Tulsa, Oklahoma’s history of racial bias and violence against its Black residents reaches back to the 1921 Greenwood Massacre, which decimated the city’s thriving Black community of Greenwood and resulted in the killing of at least 300 Black Tulsans. The Greenwood Massacre lives powerfully in the historic memory of Black Tulsans and undergirds a determined effort to confront racial discrimination that undermines the full citizenship and dignity of the city’s Black communities.
Members of the Tulsa community have long been advocating to address deeply disturbing incidents of recurring police violence, particularly against Black Tulsans. These incidents of police brutality, and evidence of racial disparities in the TPD’s arrests and uses of force, have inspired a sustained movement committed to addressing these inequities in Tulsa’s public safety system.
As the city of Tulsa plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Greenwood Massacre, it must commit to addressing the contemporary manifestations of historical discrimination and implementing measures that can result in change. These efforts must include adoption of transformative public safety policies and strategies to ensure Tulsans are safe in their communities regardless of their race, ethnicity or national origin. Tulsans deserve nothing less.
Amidst the nationwide conversation about police violence, the law enforcement killings in Tulsa of Terence Crutcher in 2016, Joshua Barre in 2017, Joshua Harvey in 2018, and other law enforcement shootings of Black Tulsans prompted Tulsa leaders and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) to host a public meeting in March 2019 to address racial bias and other problems in the Tulsa Police Department’s (TPD) practices. Days after this community-sponsored listening session, Tulsa’s City Council voted to hold special meetings, which occurred from June-September 2019, to better understand the racial disparities in TPD’s policing practices.
Over a year has passed since the last public meeting in the city regarding racial disparities in policing. Tulsa officials released the third Equality Indicators Annual report in 2020, which revealed that inequalities in the city remain.
In an effort to move Tulsa city leaders towards action to address these ongoing disparities, “We Are Not Lesser” presents specific recommendations that the Mayor, City Council, and TPD should adopt and implement to achieve a more equitable Tulsa. This report summarizes the information and testimony shared at the Tulsa Equality Indicator meetings.
At sessions convened by community leaders in March 2019, residents gave testimony that illustrated the harm that Black youth and adults experienced in their encounters with TPD, as well as the harm caused to their families. Members of the City Council held additional meetings between June and September 2019 that focused on the findings of Tulsa Equality Indicators’ Annual Reports for 2018 and 2019 and the alarming racial disparities in key areas of law enforcement activity in the city documented in the reports.
Last summer, Tulsans, like millions of Americans nationwide, organized and participated in mass demonstrations to protest police violence, to demand accountability for police misconduct and brutality, and to urge a rethinking of the public safety framework in America. Tulsa’s protests mirrored those that took place in every one of the 50 states in the aftermath of the police killings of George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Carlos Ingram-Lopez in Arizona, Tony McDade in Florida, and Rayshard Brooks in Georgia. But as the testimony throughout the Tulsa City Council public listening sessions and special meetings demonstrates, members of Tulsa’s Black and Latinx communities have long been demanding the City take action to address its long history of racially biased policing.
The Mayor and City Council of Tulsa and TPD must acknowledge and commit to remedying the racial disparities in TPD’s law enforcement activity. Additionally, the Mayor and City Council of Tulsa and TPD must implement proactive policies and recommendations suggested in this report to remedy the disparity and inequality experienced by Black Tulsans in encounters with the Tulsa Police Department.
Residents of Tulsa are relying on city leadership—both City Council members and the Mayor—to address racial disparities experienced by Black and Latinx communities and affirmed by the findings of the Tulsa Equality Indicators reports — a task that is long overdue. Tulsa’s city leaders must seize this opportunity to adopt transformative public safety policies and strategies to ensure all Tulsans are safe in their communities regardless of their race, ethnicity or national origin. Tulsans deserve nothing less.
This report is dedicated to the individuals and families in Tulsa and nationwide who have fought, and continue to fight, for justice for their loved ones during an unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. Over 500,000 people have been killed by COVID-19 in the United States over the last year, and 34% of them have been Black, although Black people comprise only 12% of the U.S. population. In particular, we remember Leanna Crutcher, the mother of Terence Crutcher, who died due to complications from COVID-19 on January 14, 2021. Leanna Crutcher’s legacy lives on and continues to inspire the fight for a more equitable public safety system in Tulsa.