City Assistance Vs. Mutual Aid in the Tulsa Freeze

Originally published on aslutzine.com

As Tulsa temperatures dove below freezing over the last week, houseless Tulsans found themselves in the face of lethal weather and a dangerous winter storm. Concerns for those remaining outside were only heightened by the discovery of an unsheltered man frozen on the street on February 11th. 

Efforts to aid these individuals came from the City of Tulsa, nonprofits, and mutual aid organizations like Life Change Tulsa, 918 Cares, the ScissorTail Brigade, SHOTS Tulsa, Tulsa Community Fridge Project, and Tulsa Food Not Bombs (TFNB). However, the City and these orgs approached the crisis very differently. This conflict came to a head on the night of February 13th. 

Grassroots organizers and community members came together to collect both monetary and material donations for individuals who remained unsheltered. Volunteers from TFNB stood by at an encampment located at Maybelle Bridge on Reconciliation Way, distributing these donations to the individuals camped there. 

On February 12th TFNB declared the area “the Maybelle Emergency Zone” (the MEZ). In a post they wrote:

“As the temperatures keep falling we will see more horrifying losses of life not just to the weather but to the city of tulsa’s and Mayor’s GT byums inaction and unwillingness to value the lives of our houseless neighbors. Tulsa Food Not Bombs has declared the Maybelle Bridge (maybelle and reconciliation way) an emergency zone, the Maybelle Emergency Zone (The MEZ). Tulsa Food Not Bombs had been coordinating hot meals and weather appropriate supplies for the tulsa houseless community in this area for some time now and we will continue doing so. We will be at the MEZ distributing warm supplies,hot meals, snacks and drinks and ensuring the safety of our houseless neighbors until

either THE CITY OF TULSA establishes a long term plan for the city to provide adequate housing for our houseless neighbors

OR we - Tulsa Food Not Bombs will be out here until the weather is over 40 degrees and dry.

We are looking forward to a response from the city of Tulsa.”

On the morning of February 13th, a press release from the City of Tulsa reported that The Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency (TAEMA) was “working to provide material assistance to shelter operations to ensure they have the ability to continue to serve the community.” 

The press release ensured that the belongings of those who agreed to take shelter would not be confiscated. Further, it discouraged donations of firewood to homeless encampments, and instead urged concerned citizens to contact Housing Solutions, a non-profit organization focused on homelessness in the Tulsa area. 

“While this gesture shows the overwhelming kindness of Tulsans,” the press release explained, “being outside in extremely cold temperatures with wind chills below zero still pose a very real threat, regardless of a firepit in place.” 

Then, at 5:46 p.m. on February 13th, TFNB posted a photo of a bulldozer and dump truck on the site of the MEZ. The caption read “City is here Tulsa!!! Be ready to stand up for your neighbors!!!!” 

At 6:22 p.m., TFNB released a live video on Facebook of volunteers speaking to Mark Hogan, the Director of City assets, and a TPD officer who identified himself as Sgt. Brill. 

“These people need to be in shelter,” Hogan says in the video. 

The TFNB volunteers explained to Hogan that those who remained at the MEZ were aware that there were shelters that would take them. The volunteers cited trauma, shelter barriers (some common barriers being: no pets allowed, limitations on personal items, and drug tests), and fear of property loss as just a few reasons some unsheltered individuals were choosing not to go indoors. 

“We meet people where they are and where they want to be and provide the utmost safety for them and that is what is happening,” one unseen volunteer can be heard saying, “And whenever you take that firewood, you are taking a little bit, a huge bit, of safety.”

Sgt. Brill said he wanted to keep the peace. “I get that they don’t want to go anywhere but where they are at right now,” said Brill. “And they have the right to say that, but if the city wants the street cleared, and the fire department is not wanting fires, then we’ll have to abide by those rules.” 

About thirty minutes into the video, another man who identified himself as “a representative of the fire marshall” explained why the decision had been made to remove all fire wood. In the video, he cites the two instances of fire being brought into a tent and concern about possible carbon monoxide poisoning, or the spread of a fire. 

“You told us at 4 to deal with the fire inside the tent. We dealt with the fire inside the tent,” a TNFB volunteer responded. 

The video ended shortly after this exchange. 

Cult Love Sound Tapes arts worker, Lauran Drummond arrived at the MEZ around 8 p.m. to drop off a trailer of firewood after a Food Not Bombs call for donations. 

“There were tents lined up and makeshift shelters with tarps on either side of the sidewalk and then on the street underneath the bridge,” Drummond said. 

“We showed up right as TPD and the fire department got there,” she said. “And at that point they were talking to FNB representatives and informing them that the firewood was going to be confiscated. They were like, ‘this is a fire hazard, we’re taking it.’”

Drummond reported that the officials asked for the street to be cleared by 10 p.m. 

“I can’t think of any reason why the city would wait till after dark the night of the storm to do this,” Drummond said. “This (the MEZ) has been there multiple days and they waited till after dark the night the storm was rolling in to do that. I will never understand why they would do that.”

Another witness, who wished to remain anonymous, arrived with a bus around 9:00 to help pack up donations from the MEZ. 

“We pulled up, started loading up those donations,”the witness said. “We were there probably not even 10 minutes when the police said we had 5 minutes to get the bus out of the way.” 

The witness saw police going through tents to gather all the remaining firewood. “There was definitely an air of frantic immediacy, because...the community volunteers understood the dangers of what these people experiencing homelessness were about to go through,” the witness recalled. 

In another live video from TNFB at 8:58 p.m., a representative says:

 “We were told that we had until 10 p.m. to remove all of the things that the generous community members of Tulsa donated...We’re currently staring at the city dump truck that has now told us we have exactly 5 minutes. We also have different city officials trying to arrest folks whenever they remind them that they are not allowed to touch anyones belongings in the tents, but they are still going through them to try to find firewood. Thank you to everyone who has come to gather up these donations so they don’t further go to waste. We’ll keep you all updated thanks for looking out for your neighbors.” 

The struggle between the City of Tulsa and grassroots organizers goes deeper than just firewood. It is a disagreement about how best to serve Tulsans experiencing homelessness. 

In the video of the exchange between Sgt. Brill, Mark Rogan, and TFNB volunteers, the theme of trust came up often. 

“If people don’t want to go, they don’t want to go,” said a volunteer. “I think that it’s a failure on the city that they have no safe options that they trust...I think that that’s a problem of the City that they don’t trust any of your solutions for them. And they’d rather stay out here. I think that shows that the City has not done enough for homeless people.”

There are many reasons this trust may not be there. In 2018, Tulsa passed ordinance 23918, making it a public offense to “take up one’s abode” on public property. 

In a 2018 article for the Oklahoma Policy Institute, Lydia Lapidus argued against the ordinance writing, “By heaping more fines on people with virtually nothing, punitive responses like these only perpetuate the cycle of homelessness and cost taxpayers thousands in jail and emergency service costs.”

As recently as this summer, this ordinance has allowed the City to remove an encampment on Archer St. 

Importantly, the events of Saturday night play on the background of an ongoing pandemic where crowding in shelters poses another threat: COVID-19. In a way, the houseless were torn between two warring hazards. 

The National Homeless Law Center lists several recommendations for how to assist the homeless during the pandemic. Among them: a moratorium on sweeping encampments. This has been done in Reno, NV, and Oakland and Chico, CA. 

Even now, the story appears to be far from over. 

GT Bynum responded this morning to the events of Saturday night. In a Facebook post he wrote:

“I really want to thank all the homeless outreach professionals who have worked across organizations this week to get everyone sheltered. They’re having to do this in the midst of a pandemic, with an extended period of sub-freezing temperatures, and with well-intentioned but misguided volunteer groups complicating their efforts to get people indoors.”

At around 4:00 p.m. today, Tulsa Food Not Bombs posted the below image with the caption: “We’re dealing with quite a bit from the City of Tulsa right now. We have quite a bit to share with y’all on that front but since it seems we’re in immediate danger of arrest and all of us are still working nonstop we wanted to make y’all aware…”

You can follow the City of Tulsa and Tulsa Food Not Bombs on their respective social media accounts to stay up to date as this story continues to unfold. 

My Prayer to Mr. Stitt: An Open Letter

Originally Published in ASLUT

Dear Governor Stitt,

I sit on the eve of your proclaimed ‘Day of Prayer and Fasting,’ neither praying nor fasting. Instead, I am penning you this letter to ask whether prayer is not at its best when paired with action.

At the time of this writing, COVID-19 has taken 1,812 lives in Oklahoma alone. That is over ten times the number that were killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing. I cite that horrific event not to compare domestic terrorism to a virus. Rather, I want to remind us what tragedy is, and tragedy is happening now. 

This tragedy, while not entirely avoidable, can be mitigated by very real steps: mask mandates, restaurant and bar closures, supplemental incomes for non-essential workers. Because of this, Mr. Stitt, your proclamation reads as a statement of gross inaction—a dangerous admission of powerlessness when it is in your power to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Now, I am a Jew as much as I am an Oklahoman, so when reading your proclamation I was reminded of Pikuach Nefesh. This Jewish principle comes from a Talmudic commentary on Leviticus 18:5 “You shall therefore keep my statutes...which if a man do, he shall live by them," and as the Rabbis add, “not that he shall die by them.” In short, the principle dictates that when a life is on the line, the preservation of said life takes precedence over Jewish law.

In the Jewish faith a minyan (a group of 10 or more Jewish adults) is required for public prayer. But, at a time when a gathering of this size means increased risk, we must refrain. Human life takes precedence, always. 

But this is not a Jewish idea alone. Late last month Christian healthcare professionals urged congregants to stay home, reminding us of the ‘Golden Rule:’ “Do to others what you want them to do to you” (Matthew 7:12). 

All of this is to say that while prayer (done safely, not at large gatherings) has a place in this pandemic, so too does action. Now is a time to care for one another, to listen to scientists and medical experts, and to postpone the joys of gathering in worship until doing so does not mean risking lives.

Lastly, I must emphasize that science and faith needn't be at odds. This is an appeal to you, Mr. Stitt, as a Christian who knows well that just as God made the Earth and Sky, He also made His children capable of reason; He made the world a thing that can be examined, studied, and learned from. With the help of God’s gift of reason, we can make wise decisions to reduce suffering in this pandemic.

I hope you pray well tomorrow and that in your prayers you find a way to act; to be decisive; to listen to God, yes, but also to listen to reason. 

If prayers sent heavenward are a way to make God listen, then surely letters to public officials are the equivalent of making our wishes known down here on earth.

Consider this my prayer to you, Mr. Stitt.

           Sincerely,

               Elizabeth J. Wenger 

Unearthing a Massacre

Originally Published in ASLUT

This week, Tulsa reckons with its past.  On Monday, October 19th the pandemic-postponed excavation of a possible mass grave in Oaklawn Cemetery began. On Tuesday, the remains of one body were found, and on Wednesday, ten distinct coffins were unearthed by a team of researchers and archeologists. 

Though unconfirmed, these findings are believed to be linked to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. This comes as Tulsa prepares for the centennial year of this infamous event. Long hidden from the collective consciousness of Tulsa by a kind of mass social amnesia, the Race Massacre was only added to the Oklahoma Education Department Curriculum in the fall of this year. 

“How slowly the mills of justice grind if one is black,” wrote James Baldwin in his essay ‘Dark Days.’ And his words ring true in Tulsa, where it’s taken nearly 100 years to find what a history written by white actors has buried. 

Now we must ask what Justice really looks like. One could argue it is more than the unearthing of wronged souls, though that must be part of it too.

Justice lies in reparations, as argued by Dreisen Heath in her thorough piece for the Human Rights Watch, “The Case for Reparations in Tulsa, Oklahoma.” Heath gives a detailed history of the Massacre, up into the modern day. Included in this history is the formation of the Tulsa Race Massacre Commission (formerly the Tulsa Race Riot Commission) in 1997. The commission, which held no legislative power, made several recommendations, including the direct payment of reparations to survivors and descendants, the creation of scholarships for students affected by the massacre, and the establishment of an economic development enterprise zone in the historic Greenwood district.

“The ‘Tulsa Race Riot Commission’ made its recommendations to the state of Oklahoma and the city of Tulsa nearly 20 years ago,” Heath writes, “but they have yet to be fully implemented.” 

Where thriving Black Wall Street once stood in the Greenwood District, Mayor Bynum now pushes for the building of a BMX Olympic Arena. Heath continues:

“When asked about reparations, Mayor Bynum said he prefers to focus attention on the money that the city is putting into building and development of areas near historic Greenwood[…]North Tulsa and Greenwood community leaders have raised concerns that businesses and political leaders developing the Greenwood area are not doing enough to preserve black culture in the historic area, making it unaffordable for many black Tulsans, and not prioritizing economic opportunities for them.”

In September of this year, a lawsuit was filed by the last two survivors of the massacre. The plaintiffs and their supporters demand concrete reparations. This litigation comes on the tidal wave of protests against police violence and systemic racism in Tulsa and the Nation at large. 

As physical traces of Tulsa’s history are unearthed, Tulsans must not view these graves as evidence that racism and violence are remnants only of a distant past. Rather, we must see the throughline drawn from the fraught history of our city, our state, and our country to the modern day. 

Though Mayor Bynum pushed for the investigation into these mass graves, we must not forget he is the same man who okayed the destruction of the Black Lives Matter sign on October 5th, arguing that he supports the message only “on private property.” The same mayor who has sanctioned an increase in the already outsized Tulsa police budget in the coming year.  

History is alive today. It shows itself in our city’s segregation. In our outstanding funding of the police. In our city’s schools, prisons, food deserts, and transportation systems. In the lack of resources in North Tulsa. 

To dig up the past, one must be ready to truly see what it says about the present. One must be ready to ask if we are prepared to do real justice to the very lives we are exhuming. 

OK #1 Curating Community

Originally Published in ASLUT

Occupying an empty storefront off Historic Route 66 between Yale and Sheridan is Tulsa's own pirate radio station and artist-run space, OK #1. The unassuming location was transformed into a venue for lectures, workshops, and all things art by Tulsa Artist Fellow and founder and proprietor Lucas Wrench. 

A Tulsa transplant, Wrench first came to the city from LA about three years ago through a fellowship at the Philbrook Museum of Art. Since then, he has worked with Gilcrease and spent time in the various art institutions of Tulsa. Now Wrench is going in a different direction with his curatorial work, breaking away from the blueprint of the more well-known and traditional homes of art to form an environment that will foster creativity and showcase the work, ideas, and talents of creatives.

The model for OK #1 is Machine Project, an artist-run space in LA that Wrench worked at prior to his move. Wrench wanted to create something similar on his own and found that Tulsa was ripe for this kind of project.

“It didn’t seem very possible to start something like that in Los Angeles,” Wrench said, “Tulsa is a very livable and cheap city and there are lots of storefronts available and there didn’t seem to be that kind of artist-run activity.” 

Working at Tulsa’s museums and in the Tulsa Artist Fellowship (TAF), Wrench noticed the Tulsa art scene was initiated and run in a top-down manner. The dream, according to Wrench, was to create an alternative community space for creatives to feel they could make the art they wanted outside the structures already in place in Tulsa. Wrench opines that while the city has a lot of creative potential, there needs to be more room for unregulated, uncensored work.

“The public face of Tulsa is extremely corporate and I find it can be a very demoralizing picture of niceness with very little appetite for criticism or critique or friction,” Wrench said. “I would hope that OK #1 could be a hub for people who don’t agree with that… for whom that’s not a nurturing environment and who are looking for something else, like a more grassroots creative community where there is more freedom and experimentation and critique and discourse and that maybe we can eventually build some power as a group of people.”

Since it’s opening just over a year ago, OK #1 has hosted lectures and workshops, leaving the storefront and going into the community occasionally for more ambitious art projects. When the pandemic blocked possibilities of community events, OK #1 adapted. Wrench looks at COVID and its fallout as an opportunity to try new things. 

“I had just renewed the lease on this space when the COVID lockdown happened” Wrench stated. “During COVID I haven’t wanted to do any public events in the space. So we are doing twitch streams and online stuff which has been nice, because it’s a chance to work with some people out of the state or country who wouldn’t normally do a virtual event in other circumstances.”

Along with twitch streams, Wrench made the storefront available for people who needed a space to work in. OK #1 offered the storefront temporarily as warehouse space for the Socialist Rifle Association, which organized a mutual aid distribution project and held street medic training. 

A month ago, Wrench converted the back room into a radio station where each DJ goes in by themselves to host a show. The radio station is an eclectic mix of anything-goes music and talk shows.

“It’s been a nice way for people to connect and do something socially distant,” Wrench said.

He invites anyone with an idea for a radio show to email their pitch to info@okno.one. The shows can be found locally by tuning into 91.1 or online from anywhere via okno.one. 

Though they recently received a grant from the Oklahoma Visual Arts Commission (OVAC), OK #1 continues to seek funding. Wrench plans to create a patreon to keep the project going. Until it’s release, interested parties can donate via OK #1’s paypal to support the growth of Tulsa’s community arts scene. 

At its core, OK #1 is interested in cultivating a community for arts from the bottom-up. With a background in curatorial work, Wrench emphasizes the idea of making space and forming connections. Of the pirate radio station and the storefront itself Wrench says, “I think it’s just a space that is independent. A place to show other possibilities and more exciting things that could be happening in Tulsa.” 

Tulsa’s Colossus of Rhodes: What would Tesla bring to Tulsa?

There is something eerie about seeing the Golden Driller’s yellow face transformed into that of Elon Musk. Since its 1966 installation, the Driller has stood as a reminder of Tulsa’s oil capital past. Now, that same statue is being utilized to get the bid for Tesla’s newest factory. 

Musk’s company emphasizes clean and sustainable energy - a focus that would redefine our city. There is some irony in a statue of an oil worker being adorned in the marks of clean energy, but there is also something hopeful. For a city that in recent years markets itself as up-and-coming, a big-name company like Tesla could bring jobs, economic stimulus, and the media attention Tulsa needs to put itself back on the map. 

However, before we welcome a company to our city, we should be sure the jobs they bring are stable, safe and ethical. That’s why we should also be discussing issues which make the company, and Musk himself, such big topics in business and tech. Concerns about the safety of Tesla employees show that Tesla may not be Tulsa’s golden ticket to prosperity.

According to the Guardian “Ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers experiencing fainting spells, dizziness, seizures, abnormal breathing and chest pains” at a Tesla factory. The same article catalogues reports of long hours and employees passing out on the factory floor. Though the auto-industry is notorious for dangerous working conditions, Business Insider reports that “Tesla received more citations from OSHA related to vehicle manufacturing than Ford, General Motors, or Fiat Chrysler from 2017 through the end of 2018.” There have also been accusations of misreporting workplace injuries, though Tesla denies these allegations.

In response to such coverage, Musk continues to claim that safety is a top priority. This is hard to believe though in the face of his recent insistence that his Fremont, CA factory reopen despite COVID-19 health concerns. He was granted the right to reopen the factory after threatening via Twitter to move the company’s headquarters elsewhere. 

If a company like Tesla will leverage jobs–those same jobs Tulsa is so eager to bring here—in order to get exemption from a stay-at-home mandate, one wonders what else the company is capable of doing in the name of production.

I’ll be the first to admit I am no economist or business expert. What I am is a citizen of Tulsa, one who wishes our city's future to be bright, fruitful, and moral. Our city can be ambitious, but we must also be ethical.

A job creator has power and Musk, as the 31st wealthiest person, has power too. In our day, big corporations and their hyper-wealthy owners become modern Gods. Like Gods, they can give and they can take away. Unlike Gods, corporations have personal stakes and interests, and those interests are in terms of economic success and productivity, not human safety and wellbeing. Even as they can give us rewards like jobs, grants, and large donations, we must always be aware of the power these new Gods hold over us, keeping them in check through criticism and a watchful eye.

 That’s why I, for one, am not eager to see this company brought to Tulsa, at least not until these concerns are addressed. To me, the new face of the Golden Driller feels too much like billionaire-idol-worship. The transformation of this Tulsa Icon points to our willingness to bow down to the quickest sources of jobs and economic stimuli. That same willingness could be manipulated by Musk or others like him who see our eagerness as an exploitable asset.

According to Elektrek, inside sources say that Austin will likely be chosen over Tulsa as the location for the new Tesla factory. However, even if Tesla chooses Austin, there will be more bids like this in Tulsa’s future if we keep on our current path. We as Tulsans must do our due diligence before welcoming any such company to Tulsa, lest we put our faith and the safety of our citizens too fully in a corporation’s hands.