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Oklahoma

Deregulation Is Turning Oklahoma Into A Factory Farm Sacrifice Zone

May 13, 2024 Ben Felder, In These Times. , , ,
As Barbara Dozhier prepared a ham before the arrival of her great-grandchildren and the rest of her family last Christmas Eve, she prayed for a weather forecast with wind out of the south. A breeze in the opposite direction meant her home four miles outside the east Oklahoma town of Kansas would be overcome with the stench of chicken litter. Ever since a six-building poultry farm opened across the street in 2018 — where 336,000 birds are raised at a time — family gatherings at the Dozhier home have been forced inside. “Sometimes the wind is out of the north and you just hurry up, get in the house and shut your door,” Dozhier said. ​“At first I was upset all the time but after all these years there is nothing you can do.”

Deregulation Is Turning Oklahoma Into A Factory Farm Sacrifice Zone

January 2, 2024 Ben Felder, In These Times. , , , ,
As Barbara Dozhier prepared a ham before the arrival of her great-grandchildren and the rest of her family last Christmas Eve, she prayed for a weather forecast with wind out of the south. A breeze in the opposite direction meant her home four miles outside the east Oklahoma town of Kansas would be overcome with the stench of chicken litter. Ever since a six-building poultry farm opened across the street in 2018 — where 336,000 birds are raised at a time — family gatherings at the Dozhier home have been forced inside. “Sometimes the wind is out of the north and you just hurry up, get in the house and shut your door,” Dozhier said. ​“At first I was upset all the time but after all these years there is nothing you can do.”

Longest Wrongful Conviction Sentence In US Ends In Exoneration

November 9, 2023 Victoria Valenzuela, Scheer Post. , , ,
Glynn Simmons, who spent 48 years 1 month and 18 days in an Oklahoma prison for a crime he did not commit, has been exonerated, having served the longest sentence for a wrongfully convicted person in U.S. history. Simmons and a co-defendant were sentenced to death in 1975 for a murder committed during a liquor store robbery, but the death sentences were commuted to life in prison when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional. The co-defendant was paroled in 2008. Simmons was 22 years old when two women were shot in a liquor store robbery on New Years Eve in 1974.

Bill Would Empower Parents To Remove Books From School Libraries

December 30, 2021 Julia Conley, Common Dreams. , , ,
A bill proposed by a Republican state senator in Oklahoma would empower parents to have books that discuss gender identity removed from public school libraries—a measure that rights advocates warned could have life-threatening consequences for LGBTQ+ children across the state. Under Senate Bill 1142, introduced earlier this month by state Sen. Rob Standridge, just one parent would have to object to a book that includes discussion of "sexual perversion, sex-based classifications, sexual identity, or gender identity" and other related themes in order to begin the process of removal. Upon receiving a written request to remove a book, a school district would have 30 days to eliminate all copies of the material from circulation.

SCOTUS Upholds Oklahoma’s McGirt Decision: Governor And Big Oil Lose

December 2, 2021 Last Real Indians. , , ,
On Monday, November 29, anti-Indigenous Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s futile attempts to undermine and destroy tribal sovereignty through legal avenues ended for good when the US Supreme Court refused his request to reexamine their 2020 McGirt ruling. That decision declared that Oklahoma rightfully remains Indian Territory for criminal jurisdiction, and ever since, Governor Kevin Stitt and his pro-oil “Commission on Cooperative Sovereignty” have fought desperately to overturn it in every legal space available. Chaired by Devon Energy CEO’s Larry Nichols, the commission also includes Continental Resources’ Harold Hamm, pipeline giant Williams Companies’ Alan Armstrong, as well as a litany of fossil fuel industry lobbyists and executives dead set on destroying Oklahoma’s land, air, and water.

Governor Stitt Grants Julius Jones Clemency

November 19, 2021 Innocence Project. , , ,
Julius Jones has been on death row in Oklahoma for 19 years for a 1999 murder he’s always said he had no part in. Mr. Jones, who is represented by federal attorneys Dale Baich and Amanda Bass, was convicted and sentenced to death at the age of 19 and has now spent half his life in prison, waiting to be executed for a crime that new and compelling evidence suggests he didn’t commit. On Nov. 18, 2021, Oklahoma Gov. Stitt grants Julius Jones life without parole hours before his 4 PM CST execution. Twice, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended that Mr. Jones be granted life with the possibility of parole, given strong new evidence of his innocence.

Oklahoma Natives Shut Down Governor Stitt’s Anti-Sovereignty Forum

July 16, 2021 Last Real Indians. , , ,
On Tuesday, July 13th, Indigenous peoples from many nations shut down Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s anti-Indigenous “victim impact” forum, which had no tribal representation and was intended to incite fear among the public in Stitt’s continued effort to subvert and overturn the 2020 McGirt Supreme Court decision. Jordan Harmon, Mvskoke/Creek citizen and tribal attorney described it as “a room literally packed with Natives from all different tribes in unified anger and with a very clear and direct message.” That message? Tribal nations and communities will not back down when it comes to tribal sovereignty and our lands. In a press release issued by Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Principal Chief David W. Hill explained

Oklahoma Is – Always Has Been – Native Land

July 22, 2020 By Dwanna L. McKay, The Conversation. , , ,
Any shock that tribal nations have sovereignty over their own land reflects a serious misunderstanding of American history. For Oklahoma – indeed, all of North America – has always been, for lack of a better term, Indian Country. North America was not a vast, unpopulated wilderness when white colonizers arrived in 1620. Up to 100 million people of more than 1,000 sovereign indigenous nations occupied the area that would become the United States. At the time, fewer than 80 million people lived in Europe. America’s indigenous nations were incredibly advanced, with extensive trade networks and economic centers, superior agricultural cultivation, well-developed metalwork, pottery, and weaving practices, as historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has comprehensively detailed. Unlike Europe, with its periodic epidemics, North America had little disease, Dunbar-Ortiz says. People used herbal medicines, dentistry, surgery, and daily hygienic bathing to salubrious effects. Historically, indigenous nations emphasized equity, consensus and community. Though individualism would come to define the United States, my research finds that Native Americans retain these values today, along with our guiding principles of respect, responsibility and reciprocity.

The Supreme Court Ruling On Oklahoma Was Welcome, But…

July 14, 2020 Nick Estes, NBC News. , , ,
The U.S. legal system from the Supreme Court on down delivered a suite of rulings over the past week that have reaffirmed Indigenous land rights and environmental protections. From the Virginias to the Dakotas, they pushed back on the industrial development that would have further imperiled tribal lands and the environment. On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that 3 million acres of eastern Oklahoma — including most of Tulsa — remain American Indian reservation land. Last Monday, the court also denied a Trump administration request to allow the construction of the long-delayed northern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would carry slurry crude from the Alberta tar sands to Nebraska.

Supreme Court Rules Against Oklahoma In Creek Nation Case

July 10, 2020 Chris Casteel, The Oklahoman. , , ,
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s reservation was not officially terminated at Oklahoma statehood, as justices issued a decision that may upend state jurisdiction in much of eastern Oklahoma. “The federal government promised the Creek a reservation in perpetuity,” the 5-4 decision states. “Over time, Congress has diminished that reservation. It has sometimes restricted and other times expanded the Tribe’s authority. But Congress has never withdrawn the promised reservation.” The decision is expected to have huge implications for criminal, and possibly civil, matters across much of the land that was once Indian Territory. The state attorney general’s office has warned of hundreds of criminal convictions being overturned.

Armed Protesters Peacefully March On Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion

June 22, 2020 By Dave Cathey, Oklahoman. , , ,
Between 150 and 200 protesters peacefully marched from the Ralph Ellison Library to the Governor's Mansion on Saturday to deliver a double-barreled message. “We aren’t going to allow people to come into our communities and brutalize us,” event organizer Omar Chatman said before the event. “If you come into our community, know we are armed.” The 1000 Brothers and Sisters in Arms protest might not have approached its eponymous numbers, but it bore enough artillery to pop the National Rifle Association's buttons. Community organizer Michael Washington was among the speakers who said the march was a response to the recent killings of Black men by police as well as local cases they want reopened.

Largest Sentence Commutation In US History: Nearly 500 Inmates Walk Free After Oklahoma Voters Demand Reform

November 5, 2019 By Julia Conley, Commondreams.org , , ,
Oklahoma voters' approval of a referendum in 2016 allowed for nearly 500 inmates to walk free on Monday from the state's massive prison system—the largest single-day commutation in U.S. history. Four hundred and sixty-two people had their sentences commuted as a result of Question 780, which asked voters if they approved of recategorizing many felonies, including drug possession and minor property crimes, as misdemeanors. The referendum passed by a 16 percent margin.

Addressing Food Insecurity In Northeast Oklahoma

October 14, 2019 By Chuck Hoskin, Jr., Nativenewsonline.net ,
Many of us are lucky enough that we do not have to worry about where our next meal will come from. Unfortunately, not everyone is so blessed. That is why Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma food banks and other organizations across the state are building partnerships to address this problem. October marks the beginning of the annual Feeding Oklahoma Drive, a month-long campaign to support the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. Cherokee Nation Businesses is a lead sponsor of this campaign.

Oklahoma’s Working Class WoodyFest2019: Second Wave Of The Sixties

August 2, 2019 Mark Maxey, AmericanHighways.org. , , ,
(Okemah, Okla.) The hot humid days of July annually in Okemah rallies around their hometown socialist, Woody Guthrie. Okemah, a rural town of about 3000 citizens in northeastern Oklahoma.  July 10-14, 2019 the 22nd Woody Fest[1]celebrated, remembered, cried, and rallied behind the songs of the working class. Songs were written over 80 years ago of the working class, unions, and immigration is just as relevant today as it was then. Woodrow Wilson (Woody) Guthrie[2]was born to Charley and Nora Belle Guthrie in Okemah, Oklahoma on July 14, 1912. Woody’s parents, who were staunch Democrats, named their son after the man who had been elected President that year. In the 1930s, Woody joined thousands of others who migrated to California during the Dust Bowl Era, becoming known as the Dust Bowl Troubadour.

Will Oklahoma Rein In Epic Charter Failure?

April 3, 2019 John Thompson, Livingindialogue.com , ,
As the Network for Public Education documents a billion dollars wasted on failed charter schools, the national news is full of the latest charter financial scandals stretching from New Jersey to California. We can’t forget, however, that virtual charters, like Oklahoma’s Epic for-profit charters, have the potential of producing even more harm to our poorest students. The millions of dollars invested in Epic allow adults to pretend that thousands of students have not been abandoned, merely because they have enrolled in the online school.
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