Tulsa mayor + others reassure city 'no evacuees set to come to Tulsa'

[bobbieinok]

This was at a press conference Friday afternoon.

I have not been following Tulsa events, but I definitely got the impression that at least some people had been afraid NO evacuees would come here.

The reporter said about 200 were in Tulsa and the situation (or did he say people? I don't remember) was being 'monitored'.

Mayor LaFortune reassured the city that no evacuees would be housed in convention center (and other places???) vital to Tulsa's economy.

When the reporter announced the statement, I thought it would be something about how citizens and the city were responding to the disaster. When it was over (the part on the radio was very brief), I wondered if the mayor (R) and others were reassuring Tulsa's 'movers and shakers' that no blacks would be coming. I don't know; he hasn't struck me as all that caring. I do know he is buddy-buddy with conservative religious leaders in Tulsa.

Maybe some other Tulsa/OK DUers might have more information.

[liberal N proud]

1. #@!%$$#%#@% chicken-shits!

[liberalhistorian]

2. I wouldn't be surprised at all

if this were the case, as sickening and disgusting as it may be. OK is a mostly white, fundie state, so it's natural that they would panic over an influx of "those people" instead of actually doing the Christian thing and helping desperate people in need.

[fishwax]

16. tulsa in particular has a complicated history

including the worst race riots of the 20th century, a tragedy made all the more shameful by the city's and state's refusal, until very recently, to even discuss the events let alone address the issues.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. The white folks were getting nervous.

[DBoon]

4. What I found from Google News

local Tulsa paper came up with this:

Mayor: No immediate plans for city to house large number of ...
Tulsa World (subscription), OK - 23 hours ago
There currently are no plans to house a large number of evacuees from areas of the Gulf coast ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, Tulsa Mayor Bill Lafortune said at ...
Ceremonial dirt turned on downtown arena Tulsa World (subscription)



When I clicked on the link, it said "this page has expired". I suspect the article has been pulled.

[sandnsea]

5. Here's the press release

Don't know quite what to make of this.

As you know, the Tulsa Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Joint Information Center (JIC) have been activated. This was in response to an inquiry from the American Red Cross regarding the possibility of housing evacuees from Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. The Policy Group for these operations includes myself, County Commissioner Bob Dick, EMSA President Stephen Williamson, Deputy Fire Chief Paul Gallahar, Tulsa Police Chief Dave Been and City County Health Department Director Gary Cox. This group has considered the American Red Cross inquiry. It has also been in constant communication with State Emergency Management, which is coordinating any formal process for potentially moving evacuees to Oklahoma. At this point in time, there has been no formal decision by the state to move any evacuees to Oklahoma. The state is, however, building contingencies to address that scenario if it presents itself. In Tulsa, we are engaged in the same process. I can say that these contingencies do not include the Tulsa Convention Center or any other similar facility which is important to the economy of this city. Our planning will mandate that medical services, relief services and law enforcement services will be tightly controlled and coordinated as part of these contingencies. The American Red Cross with partner with the applicable government entities in all of our efforts. While we know that some evacuees, a very small number, are making their way to cities across Oklahoma, I must emphasize that there is no large contingent of evacuees headed to Tulsa. But if that was eventually to occur, for whatever reason, we will be prepared as a community. Based on the extensive planning we have done over the past several hours, we will de-active the EOC and JIC at this time. However, we will continue to closely monitor the status and movement of evacuees into Oklahoma by staying in constant communication with State Emergency Management.

http://www.cityoftulsa.org/Press+Releases/MO090205.htm

[liberalhistorian]

8. Translation:

Hordes of marauding n*****s are running loose in NO and are about to be unleashed throughout the country. We want to assure the citizens of this great, white state that they will not have to deal with any of these people and will not, therefore, be forced to see any kind of human suffering that may be damaging to their delicate Christian souls. The Red Cross has asked us to help our fellow citizens, and fellow human beings, in need, but we've told them to fuck off for now and will continue to do so should they have the nerve to ask us again. We cannot allow our city's Almighty Pocketbook to be dented in any way by these marauding n****r hoodlums who have the nerve to take food and water in an effort to survive, just because our government has determined that they don't give a damn about them and has hung them out to dry, so to speak. Any aid we give at all, whether medical, housing, or food, will be strictly rationed and taken away completely if it interferes in any way with services given to our great, fine, moral, upstanding Christian white citizens. So, to the idiot people in NO who were so stupid as to live there, and to the Red Cross and FEMA, I say to fuck off, quit bugging us, and where's the beer and barbecue? :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :mad: :mad: :mad: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[vickie]

12. Liberalhistorian, this is priceless. Tears of laughter are rolling

down my face. I guess amidst the brokenhearted shock, unexpected laughter is a natural reaction to this barrage of horror...

[liberalhistorian]

13. Yes, laughter always does

help, at least it always has with me. Unfortunately, I don't think it's too far off the mark from what they were really thinking.

[rainbow4321]

24. ..and they will be "praying" for the victims tomorrow morning....

But they want the prayin' to be done quite a DISTANCE from the victims....

[undeterred]

26. you said it all- don't know whether to laugh or cry

:cry: :rofl:

[Z_I_Peevey]

6. Well, we've had evacuees in the southern part

of the state and lived to tell about it. But then, we're poor too down in the boondocks.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. Tulsa is a shameful city - remember Greenwood!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_Race_Riot

The Tulsa Race Riot was the most devastating race riot in US history in terms of lives lost.

On May 31, 1921, Dick Rowland, a black shoe-shiner, was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, a white elevator operator in the Drexel Building. Following Rowland's arrest and the publication of a false newspaper story asserting a sexual assault, mobs of blacks and whites gathered near the jail, with the whites intending to lynch Rowland and the blacks to defend him. An eyewitness account claims that the violence started when a white man was killed while trying to wrest a gun from a black man.

This happened in the racially and politically tense atmosphere of northeastern Oklahoma. The area was a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity at that time.

By June 1, white mobs had invaded the segregated black part of town and destroyed the Greenwood district, known nationally as the "Black Wall Street" for its economic success. Hundreds of people were killed; dozens of businesses, 1,256 homes, many churches and a hospital were destroyed, in an area covering 35 blocks. Estimates of the dead range up to 300. After the governor declared martial law, black people were rounded up by the National Guard and put into the baseball stadium. Whites in airplanes shot at black refugees and dropped explosives onto them.<1> Many black families fled for more peaceful cities, only a percentage returned to rebuild.

No one was ever arrested or charged for the mass murder and arson that happened that day.

The riot made many national papers, and even The Times, which claimed that airplanes had been used in the attack.

For many years the history books in Oklahoma contained little or no information about the riot. If it was mentioned, the information was often false or misleading, saying that blacks instigated the riot, or that most destruction was committed by blacks. In later years, details have begun to come to light thanks to a commission formed to study the race riot in the late 1990s/early 2000s. There have been small attempts to find the mass graves used to bury the dead of the riot. Johnnie Cochran was involved in an attempted lawsuit against the city by survivors of the riot. However, this suit was thrown out in court.

:grr:

[bobbieinok]

20. I grew up in Tulsa, as did my dad......I knew about this from my gramma

(we're white)

she ran a boarding house and told her black helper to bring her family to the house when it was clear things were getting bad

I learned from a black co-worker who grew up on the north side of town that although it was never talked about or written about by whites, the blacks have always known this

[Window]

22. Very shameful. I will never forget the Tulsa riots.

.

[niallmac]

9. Aren't we talking Bible Belt Country?

I am going to insert a space right here:________________. It is symbolic of all the thoughts and words my momma never taught me that I feel for such hypocrisy. 'Religious Hypocrisy' should have made it to Moses' Top Ten.

[SoCalDem]

11. 3/5...

nuff said

[mitchum]

10. Does this mean that they won't have to share their crystal meth?

[liberalhistorian]

15. LOL!

Well, they really dodged that bullet, then, didn't they? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[rainbow4321]

14. He may not have much of a choice....Dallas is now full

And Tulsa looks like it is next up. From previous articles this week, saying no to FEMA is not an option. Also, on the local NO scanner, they said 6 states would be on their destination list within 48 hours...TX was first, now they are sending people to Fort Smith, Arkansas (per scanner). That leaves 4 more (at least). Oklahoma would be on that list, I would think.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/katrina/stories/090305dnnatkatrina.1f786368.html

On Friday morning, Dallas officials were told to expect 25 buses, Mr. Miguez said. By Friday afternoon, that number had grown to 50. At 6 a.m. today, Mr. Miguez said, the number had grown again – this time to 150.

Currently, a total of about 6,600 evacuees have registered at the Convention Center and Reunion Arena. Total capacity for the two facilities is about 8,200, Mr. Miguez said, a number that will be reached in a matter of hours.

City officials are working fast to try to reroute some of the buses. The city of Bonham has agreed to take 1,000 evacuees. Tarrant County has not yet reached capacity. And Tulsa has room for 5,000. Dallas officials also want more help with evacuees from surrounding suburbs as well as the state and federal goverment, Mr. Miguez said.

And Police Chief David Kunkle said if aid doesn’t come soon, Dallas is going to have a crisis on its hands. “We’re not going to be able to handle this unless we get immediate assistance,” he said.

[Karenina]

17. I LOVE the stench of racism in the morning!

[Southpaw Bookworm]

18. Considering Tulsa's history

With African-Americans, I'm pretty sure the refugees would prefer another locale.

[rainbow4321]

19. Some 2,000 Hurricane Refugees Coming To Camp Gruber Near Muskogee

The OK gov has also asked chimp to declare OK as a federal disaster so they can get fed $$ for feeding and housing refugees


http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=89518

About 2,000 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina were expected to arrive at an Oklahoma National Guard training center by bus Friday evening, military officials said.

They were to be put in the barracks at Camp Gruber, about 18 miles southeast of Muskogee, said National Guard Lt. Col. Ronald B. Ragland. They were expected at about 7 p.m. CDT.


These evacuees first came to Texas and were then loaded onto buses to come to Camp Gruber through an agreement among the governors' offices in Texas and Oklahoma and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Paul Sund, a spokesman for Oklahoma

Officials at Red Cross chapters in Oklahoma City and Tulsa said about 300 refugees had checked in with them, but most found accommodations on their own with friends and relatives.

[blonndee]

21. There are 130 in Norman right now. The local Sal Army guy I talked

to this morning said there may be thousands coming into this area, from Norman to OKC. I asked if the ones already here have places to stay, and he said yes. Apparently so far 50 apartments have been donated, with the plan to have approximately 4 stay in each apartment.

[bobbieinok]

23. LaFortune and the Tulsa Race Riot .....1997 article

this seems to be a decent summary of the race riot


http://www.northtulsa.com/tulsa_burning.html

TULSA BURNING
by Jonathan Larsen

"I WAS BORN AND RAISED HERE, AND I HAD NEVER heard of the riot," Tulsa district attorney Bill LaFortune is saying. He is sitting in front of a massive desk on the fourth floor of the Tulsa County Courthouse. On the edge of his desk is a manila folder stuffed with documents, old newspaper clips and grand-jury indictments relating to Tulsa's Race Riot of 1921, one of the worst in the nation's history.

LaFortune pulls out one of the few remaining copies of a self-published, eyewitness account of the riot, written by a young black woman named Mary Jones Parrish. A YMCA typing instructor, Parrish had included in her remarkable volume three wide-angle photographs of the destruction, taped and folded within the book like a triptych. Now LaFortune spreads open the panorama for his guest. "It looks like Hiroshima, or worse," he says.

The photographs are breathtaking: 35 blocks of the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, reduced to cinder and rubble. On a single night, more than 10,000 armed and crazed whites looted and burned down the city's entire black section. In the pictures on LaFortune's desk, the smoke is still rising off the scorched earth, drifting between charred trees and the few jagged remains of brick walls.

For most of the past 75 years, the riot remained Tulsa's brooding secret. But on June 1 of last year, the 75th anniversary of the event, Tulsa held its first commemorative service and erected a memorial. And in October LaFortune performed his own role in the ritual healing.

During an emotional ceremony, he cleared a long deceased black man named J. B. Stradford of the charge of inciting the riot.

much more about what happened, etc..........

[WhiteTara]

25. Oral Roberts has a big campus and center there

I note the RW christian values are kicking in here. They could help lots of people, but you have to remember that in the 30's, they massacred many, many blacks in the city. They are definitely white bread red necks.