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| Dennis R. Neill Equality Center in Tulsa Oklahoma |
UPDATE: A review of Toby Jenkins' Facebook page shows the Oklahomans for Equality director is allowing an all-white lynch mob to gather and degrade the black woman involved in this story. We're seeing comments like this where a white man is actually referring to a black woman as an animal.
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| Brian Russell of Ozark, Arkansas |
I spent some time deciding whether to do this story as a straight news event or to just get plain spoken and tell it like it is.
Let's put it all on the table.
First, if you're a white person, try not being white for this story. Try to see it from the eyes of a black person. Put all your white privilege and superiority aside and listen. Colonialism is ingrained in people. You may not be aware of it, but more than likely you're going to evaluate and interpret through your Caucasian conditioning. For this article, you'll need to walk in someone else's shoes so that you can perhaps get a different perspective.
Okay, then.
Oklahoma - where I reside and was born a mixed race male - is a racist cesspool.
All 77 counties went for Trump. And I assure you the Democrats, including LGBTQ's of which I'm one too, are as racist as the MAGAs. They just try to hide it. The buried and insidious racism is there just beneath the surface and ready to pounce.
The gay strip on 39th Street in Oklahoma City is notorious for its racism. Over the years Asians were banned from a club called Angles, Hispanics were pepper sprayed and had their wallets stolen by security staff at the Habana Inn, and most recently we reported about the racist security guard threatening blacks at a dive bar called Tramps.
Kevin Hern was elected to congress for the Tulsa area despite having a top aide flash white power signs in campaign photos. In Oklahoma that can actually gain you votes. And Oklahoma politicians overlook quite a lot of bad stuff within their staffs.
This story really begins last week, when I exposed a Tulsa County Court Clerk employee named Bonnie Kukla as being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. As this story got traction, the Tulsa County Court Clerk Don Newberry - a white man - immediately went into "Protect the white race mode".
He will not fire the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan member. As a county employee Bonnie KKKukla is being paid a salary from tax dollars paid by black people. She's also in a position to influence court matters to some degree.
Let's put the bullshit aside: there is not a courthouse in Oklahoma that is going to give black defendants a fair shot. Throw in a Klan member with clear bias against non-whites and things can go on behind the scenes that will disadvantage minorities.
Those are the types of things whites won't think of, but blacks have to live with.
Oklahoma is a work at will state. The Tulsa County Clerk does not need a reason to fire Kukla. If he wants to, he can have her escorted out of the building anytime he chooses. Newberry knows this, but he's white and she's white and natural reaction is to protect your own.
The reality is Black Lives Matter activist Shay White is just fed up with it all. After a Facebook confrontation stemming from the KKK matter, she decided to protest and live stream it on her Facebook page beginning around 4 AM this morning, when she occupied the front of Tulsa's LGBTQ community center.
Let me interject that other parties involved in this Sharon Bishop-Baldwin, who you heard about in the video, and Toby Jenkins, the director of the center who you'll get to meet in the next video, were both given an opportunity to make a statement.
They're not talking...at least to Hate Trackers. [They did issue a Facebook statement that can be found at the end of this story.]
A local Fox affiliate showed up to do a report and Jenkins is said to have been uncooperative with their crew and refused them entry into the center.
JUST ADDED: Now about what Bishop-Baldwin first said that got this all started. Here's the post:
Note: By late Wednesday night, Hate Trackers had received several testimonies alleging a pattern of abuse and bullying by Baldwin-Bishop. We are now investigating those claims.
Shay White had to attend the Robert E. Lee High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was the commander of the Confederate States fighting to keep blacks enslaved. White supremacy has been tromping on her all her life. Now she's got this white woman defending another white woman's First Amendment rights and dismissing how it makes a black woman feel.
Remember we're laying it all out here.
The KKK is a big issue for African Americans. They''ve heard about the recent lynchings being passed off as suicides in Alabama. They're seeing nooses. They know hate crimes are up. They've seen the white supremacist kill a black man with a sword in New York. And this list goes on.
Terror is not protected speech.
You don't side with the Ku Klux Klan, Sharon. And that's what you did.
Shay White decided Baldwin-Bishop had no place on the board of a group that considers itself an equality organization and decided to set up a protest outside the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, which houses the Oklahomans for Equality group.
After a bit the center's director Toby Jenkins rolls in. Watch how that goes.
Wow! He didn't even try to open a line of communication with a black woman having concerns about one of their board members. There was no "Hey Shay! Come on inside and let me listen to what you have to say about all this. Let's work it out."
If you're wondering what event she mentions in the video the Tulsa Race Massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921. Members of the Klan along with white mobs attacked Black Wall Street in Tulsa. They burned down homes and businesses. Airplanes literally dropped bombs on people.
That's the history Shay White refers to. She's literally addressing a KKK issue in the very area they murdered hundreds of black people.
Things came to a head when Shay White - obviously feeling frustrated that she as a black woman was being ignored by a white man - decided to take her protest inside the center.
It got ugly. Very, very ugly.
Did Shay go too far? That's debatable according to how you perceive this event.
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The gay strip on 39th Street in Oklahoma City is notorious for its racism. Over the years Asians were banned from a club called Angles, Hispanics were pepper sprayed and had their wallets stolen by security staff at the Habana Inn, and most recently we reported about the racist security guard threatening blacks at a dive bar called Tramps.
Kevin Hern was elected to congress for the Tulsa area despite having a top aide flash white power signs in campaign photos. In Oklahoma that can actually gain you votes. And Oklahoma politicians overlook quite a lot of bad stuff within their staffs.
This story really begins last week, when I exposed a Tulsa County Court Clerk employee named Bonnie Kukla as being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. As this story got traction, the Tulsa County Court Clerk Don Newberry - a white man - immediately went into "Protect the white race mode".
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| Don_Newberry |
Let's put the bullshit aside: there is not a courthouse in Oklahoma that is going to give black defendants a fair shot. Throw in a Klan member with clear bias against non-whites and things can go on behind the scenes that will disadvantage minorities.
Those are the types of things whites won't think of, but blacks have to live with.
Oklahoma is a work at will state. The Tulsa County Clerk does not need a reason to fire Kukla. If he wants to, he can have her escorted out of the building anytime he chooses. Newberry knows this, but he's white and she's white and natural reaction is to protect your own.
The reality is Black Lives Matter activist Shay White is just fed up with it all. After a Facebook confrontation stemming from the KKK matter, she decided to protest and live stream it on her Facebook page beginning around 4 AM this morning, when she occupied the front of Tulsa's LGBTQ community center.
I'd say Shay is speaking for most non-whites in Oklahoma. We're all fed up with the overt and covert racism. It's time to call people out on it.
Let me interject that other parties involved in this Sharon Bishop-Baldwin, who you heard about in the video, and Toby Jenkins, the director of the center who you'll get to meet in the next video, were both given an opportunity to make a statement.
They're not talking...at least to Hate Trackers. [They did issue a Facebook statement that can be found at the end of this story.]
A local Fox affiliate showed up to do a report and Jenkins is said to have been uncooperative with their crew and refused them entry into the center.
JUST ADDED: Now about what Bishop-Baldwin first said that got this all started. Here's the post:
Yes, because hate groups and domestic terrorists are on the same level as gays and lesbians, huh Sharon? Further, you don't know if she's done damage to blacks or not. The bias is certainly there. It's not like she's going to burn a cross in the file room.
Bishop-Baldwin, a lesbian board member of Oklahomans for Equality deleted her original Facebook post that started this controversy. I talked to a few people that saw the post and Bishop-Baldwin promoted Kukla's free speech rights and that she should not lose her job over being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Of course she put in she's not a fan of the Klan.
Bishop-Baldwin is also getting heat for likening protection of LGBTQ individuals in the workplace with similar protections for Ku Klux Klan members.
How she conflates gays with the terrorists within the KKK is a bit too much Sally Kern for some.
Note: By late Wednesday night, Hate Trackers had received several testimonies alleging a pattern of abuse and bullying by Baldwin-Bishop. We are now investigating those claims.
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| Sharon Bishop-Baldwin |
The Ku Klux Klan has murdered over 3,000 African Americans. It stopped being a free speech issue after the first lynching.
Remember we're laying it all out here.
Sharon Baldwin-Bishop was inconsiderate and needed to refrain from expressing an opinion on this. [I originally wrote that as she was a fucking idiot. Pick one.] White people must allow black people their fear and resentment towards the Klan.
The KKK is a big issue for African Americans. They''ve heard about the recent lynchings being passed off as suicides in Alabama. They're seeing nooses. They know hate crimes are up. They've seen the white supremacist kill a black man with a sword in New York. And this list goes on.
Terror is not protected speech.
You don't side with the Ku Klux Klan, Sharon. And that's what you did.
Shay White decided Baldwin-Bishop had no place on the board of a group that considers itself an equality organization and decided to set up a protest outside the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, which houses the Oklahomans for Equality group.
After a bit the center's director Toby Jenkins rolls in. Watch how that goes.
That's how you deescalate these things. But nope. Toby Jenkins dismissed the black woman and circled his wagon around his fellow white person and board member - or at least that's the perception in the eyes of a Person of Color.
If you're wondering what event she mentions in the video the Tulsa Race Massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921. Members of the Klan along with white mobs attacked Black Wall Street in Tulsa. They burned down homes and businesses. Airplanes literally dropped bombs on people.
That's the history Shay White refers to. She's literally addressing a KKK issue in the very area they murdered hundreds of black people.
Personally, I don't consider either Jenkins or Bishop-Baldwin racist, but I do think they're racially insensitive in this particular matter. Neither handled it well and that escalated things. This event, however, should not define their characters. Both have done great things, so maybe all they need is a bit of a nudge.
[I have since received information on both Jenkins and Bishop-Baldwin that is making me reconsider my belief that they're not racists.]
Things came to a head when Shay White - obviously feeling frustrated that she as a black woman was being ignored by a white man - decided to take her protest inside the center.
It got ugly. Very, very ugly.
Did Shay go too far? That's debatable according to how you perceive this event.
Was she out of control or taking a stand against racism? I think both. I think had she been properly approached early on the vandalism could have been avoided.
Do you condemn her and claim she was out of place? Do you understand her frustration being a black woman dealing with a Ku Klux Klan member and then having white people not take her seriously about it and one telling Shay it was the KKK member's right?
Do you condemn her and claim she was out of place? Do you understand her frustration being a black woman dealing with a Ku Klux Klan member and then having white people not take her seriously about it and one telling Shay it was the KKK member's right?
I don't know what dimension Sharon is in, but in this one the Klan is dangerous. They kill blacks. They burn crosses on yards. That shit hasn't ended.
Sometimes you have to get peoples' attention. Good or bad, Shay did that.
Shay did cross a line at one point, when she became the racist and said some bad things to the Latinx center employee. That part is crossing the line even though done in the heat of the action. I would encourage her to apologize to Jose Vega. He did nothing to be treated badly by anyone.
As White live streamed, some people were screaming for her arrest and after Jenkins activated the center's panic alarm the police responded. However, no charges were filed.
Sometimes you have to get peoples' attention. Good or bad, Shay did that.
Shay did cross a line at one point, when she became the racist and said some bad things to the Latinx center employee. That part is crossing the line even though done in the heat of the action. I would encourage her to apologize to Jose Vega. He did nothing to be treated badly by anyone.
As White live streamed, some people were screaming for her arrest and after Jenkins activated the center's panic alarm the police responded. However, no charges were filed.
Others accused her of being on drugs, and said she was suffering from mental illness. They're already making her out as a villain on social media and local television news is slanting their stories towards that.
There is an environment in Oklahoma that is unhealthy for People of Color. To give you an idea of what Shay White is really raging against and what finally set her off comes down to just the act of trying to exist as a PoC in this state.
Last year the Democrats nominated Drew Edmondson to be their candidate for governor. On his Facebook Edmondson posted a photo of himself with Eskimo Joe - a popular racist stereotype of First Nations people that the Okies just can't get enough of.
There is an environment in Oklahoma that is unhealthy for People of Color. To give you an idea of what Shay White is really raging against and what finally set her off comes down to just the act of trying to exist as a PoC in this state.
Last year the Democrats nominated Drew Edmondson to be their candidate for governor. On his Facebook Edmondson posted a photo of himself with Eskimo Joe - a popular racist stereotype of First Nations people that the Okies just can't get enough of.
It took two months of complaints before Drew Edmondson finally removed the racist photograph.
During the November general election the Democrats had a black man named Mark Myles nominated for state attorney general. Drew Edmondson - the Democrat's pick for governor - refused to vote for a Myles and instead voted for the white Republican nominee.
During the November general election the Democrats had a black man named Mark Myles nominated for state attorney general. Drew Edmondson - the Democrat's pick for governor - refused to vote for a Myles and instead voted for the white Republican nominee.
Currently, there's a bitter dispute in Oklahoma City as a black woman is seeking to be director of the Oklahoma Democratic Party. It's really set the whites off.
A week ago a girl filmed an extremely racist video Choctaw High School. Then some boys vandalized the school restroom with KKK crap.
A week ago a girl filmed an extremely racist video Choctaw High School. Then some boys vandalized the school restroom with KKK crap.
Around the same time two sorority girls chose to do blackface at the University of Oklahoma. Then a guy walked around campus in blackface.
That's the environment in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma has a big problem.
Shay White snapped.
And I'm glad she did, because - Oklahoma get your damn act together. It's almost a hundred years from the time of the Tulsa massacre and you've got a freakin' Ku Klux Klan member working in your county government, while other whites protect her job.
Fire Bonnie Kukla. For protecting the KKK member, Don Newberry needs to get the boot as well.
Oklahoma has a big problem.
Shay White snapped.
And I'm glad she did, because - Oklahoma get your damn act together. It's almost a hundred years from the time of the Tulsa massacre and you've got a freakin' Ku Klux Klan member working in your county government, while other whites protect her job.
Fire Bonnie Kukla. For protecting the KKK member, Don Newberry needs to get the boot as well.
STATEMENT POSTED TO THE OKLAHOMANS FOR EQUALITY FACEBOOK
We regret that the incidents of today were deemed newsworthy. What occurred today was a private matter that, in part, resulted from a disagreement between individuals on social media. One of our constituents arrived at the center as a result of the disagreement, and unfortunately, a conversation regarding the initial social media post was unable to occur. We know this has left our constituents concerned and confused. Oklahomans For Equality is committed to an internal and organization-wide examination of leadership and programs to address any bias.
This incident highlights an intersection of social justice issues that are faced by the multitude of our diverse constituents. We are committed to having a productive dialogue going forward as to what we can do, proactively, to address and confront the systemic injustices that exist in our communities. We are a group that seeks to lift one another up. Today’s unfortunate situation does not reflect the care and support that we seek and see in our community every day.
We appreciate the concern of our community and thank you for your continued support and understanding. We know that for many of you this is a safe place in which you have invested many precious hours and generous donations.
If you have been impacted emotionally by this event, please feel free to reach out to OKEQ to access our mental health resources.
The center is open to the community and facilities have been restored. Programs will meet as regularly scheduled. No charges were filed.
As the Black Lives Matter activist live streamed her vandalism, people started commenting on what was happening.
Christopher Craig · 0:00 I just think people need to look at this from this point of view: imagine being so absolutely frustrated by the actions of a person or the actions of a group that directly threatens your own self that you have to take matters in to your own hands to get the point across. All of that in hopes that you will be heard and actual change will happen. People can only stay silent and peaceful for so long before injustices become too great. If you can imagine those circumstances, maybe you can understand where Shay is coming from and why she’s doing this.
PJ Reynolds-Richardson · 0:00 I just wish she would have had someone with her. The people in this video obviously had no intention of connecting with her pain and frustration. She was alone.
PJ Reynolds-Richardson · 0:00 Shay, you are not alone. The business as usual has got to stop, your demand for a conversation is necessary. Your pain is our pain. Stay safe sister.
Maria Galloway · 0:00 This place is SAFE HAVEN that so much blood sweat and tears have been expended into creating and maintaing . I am crying and hurting for the members of the equality center right now and for our community that this place serves daily.
Steve Kendall · 0:00 Have her arrested. This is not a protest it is vandalism. If she had simply protested peacefully it would have been fine.
Shawna Kathleen Hight · 0:16 I support your free speech Shay, but I do not support your destroying my equality center. Arrest her NOW!!!
Tamra Jennings · 0:00 I would like you to know that my son’s name is on the Memorial Wall Plaques that you chose to mess with and put on the ground. My son died two years ago from a heart tumor.
Angela Sprigby · 0:00 I voted for you. I believed in you. THIS is how you get your point across? It’s embarrassing, solves nothing and your point has been lost. Can you provide some background on what has been said please so I can form an opinion other than one about a grown woman throwing a tantrum.
Krystie Hurd-Bunch · 0:00 Sis, this is like looting and rioting in your own hood! I understand your frustration but right now you’re behaving in the exact manner that racists continue to label all POC. To what end? I understand not supporting the people who run the equality center but WHY would you destroy a safe place for others? I hope you’re okay.
Joshua Silkey · 0:00 This needs to stop NOW! this is not a way to do anything but get your point muted, and get thrown in jail for destruction of property! I know that okeq would happily hear your issue and do whatever they could to help you! I know Toby and Jose both and neither of them deserve to have to be dealing with this. You are destroying something- a safe and loving place for all- for what exactly???
Suzanne R Smith · 0:00 How are people more worried about material items than people's literal LIVES?! STOP IT!
Rosa Hernandez · 0:00 Thank you Shay I may join ya for a bit around 1 if you're still out. We need a statement and for Sharon Bishop-Baldwin to step down if she really gonna support someone right to lynch us They dont get it and I cannot believe he called the cops... very sad. Knowing that cops put black lives at risk here in our very town!!
Krystie Hurd-Bunch · 0:00 Shawna Kathleen Hight LoL she’s not filled with hate, she’s full of frustration and helplessness in her fight for equality. I’m so fucking sick of people trying to lessen or rationalize racism in the workplace! If you think that county clerk is racist at home but not at work, you are working out of willful ignorance. You look stupid equating racism to homophobia or religion. Just stop