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'Right Now, The Only Thing I Can Do Is Hold My Breath'

Photo Provided
RJ Young

RJ Young no longer considers COVID-19 as the biggest threat to his health. As a millennial black man living in Tulsa, he says racism has – yet again – become the greatest threat to his well-being. In his audio diary, Young talks about the latest Black Lives Matter protests and how he is terrified to be a black man living in the city that, nearly a century ago, was the site of one of the worst acts of racial violence. 

KOSU's Kateleigh Mills and Matthew Viriyapah produced this story as part of the America Amplifiedinitiative using community engagement to inform and strengthen local, regional and national journalism. America Amplified is a public media initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. KOSU is part of the America Amplified network.

Kateleigh Mills has been reaching out to Oklahomans across the state to record first-person oral histories during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. These 'audio diaries' are being stored and archived by the Oklahoma Historical Society.

You can record your own audio diary and share your story with KOSU by emailing audio@kosu.org.

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Kateleigh Mills was the Special Projects reporter for KOSU from 2019 to 2024.
Matthew Viriyapah is KOSU's production assistant and host of the music podcast Songwriters & Tour Riders.
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