Tulsa

Street Fight is the first episode of The Battle for Greenwood, a three-part series from Focus: Black Oklahoma.

Oklahoma is welcoming more Afghan refugees than any state besides California and Texas. The state Republican party opposes it, but elected GOP leaders are defying it and eager to help new arrivals.

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, we discuss Governor Stitt's call for the State Auditor to do a comprehensive investigation of the Department of Education, the Cattlemen's Association calling on the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority to put a moratorium on new medical marijuana licenses and Attorney General John O'Connor filing two petitions with the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse last summer's decision on McGirt V. Oklahoma.

Focus: Black Oklahoma, in partnership with KOSU, is producing a three-part series titled "The Battle for Greenwood." The first episode will air this Sunday, September 26th, at 3 p.m.

After almost a yearlong search, Tulsa Union Public Schools announced it has narrowed down a list of more than 320 potential mascots to two.

Greenwood Rising, a museum located in the heart of the historic Greenwood district in Tulsa, opened to the public on Wednesday.

The centennial of the massacre attracted international coverage; camera crews, T-shirt vendors, and even a visit from President Joe Biden. It seemed as though all this attention might ensure that history finally, would never be forgotten. But a month later some Tulsans worry that a backlash has begun.

Ignored, erased, silenced… But Greenwood’s trauma from 1921 persists. Resmaa Menakem — a therapist and expert on healing from conflict and violence — explains how generations of people pass down the experiences of historical events, and how racialized trauma affects us all, no matter our skin color. He and KalaLea ask, how might healing happen for the descendants of survivors and perpetrators of the massacre?

Over two days — May 31 and June 1, 1921 — a mob of white attackers systematically looted Greenwood and burned it to the ground. Estimates vary, but reports say the marauders killed 100 to 300 people; and they left thousands homeless, faced with the daunting task of rebuilding. We experience the attack through the eyes of lawyer B.C. Franklin and reporter Mary Elizabeth Jones Parrish — each left personal, comprehensive written accounts of those terrible days.

What started out as giving friends haircuts in high school turned into a successful profession for Willie Sells. As the owner of Tee's Barber Shop in Greenwood, Sells cuts hair and also provides a safe space for the Black community to gather. His six-decades-long barbering career is a testament to what Black success looks like in Greenwood.