oklahoma
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Lynching 2.0: White Family Charged With Murdering 2 Black Men, Dismembering Bodies
After a four-day search, Moore, Okla., police have charged a man and his brother, their mother and the mother’s boyfriend with murdering a pair of 21-year-old black men, sawing the bodies into pieces and tossing the dismembered corpses into a nearby pond. According to WJLA-TV, when Alize Ramon Smith and Jarron Moreland were reported missing…
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I’m the Son of an Oklahoma Schoolteacher, and the Way They’re Treated Is a Crime
I was walking home from my friend G’s house when I noticed the bright-orange cutoff notice on the door. We had skipped school that day to play Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, so I was surprised when I looked up from playing “Sonic” to see that it was 3:30 in the afternoon. I hurriedly gathered…
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Betty Shelby, the Then-Tulsa, Okla., Cop Who Killed Terence Crutcher, Is Back Patrolling the Streets as a Full-Time Sheriff’s Deputy
There really is no justice in this world, and as such, a police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black motorist is somehow back patrolling the streets, this time as a sheriff’s deputy, even after the same jurors who acquitted her recommended that she “never be a patrol officer again.” Of course I am…
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Now, That Was a National Championship Game! Roll Tide!
I’m pretty sure most folks couldn’t have cared less about last night’s football contest between the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide and the University of Georgia’s Bulldogs to determine the 2018 collegiate National Championship. For one, both teams are in the Southeastern Conference, and if you think the SEC is overrated, this title game only…
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Oklahoma Community Surprises Beloved Walmart Greeter With a Car
Yolanda Crawford is a fixture at her local Muskogee, Okla., Walmart, and when she is there, it is hard to miss her or her greetings as she carries out her job, welcoming everyone as family. So when customers found out that Crawford had been trekking to work on foot every day (regardless of weather conditions),…
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Former Oklahoma State Senator to Plead Guilty to Child Sex Trafficking Charge: Report
A former Oklahoma state senator is expected to plead guilty to a child sex trafficking charge later this month for offering to pay a 17-year-old boy for sexual “stuff” earlier this year, authorities said. According to The Oklahoman, Ralph Shortey, a Republican, will plead guilty, and in exchange, prosecutors have agreed to drop three child-pornography…
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My Cousin Was Lynched. Here’s How It Changed My Life
I first learned of my cousin’s lynching when I was 10 years old. During the summer, I often spent time at my uncle Johnny’s house, but that summer, my great-grandmother, a wizened old black woman whose face spoke of years of enduring the weight of patriarchy and white supremacy, was often there, too. Well into…
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Jodeci’s Forever My Lady Was Revolutionary for Me, a Church Boy From Okla.
This week at VSB, we’re running a series called Albums That Changed My Life in which different writers let you in on the music that helped shape and mold them into the people they are today. We’re kicking things off with Lawrence Ware, for whom Jodeci’s Forever My Lady album changed the game. Let my…
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Okla. Ex-Cop Who Killed Terence Crutcher Will Have Fatal Shooting Removed From Her Record
Although a Tulsa, Okla., ex-cop will go down in infamy for killing an unarmed black man on video while he had his hands in the air, a judge has recently ruled that the shooting death can be removed from her employment record. In May, Betty Shelby was acquitted of first-degree manslaughter in the fatal September…
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Wannabe Tulsa, Okla., Cop Who Killed Unarmed Black Man Released From Prison After Serving Less Than Half His 4-Year Sentence
Well, if you wanted evidence as to how little this country values black lives, look no further than Tulsa, Okla., where a white former reserve deputy (aka a wannabe cop) walked out of prison, scot-free, after serving less than half of his already meager four-year sentence for killing an unarmed black man. Robert Bates, 76,…