3 dead, 2 injured in series of shootings

[cynical]

As I read this thread and see the different responses I begin to see generational differences. The race riot was taught in Jenks in the '80s. Or it wasn't taught in Jenks in the '80s.  It was definitely taught in the '90s, in Jenks, anyway. But someone says that the TPS will teach it for the first time in 2012. I know it wasn't taught in my high school in Tulsa in the 1960s.

I grew up in Tulsa (wasn't born here) and graduated from a Tulsa high school in the late 1960s. Yes, that was a while ago but it seems recent. Though this was 15 years after the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, the Tulsa schools were still segregated. What did we learn about the race riots or anything else north of the tracks? Nothing. It wasn't in the books. It wasn't part of the conversation. At the time the Union district was a single red brick building out on far East 51st or 61st Street, I'm not sure which. The community of Alsuma was still there, a small enclave of black people living in what would soon be Southeast Tulsa. Jenks was a sleepy little place across the river from nothing and reachable over a small two-lane bridge.

Older, more established towns such as Muskogee and Okmulgee still had "Manual Arts" and "Dunbar" for their black students. The one exception was Sapulpa, which at the time had a great band program, a great wrestling tradition, and a terrible football team. It had earlier voluntarily desegregated rather than rebuild their black high school that had been lost to fire.

Desegregation began in Tulsa in the early 1970s. Coincidentally (or maybe not?), the rapid growth of the suburban districts such as Union and Jenks began in earnest. Years later, the suburban schools continue to flourish while the Tulsa schools struggle. Is "white flight" not an attribute of racism? It proved to be futile, but did lasting damage to previously thriving Tulsa schools.

On the subject of the race riot, I hosted a conference in Tulsa in the late 1990s. As hosts, we provided the conference attendees with a Saturday night barbeque dinner located on one of the building terraces overlooking Greenwood Avenue at OSU/Tulsa, and catered by Wilson's barbeque. The delegates loved the setting and the barbeque. To make things even better, the Greenwood Jazz Festival happened to be going on at the time, so some of us broke away from the party and strolled up and down Greenwood listening to the music and taking in the atmosphere of the place. One of the delegates was an African-American friend of mine from Washington, D.C. He kept looking around with wonder on his face. I asked him what he was thinking. He said, "We are walking on hallowed ground. I always dreamed of coming to see this place." Though by then I had long ago heard of the riots, I was impressed that the Tulsa race riots had been burned into the collective experience of African-Americans across the country but were not given much thought here.

[Red Arrow]

Did it ever occur to you that perhaps the people complaining about not having a place to live were not in fact the same as those who burned down houses?

Yes, I was corrected.

[jacobi]

Desegregation began in Tulsa in the early 1970s. Coincidentally (or maybe not?), the rapid growth of the suburban districts such as Union and Jenks began in earnest. Years later, the suburban schools continue to flourish while the Tulsa schools struggle. Is "white flight" not an attribute of racism? It proved to be futile, but did lasting damage to previously thriving Tulsa schools.

I wrote a punk song about this in my more scrappy days.

[AquaMan]

As I read this thread and see the different responses I begin to see generational differences. The race riot was taught in Jenks in the '80s. Or it wasn't taught in Jenks in the '80s.  It was definitely taught in the '90s, in Jenks, anyway. But someone says that the TPS will teach it for the first time in 2012. I know it wasn't taught in my high school in Tulsa in the 1960s.

I grew up in Tulsa (wasn't born here) and graduated from a Tulsa high school in the late 1960s. Yes, that was a while ago but it seems recent. Though this was 15 years after the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, the Tulsa schools were still segregated. What did we learn about the race riots or anything else north of the tracks? Nothing. It wasn't in the books. It wasn't part of the conversation. At the time the Union district was a single red brick building out on far East 51st or 61st Street, I'm not sure which. The community of Alsuma was still there, a small enclave of black people living in what would soon be Southeast Tulsa. Jenks was a sleepy little place across the river from nothing and reachable over a small two-lane bridge.

Older, more established towns such as Muskogee and Okmulgee still had "Manual Arts" and "Dunbar" for their black students. The one exception was Sapulpa, which at the time had a great band program, a great wrestling tradition, and a terrible football team. It had earlier voluntarily desegregated rather than rebuild their black high school that had been lost to fire.

Desegregation began in Tulsa in the early 1970s. Coincidentally (or maybe not?), the rapid growth of the suburban districts such as Union and Jenks began in earnest. Years later, the suburban schools continue to flourish while the Tulsa schools struggle. Is "white flight" not an attribute of racism? It proved to be futile, but did lasting damage to previously thriving Tulsa schools.

On the subject of the race riot, I hosted a conference in Tulsa in the late 1990s. As hosts, we provided the conference attendees with a Saturday night barbeque dinner located on one of the building terraces overlooking Greenwood Avenue at OSU/Tulsa, and catered by Wilson's barbeque. The delegates loved the setting and the barbeque. To make things even better, the Greenwood Jazz Festival happened to be going on at the time, so some of us broke away from the party and strolled up and down Greenwood listening to the music and taking in the atmosphere of the place. One of the delegates was an African-American friend of mine from Washington, D.C. He kept looking around with wonder on his face. I asked him what he was thinking. He said, "We are walking on hallowed ground. I always dreamed of coming to see this place." Though by then I had long ago heard of the riots, I was impressed that the Tulsa race riots had been burned into the collective experience of African-Americans across the country but were not given much thought here.

I gather you went to Union in the 60's rather than a TPS school. I assure you all, and the author who wrote that the race riot will only now be taught in Tulsa schools, that it was covered in 1966 in a course at Wilson Jr. High called Oklahoma History I and II. To keep it in perspective, Wilson was entirely segregated as were all TPS schools below the ninth grade. However Tulsa high schools were being integrated at the time Cynic. Central was receiving black students from the Booker T area at that time and I believe one other school, probably Hale, also had a few students. I graduated in 69 at Central and we had about 12% black students, an all black basketball team and lots of interaction between races.

Mind you, very little was written about the race riot in Tulsa. In fact no more than a paragraph. The textbook probably pre-dated the Civil Rights movement. It was discussed as part of a generally unstable time period when WWI had ended and demonstrations and riots were breaking out all over the country. The text failed to mention the details, like it being the largest race riot in the country or specific actions. It was up to the teacher to elaborate or pass it over. Mine passed it over.

I discussed it with my parents who were native Tulsan's and found out it was a really big deal here in Tulsa. So did a lot of other students. We ended up doing our own research if you will. I remember being really pissed that so little had been mentioned in school but times were different. People were scared of the black community and embarassed about the city's history.

[AquaMan]

Unless something's changed, Oklahoma works with the Texas state board of education for text books.  This is why we learn about Texas independence et al way over Oklahoma history.

This also is not exactly accurate. We don't work with the Texas school board to determine which text books are chosen. The textbook publishers simply are smart enough to realize that the Texas public school system is their largest prospect in this part of the country. If a text is too controversial for Texas, then it gets changed or discarded. I suspect that with the advent of digital publishing and tablets that the publishers will shortly be released from that hostage situation.

[Gaspar]

At the court house today.


If these two men were black and the courts set BOND at $9,000,000 each, I'm willing to bet these same folks would be protesting the outrageous BOND level as . . . 

[Townsend]

Man, we've got an ugly courthouse.

[patric]

Man, we've got an ugly courthouse.

...and what's with that in-your-face floodlight up on the balcony?



That's got to really be good for security... NOT.

[AquaMan]

Our courthouse could use a little steam cleaning if nothing else.

[AquaMan]

...and what's with that in-your-face floodlight up on the balcony?



That's got to really be good for security... NOT.

It probably hides a camera.

I thought Tulsa did pretty well with this whole episode. Even the comments made from the public were responsible and intelligible. I am surprised to see any protestors. We certainly did better than Sanford.

[jacobi]

Guys, thats the library.

[AquaMan]

Guys, thats the library.

Gaspar....that's the library.

[Townsend]

People are protesting our ugly library.

[Gaspar]

Gaspar....that's the library.

You mean they are now "under attack" at the library too?

[RecycleMichael]

I would protest the library.

Books lead to thinking differently and we don't need any of that around here.

I'm sticking to magazines and newspapers.