海角大神

Samantha Laine Perfas: Welcome to 鈥淩ethinking the News,鈥� a podcast by 海角大神. Here, we create space for constructive conversations across a range of perspectives, to give you the information you need to come to your own conclusions.

I鈥檓 Samantha Laine Perfas, one of the producers. This is the second of three episodes we鈥檙e doing out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa is preparing for the 100-year commemoration of one of the worst incidents of racist violence in U.S. history. In 1921, a group of white residents attacked the Black neighborhood of Greenwood in North Tulsa, burning and looting and killing. Some Black residents fought back. Many more fled the city. Tulsa鈥檚 white leadership, far from stopping the violence, either encouraged it or turned a blind eye.听

In the aftermath, the city government tried to put laws in place to make it harder for Black Tulsans to rebuild. They did eventually, but for years afterward, almost no one 鈥� Black or white 鈥� talked openly about the massacre.听

My colleague Jessica Mendoza and I went to Tulsa at the end of September to understand how Black Tulsans are wrestling with this history. In our previous episode, we heard the story of the massacre, and what it means to Tulsa residents today. If you haven鈥檛 yet, we encourage you to check it out.听

In this episode, hosted by Jess, we talk politics. It is, after all, an election year. But when your history is marked by such a huge failure of leadership 鈥� and when your lived experience today says those leaders, regardless of party, still are not addressing your needs 鈥� where do you put your hopes?聽

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Just a warning. This episode contains descriptions of violence, including gun violence and trauma inflicted on Black Americans. Please be advised.

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[ from聽The Oklahoman: 鈥�...more police are killed in this country every year鈥︹�� // 鈥�...hands up! Don鈥檛 shoot! Hands up 鈥� don鈥檛 shoot!鈥漖

[ from聽ABC News: 鈥�...we begin tonight with the news from Tulsa, Oklahoma, authorities there declaring a civil emergency ahead of President Trump鈥檚 massive campaign rally there tomorrow night鈥︹�漖聽

[ from TODAY: 鈥�...already Oklahoma seeing positive cases surge past 10,000 over the weekend...鈥漖

Jessica Mendoza: Even by 2020 standards, it was a stressful summer for Tulsa. Like the rest of the country, Tulsans are dealing with all the strain and anxiety related to the pandemic and the election. But the city is also gearing up for the commemoration of the 1921 race massacre 鈥� a particularly violent incident of racism that destroyed almost the entire Black community in Tulsa 100 years ago.听聽

You might be thinking: What does a hundred-year-old event have to do with anything we鈥檙e dealing with today?聽

Well, for one, it鈥檚 churning up a lot of pain and resentment, especially for Black Tulsans, at a time when race and racism are already very present political issues for much of the country. When we talked to members of the Black community in Tulsa, we heard a lot of exhaustion and cynicism. A sense of: No one really cares. Not now, not for a long time.听

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Jess: So much of how we understand the election is through our partisan politics. Each side is claiming the soul of the nation is at stake. But what about the voters whom both parties have failed 鈥� not just today, but consistently and systematically, for generations? How do they decide whom to support? And where do they find hope?聽

摆惭耻蝉颈肠闭听

Jess:聽This is Dr. Tiffany Crutcher. She鈥檚 founder of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, a nonprofit named after her twin brother, who . The story, by this time, will sound unfortunately familiar: On September 16th, police received a call that an SUV had stopped in the middle of the road.听

[Audio clip from The Wall Street Journal鈥檚 copy of the聽: sirens and police officers talking over the radio]

Officer Betty Shelby was the first to arrive, as she was on her way to another dispute. She found Terence on the scene, and was soon joined by other officers.听聽

Multiple videos, including one from a police helicopter with an on-board camera, show Terence walking on the road with his hands in the air. One officer in the helicopter can be heard calling Terence a 鈥渂ad dude.鈥澛�

[Audio clip from police videos:聽鈥�...that looks like a bad dude too鈥︹�漖

On the ground, officers follow Terence as he approaches his vehicle. Then Officer Shelby pulls the trigger, and he falls.听聽

[Audio clip from police videos:聽鈥�...shots fired!鈥︹�� 鈥�...three-twenty-one, we have shots fired, we have one suspect down鈥︹�漖

闯别蝉蝉:听The trial took place in May of 2017. Officer Shelby told investigators that Terence with requests to stop and get on his knees, that he seemed to be under the influence. She said she thought he was reaching for a weapon, and that she feared for her life. The Crutcher family pointed out that he was unarmed, with his hands in the air. Terence did struggle with addiction. But the Crutchers鈥� attorney said the police didn鈥檛 have to approach the situation with deadly force.听

The trial was followed closely by the community and received national attention. And then, 鈥�

Jess: The letter explains why the jury did decide to acquit Betty Shelby, breaking down each aspect of the case. For Tiffany, though 鈥撀�

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Jess:聽What happened to Terence Crutcher is all too commonplace. And this is usually the point in the narrative when it becomes a partisan issue. Republicans and Democrats will often see totally different meanings in the events that took place. And many will use a tragedy like this to rile up supporters. But for Tiffany, it is about so much more than partisan politics.

Jess:聽After her brother鈥檚 death, Tiffany moved back to Tulsa from Alabama, where she鈥檇 been working as a physical therapist, and started her foundation. She鈥檚 since become deeply involved in advocating for Black civil rights in Tulsa, and even considered a bid for mayor. She instead wound up throwing her support behind Greg Robinson, a Democrat who was one of seven candidates to run against sitting Republican Mayor G.T. Bynum in August. (Though people in Tulsa, Tiffany included, are quick to note that .)听

For all her frustration with politics, Tiffany gets that the change she wants to see will have to happen in the political space. At the same time, she knows that the way our institutions are set up, there really isn鈥檛 any space to operate outside of the party system.听聽

Jess:聽Tiffany鈥檚 story is complicated and difficult to hear 鈥� a close look at what it鈥檚 like to be Black in this country today.

She says 鈥� and we heard this a lot 鈥� the fight for racial equality within the Black community has been a long one, nonstop. And to many Black Americans, that fight is clearly connected to a history that we as a country are often eager to dismiss or move on from.听聽

Both parties are also failing Black communities, and have for a long time 鈥� though, in our conversations with Black Tulsans, we heard different explanations for how they鈥檝e failed, and what people need to do about it.听

Take, for example, the Rev. Robert Turner. We heard from him last episode. He鈥檚 the pastor of the Historic Vernon A.M.E. Church. Over the past two years, he鈥檚 become a weekly sight outside Tulsa City Hall: a tall man in a sharp suit and a megaphone, calling for reparations in his booming preacher voice.听聽

[Audio clip from Rev. Robert Turner marching in front of Tulsa City Hall: 鈥�...You may not like saying the words, Mr. Mayor or Mr. President. But to God, Black lives matter鈥︹�漖

Jess:聽Rev. Turner sees his work as a necessary step toward racial justice. And to him, that justice is based on faith and moral values, not party politics. But he says political actors need to participate for justice to happen.听

Samantha Laine Perfas/海角大神

Robert Turner, seen here September 30 in Tulsa, says reparations are crucial to any effort on the city's part to wrestle with its racist past. "We need to digest and marinate on what we did to a group of people ... solely because they were Black," he says. "I鈥檓 all for moving forward, working together. But let鈥檚 understand where we come from."

Jess:聽He says that that kind of fight is always going to ruffle feathers. The way America is divided today, that may mean more Republican feathers than Democratic ones, but, he says:聽

Jess:聽The late Rep. Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, was the longest-serving Black member of Congress. He first introduced the bill back in 1989, and faced resistance over it for years, even from within his own party. In recent years, some Democrats, particularly of Texas, have been more supportive of H.R. 40. But reparations is still divisive among Democrats. The reverend鈥檚 point is that the machinery of party politics isn鈥檛 really built for change, especially not around race.

Jess: And that鈥檚 why he marches, why he鈥檚 so convinced that moving forward as a nation will require something of Americans that they鈥檝e never given before.

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Jess:We did meet people in Tulsa, including members of the Black community, who would rather focus on the here and now than on a history that鈥檚 long gone.

Samantha Laine Perfas/海角大神

Tyrone Walker smiles in front of Wanda J's, the restaurant he runs that's named after his mother, on Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. Mr. Walker, a Republican, says he supports the GOP because the Democratic Party focuses too much on what government should do for people or say about them.

Jess:This is Ty Walker. He鈥檚 a Tulsa native, a minister, and a military veteran. He runs a restaurant on Greenwood Avenue called Wanda J鈥檚 Next Generation.

Jess:聽The business is Ty鈥檚 pride, and also the heart of his political philosophy. His experience running it is one of the main reasons that he decided as an adult to identify as a Republican, after being raised in a primarily Democratic household. He acknowledged that being Black and a Republican is seen as taboo these days, but he feels that the priorities of the Republican Party align much better with his values.听

Jess:聽Ty says the weakness of the Democratic Party鈥檚 position is too much emphasis on what other people should do for you or say about you, and not enough on taking charge of your own life. He has six daughters, and he says he teaches them to fend for themselves. To not let race or any other label define their lives.听聽

Jess:聽This is a big part of why Ty decided to run for mayor this past summer. He focused his campaign on developing business opportunities for all Tulsans, and tried to convince voters that he was a unity candidate. On his campaign site 鈥� and during our chat 鈥� he emphasized that he鈥檚 lived on both sides of the tracks that literally divide Tulsa鈥檚 majority-Black community from the rest of the city. He won of the vote.

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Tulsa鈥檚 current mayor 鈥� who won reelection in that race 鈥� is also Republican. We heard from him last episode. G.T. Bynum was a Tulsa city councilor for eight years before being sworn in as the city鈥檚 40th mayor in December 2016. He says he has always tried to make the needs of Tulsa鈥檚 Black community a priority.听

Jess:聽Throughout his term, Mayor Bynum has been praised for speaking openly about Tulsa鈥檚 racist past. In 2018, he reopened the investigation into where the bodies of those killed in the 1921 race massacre might be buried.听

Jess:聽Just this past summer, on the anniversary of the massacre, a group of Black leaders 鈥� including Tiffany Crutcher 鈥� to support his commitment to police reform.

That support has since wavered, after the mayor told that Terence Crutcher鈥檚 death had more to do with drugs than with race. (The mayor later apologized.) He also disappointed many Democrats when in Tulsa in June. Most recently, he鈥檚 received flak for the removal of the Black Lives Matter mural that was painted on Greenwood Avenue 鈥� illegally, the mayor points out.听 聽聽

Still, Mayor Bynum says he believes party politics don鈥檛 have to get in the way of providing for marginalized communities, including the Black community.

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Sam: Hi everyone, Samantha Laine Perfas again, one of the producers on this show. Because of listeners like you, we鈥檙e able to devote time to a podcast that goes deep into today鈥檚 issues. If you enjoy 鈥淩ethinking the News,鈥� the best way to make sure we produce more work like this is to subscribe to 海角大神. If you already do, thank you! But if you haven鈥檛 subscribed yet, you can do that at csmonitor.com/subscribe. We really appreciate your support. Again, that鈥檚 csmonitor.com/subscribe. Thanks for listening.

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Jess:聽The idea that Black voters would have such a wide range of political ideologies, or that they don鈥檛 feel like they really fit in either party, runs up against a powerful narrative in American politics: that of the monolithic Black vote. While Black Americans do tend to vote as a bloc, their politics are anything but monolithic. What we heard in Tulsa isn鈥檛 all that different from what Black politics look like across the country. To learn more about this, we called Theodore Roosevelt Johnson III.听聽

Jess:聽Ted is a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice who studies Black politics and voting behavior. And yes, he鈥檚 named after the president.听

Jess:聽Ted makes the case that how Black people vote often doesn鈥檛 reflect what they actually believe politically.听

Jess:聽In the late 1800s, that was the Republican Party 鈥撀�

Jess:聽That began to change in 1877, after President Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, agreed to pull federal troops from the Southern states. This opened up the former Confederacy to Jim Crow laws 鈥� a brutal period for Black Americans. And after a while, they did what any oppressed people would do, if they could: They left. Black people began heading north and west. In some places, like Tulsa, they built communities like Greenwood.

Jess:聽Then, in 1948, it looked like Democratic incumbent Harry Truman was about to lose the presidential election to Thomas Dewey. In July, .听

Jess:聽And it was the start of two decades of political realignment. The Democratic Party continued to court Black voters with civil rights legislation, and the party鈥檚 white Southern delegation began to move to the GOP.听

[ from聽British Path茅: 鈥�...with the battle cry, you shall not crucify the South on this cross of civil rights鈥︹�漖

Jess:聽The deal was sealed in 1964, when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.听聽

[ from The LBJ Library: 鈥淟et us close the springs of racial poison. Let us pray for wise and understanding hearts. Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our nation whole.鈥漖

Jess:听罢辞诲补测, either identify with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic.

Jess:聽What Ted is saying is that Black Americans today aren鈥檛 necessarily voting for Democratic presidents because they think that the Democratic Party is serving them well. Nor is it because they agree with Democratic ideology across the board. Ted鈥檚 own family is proof of that.听聽

Jess:聽Which, incidentally, sounds a bit like the politics of Ty Walker, the conservative restaurant owner who ran for mayor in Tulsa. Ted鈥檚 mom, on the other hand, had ideas that reflected those of Tiffany Crutcher, whose brother was shot and killed by Tulsa police.听

Jess:聽And yet on Election Day, especially a presidential election, the choice for Black voters often leaves very little room for those political ideologies. Because 鈥� and this is Ted鈥檚 ultimate point 鈥� Black participation in our democracy has been driven, and limited, by the necessity of voting for whichever party happens to be championing civil rights for Black Americans at a given moment.听

Jess:聽When we talked to Tiffany Crutcher, she put it another way:聽

Jess:聽We met Tiffany at the new offices of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, on the first floor of the Greenwood Cultural Center. The walls were still bare, but she鈥檇 laid out some news clippings and photographs she plans to put up. As we talked, she would go from anger to despair to exhaustion to relentlessness, and back again.听

Jessica Mendoza/海角大神

Tiffany Crutcher stands in front of a mural just off Greenwood Avenue that celebrates the history and legacy of Black Wall Street on Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ms. Crutcher, whose twin brother Terence was shot and killed by Tulsa police in 2016, says part of her fight is to get voices like her family's heard in a political system that doesn't prioritize Black experiences.

Jess:聽And so we asked her: What keeps her going? How does she bring herself to do this work every day?

Jess:聽Tiffany says she puts her hopes in people. And she keeps going because she has to.听

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Jess:聽Thanks for listening, everyone. Next episode, we鈥檒l be looking at how Tulsans are finding ways to own their story using music, art, and the spirit that built 鈥� and rebuilt 鈥� Black Wall Street.听

This podcast was hosted by me, Jessica Mendoza. I reported and produced this story with Samantha Laine Perfas. Our editors are Clay Collins and Clara Germani, with additional edits by Mark Sappenfield, Judy Douglass, and Arielle Gray. Sound design by Morgan Anderson and Noel Flatt. And a special thanks to Steph Simon, for letting us use music from his album 鈥楤orn On Black Wall Street鈥� throughout this episode.听 Additional audio elements from ABC News, The Today Show, The Oklahoman, the Wall Street Journal, British Path茅, and The LBJ Library. Brought to you by 海角大神, copyright 2020.听

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