oklahoma
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‘Feeling Cute, Might Shoot Your Baby Daddy Today’: Corrections Officers Show Their Collective Asses in Social Media Challenge
There’s something about the power of euphemism: you call someone a “prisoner” or an “inmate” and, suddenly, all sorts of dehumanizing, terrible, violent things that would be unfathomable to subject a “regular” person to become possible. Become necessary. You call someone a police officer, guard, or a “corrections officer,” and suddenly the power to humiliate…
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Black Oklahoma Student Knocks MAGA Hat Off White Teen’s Head. Now He’s Facing Charges
A black Oklahoma high school student is facing possible criminal charges after cellphone footage shows him knocking the Klan MAGA cap off of a white teen’s head, and grabbing the Führer supporter’s “Trump 2020” flag and throwing it to the ground. The incident happened at Edmond Santa Fe High School and has since gone viral…
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Black Artists Unite to Revive Black Wall Street’s Legacy
At the turn of the 20th century, the thriving neighborhood of Greenwood, known as Black Wall Street, in Tulsa, Okla., was an epicenter of black wealth in the United States. From 1905 to 1921, it was a flourishing community filled with black families who owned businesses, homes, newspapers and churches. It was also the site…
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Betty Shelby Gets Bounced from Police Conference, Crutcher Family Calls It ‘Step in the Right Direction’
In what Tiffany Crutcher is calling a small “victory” for her family, a major homicide investigators conference has rescinded their invitation to have former Tulsa, Okla., Officer Betty Shelby speak at its event. Shelby, who shot and killed unarmed black motorist Terence Crutcher in 2016, was scheduled to talk about “Surviving the Aftermath of a…
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Wannabe Cop Who Shot and Killed a Black Man Says He's Sorry But He Shouldn't Have Been Sent to Prison
Remember Robert Bates? Sure you do. He was the old, white Oklahoma man who wanted desperately to be a cop, so he donated loads of money to his local police force and, in turn, was allowed to be a volunteer deputy and participate in ride-alongs and even had a real working gun, which he used…
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Tulsa Mayor Calls for Investigation Into Possible Mass Graves From 1921 Black Wall Street Massacre
Nearly 100 years ago, white rioters laid siege to the nation’s most affluent black neighborhood, colloquially known as “Black Wall Street,” in Tulsa, Okla., setting fire to homes, destroying businesses and killing hundreds of black people. The wounds of that incident still scar the town, particularly because so many unresolved questions—like where some 300 black…
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A Look at the Resumé of Oklahoma's Nazi Police Officer
On Thursday, city officials in Achille, Okla. confirmed that it had hired Bart Alsbrook as a reserve police officer to patrol the tiny town on Oklahoma’s Texas border. Alsbrook had impeccable credentials. He had a clean record, a background in law enforcement and the city could find no citizen complaints filed against him. Having served…
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'What About Our Aftermath?': Tiffany Crutcher Remembers Her Brother, Terence, Two Years After His Death
It’s been two years since Terence Crutcher died, but once in a while, his sister Tiffany Crutcher will talk about him as though he’s still here. “Terence and I just celebrated our 42nd birthday, August 16th,” she says. Tiffany, who has a clinical doctorate in physical rehabilitation, is a health care provider. This particular Wednesday…
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Betty Shelby, the Oklahoma Cop Who Killed Terence Crutcher, to Teach Class on 'Surviving the Aftermath' of Police Shootings
This Is How White Privilege Works 101: Betty Shelby, the white Tulsa, Okla., police officer who shot an unarmed Terence Crutcher as he stood by his SUV in 2016, will be teaching a class about “surviving the aftermath” of an officer-involved shooting. As Tulsa World reports, Shelby, who was acquitted of first-degree manslaughter in 2017,…
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#SayHerName: 100 Years Ago, Mary Turner Was Lynched
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of a lynching, which some may find triggering. Mary Turner was eight months pregnant when she was lynched on May 19, 1918. It all began, as do many things in America, with a mediocre white man. What happened 100 years ago today has been forgotten by America. Like…