing to listen and even vote in the interest of their constituents, voters who have often felt marginalized.
The ramifications in allowing the name of a person who protected and promoted white supremacy, white power, a Ku Klux Klan mentality, and Nazism — all racist ideologies at their core the same — to remain on the side of a public school building is detrimental to race relations for the city and the nation.
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.
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.
There is so much work to be done, and I am always among the first to admit that we are far from the ideal situation in this city. But I completely believe that we have enough people in our city that care about our kids to make things better.
As a former employee of the district, I’ve been watching the news coverage of the ongoing saga at Edison High School with the exasperated knowledge of a weathered insider. I also began to notice the massive amount of misinformation and misconceptions about what was really taking place there from outsiders and insiders of the city’s education sphere alike.
“The Dream Meet is our way of celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Watching young athletes from all backgrounds pursue their dreams together is witnessing Dr. King’s vision for children become a reality. It is an inspiring weekend.” – Jennifer Patterson, Aim High Academy Founding Executive Director
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.
Tulsa, Okla. — In the birthplace of local activism and mass movements in Tulsa, Our Revolution’s local chapter held its first body-meeting at the Rudisill Regional Library.
Unlike smaller organizations throughout the city, Our Revolution Tulsa is a subset of the national party, which was started by US Sen. Bernie Sanders. The social-democratic, political-action organization’s goals are to revitalize American democracy, empower progressive leaders, and elevate political consciousness to the everyday man and woman in this country.
“I had often observed, that when her mother washed her face it looked very rosy; but when she washed mine it did not look so; I therefore tried oftentimes myself if I could not by washing make my face of the same color as my little play-mate(Mary), but it was all in vain; and I now began to be mortified at the difference in our complexions. (Equiano, 1794, p.64)”
Black Wall St Times Ad