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In local news
- In an editorial, The Black Wall Street Times wrote that a spokesperson for Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office has a policy against providing information to the Black-owned publication. In an email, the spokesperson said that policy “is to respond to journalists, not activists pretending to be reporters.” Stitt, who serves on the centennial commission for the Tulsa Race Massacre, recently signed into law a measure that will block schools from teaching about how systemic racism impacts society.
- During the weekend, an Oklahoma City police officer shot and killed 34-year-old Daniel Hobbs, who had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia, his mother told News on 6. Last year, Oklahoma Watch and StateImpact Oklahoma reported that mental health calls to the city’s police department had almost doubled from 2013 to 2019.
- During a protest against police violence last year, officers in Cottonwood Heights, Utah hit and body-slammed protesters, footage shows. Eight people were arrested during the protest, including the father and brother of Zane James, who was killed by Cottonwood Heights police three years ago. An investigation from the Utah Attorney General’s Office says the police responded appropriately and that some protesters broke the law by hitting officers and not moving when asked.
- A lobbyist and advisor to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller offered at least six people the chance to become one of the state’s first licensed hemp growers in exchange for thousands of dollars. Todd Smith, who received a felony theft charge last week, obtained $55,000 this way, and an associate who was also arrested in connection with the scheme, Keenan Williams, made $77,500.
New from BigIfTrue.org
Last year, hate crimes targeting Asian Americans rose about 150% in 16 cities in the United States, even as hate crimes fell overall. I wrote about some of the ways that Asian American communities in Oklahoma City, Atlanta and New York City are organizing in response to an influx of anti-Asian hate.
- Artist Alison Kuo and Ava Chin, an author and associate professor at the College of Staten Island, created Sisters in Self-Defense, a group that provides self-defense classes centered around Asian American women’s experiences. “Women are always aware of protecting themselves and looking out for each other,” Kuo said. “People should know that we’re not here to be victimized and that we’re not … going to depend on the presence of a bystander to save us. If people mess with us, then we’re going to be prepared.”
- After shootings in Atlanta killed six Asian women in March, some women in the community have pursued firearm trainings, E Lim of Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Atlanta said. “A lot of women in particular are finding that if the opposition, especially in recent protests, are going to show up with guns, threaten people with guns and potentially kill people with guns, folks don’t want to show up without something to protect themselves, and that might be firearms,” Lim said.
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Thank you for reading Hard Reset. You can find me here at bryant@bigiftrue.org and 405-990-0988.
– Mollie Bryant
Founder and editor, BigIfTrue.org
