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OU DAILY
People hold signs at a “protest for justice” over Friday’s shooting death of Terence Crutcher, sponsored by We the People Oklahoma, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Tuesday.
SUE OGROCKI/AP PHOTO
CLOSE TO HOME OU community reacts to killing of Terence Crutcher
185 Keith Scott Dahir Adam Terence Crutcher Nicholas Glenn Tyre King Markell Bivins Terrence Sterling Gregory Frazier Sadiq Idris Robert Brown Moses Ruben Jerome Damon
Michael Thompson Jr.
Levonia Riggins Jaqwan Terry Alfred Toe Donta Taylor Kelley Forte Brandon Coles Omer Ismail Ali Kenney Watkins Colby Friday Sylville Smith Fred Barlow Darnell Wicker Jawari Porter
ANDREW CLARK • @CLARKY_TWEETS The number of black men killed by police in 2016 so far, out of a total 790 people killed by police. These are their names.
Ismael Miranda Jay Anderson
Deravis ‘Caine’ Rogers
Angelo Brown
Quencezola Splunge
Isaiah Core III Antonio Richardson Raufeal Bostick Rashaun Lloyd Gary Porter Clarence Howard Antwun Shumpert Michael Moore John Williams
Lyndarius Witherspoon
Keith Bursey John Brisco Willis Walker Jr. Henry Green Demarco Rhymes Willie ‘Meek’ James Rodney Smith Michael Johnson Osee Calix Ollie Brooks Dennis Hudson Earl ‘Shaleek’ Pinckney Devonte Gates Jamarion Robinson Terry Frost Demarco Newman Doll Pierre-Louis Paul O’Neal Vernell Bing Jr Jeffrey Smith Michael Wilson Jr Donnell Thompson Joshua Beebee Devon Martes Kentrill Carraway Dalvin Hollins Jabril Robinson Richard Risher Jr. Sean Mondragon Jeffrey Tyson Arthur DaRosa Bernard Wells III Jaffort Smith Austin Howard Arthur Williams Jr Derek Love Lionel Gibson Gavin Long Alton Witchard Dayten Harper Ronald Williams Jr Orville Edwards Burt Johnson Joseph Mann Reginald Dogan Jason Brooks Charlin Charles Tyler Gebhard Ashtian Barnes Andre Johnson Joshua Brooks Alva Braziel Terrill Thomas Micah Johnson Willie Tillman Earnest Fells Demarcus Semer Philando Castile Jorevis Scruggs Alton Sterling Rico Johnson Unknown Demetrius Dorsey Sidney Washington Richard Bard Jr Delrawn Small George Tillman Jai Williams Edson Thevenin Kawme Patrick Robert Howard Tyrone Reado Rodney Watts Lafayette Evans Pierre Loury Sherman Evans Quron Williams Germichael Diahlo Grant Kennedy Lamont Gulley Dazion ‘Jerome’ Flenaugh Donte Johnson Crimson text: People from Oklahoma
Kevin Hicks Darius Robinson Cameron Glover Matthew Wood Jr Kimani Johnson James Simpson James Brown III Deriante Miller Jermon Seals Dominique Silva Alexio Allen Robert Dentmond Torrey Robinson Thurman Reynolds Scott Bennett Christopher Nelms Lamar Harris Jacai Colson Peter Gaines Marco Loud
Keith Montgomery Jr
Tyre Privott Arteair Porter Jr Akeil Denkins Kionte Spenser Greg Gunn Cedric Ford Christopher Davis Travis Stevenson Marquintan Sandlin Che Taylor Paul Gaston Dyzhawn Perkins Calvin Smith Calin Roquemore Ali Yahia Peter Fanfan Mohamed Barry Jerand Ross Shalamar Longer Eric Harris David Joseph Marese Collins Wendell Celestine Jr Antronie Scott Randy Nelson Peter John Charles Smith Bruce Kelley Jr Randolph McClain Christopher Dew Christopher Kalonji Johnathan Bratcher Cedric Norris Timothy Albert Crayton West Henry Bennett Rakeem Bentley Cartlon Murphy Jr Rodney Turner Eric Senegal Germonta Wallace Source: The Guardian
O
U students have lived through the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin and many other black people who have been killed by police. Now, they’ve lived through the Monday shooting of Terence Crutcher, a black man from Tulsa — about two hours away from OU’s Norman campus — who was unarmed when shot by Tulsa Police Department officer Betty Shelby. Crutcher ’s death, and the deaths of hundreds of others who have been killed in a manner many deem unjust, have prompted a “Die In” on campus Thursday at noon. A Facebook page for the event instructs participants to wear all black. When she saw the video of Crutcher being shot, Chelsea Davis, a member of Unheard, thought it affirmed everything the Black Lives Matter movement stands for. “(It also affirms) everything that these different activist groups, including Unheard, have been saying for the past two or three years,” she said. “That we have a major, major issue with race.” But Davis said the sadness these tragedies used to bring is not there anymore. “I’m so numb to it,” she said. “For me, it was Tamir Rice. After that, it just … Numbness is what I feel.” W h i l e Dav i s i s nu mb, O U President David Boren said in a statement to The Daily that he is deeply saddened by Crutcher’s death. “I am deeply saddened by what has taken place,” the statement says. “All of us have much more work to do to help create a society where everyone is valued and feels safe.” At least 194 black people have been killed by police in 2016, according to The Guardian’s database of police killings, The Counted. And while The Counted shows that at least 387 white people have been killed by police this year, it also reports that black people have a much higher likelihood of being killed by police than white people. “To me, this is kind of an expression of the innate kind of racism that already exists in this
country in the first place,” said John Carl, an OU professor of criminology. Oklahoma also ranks seventh in the country in civilian deaths by police per capita, The Counted reports. But George Henderson, the founder of OU’s human relations department and the first black man to purchase a home in Norman, told The Daily that no matter the location of a death, the impact felt is the same.
“We have a black chief of police here in Norman, and we still have these issues. We have a black president, and we still have these issues. I don’t know that us being in positions of power in the system are going to change anything, because the system is not designed for us.” CHELSEA DAVIS, MEMBER OF UNHEARD
“Whether you’re near or far, a human life is being taken,” Henderson said. “Distance has nothing to do with my emotions.” Henderson also presented a written statement to The Daily, in which he wrote that his “heart cries out in sympathy for Mr. Crutcher’s family” and that “this human relations nightmare must be brought to an end by any just actions possible.” Davis said she does not know a solution. “We have a black chief of police here in Norman, and we still have these issues. We have a black president, and we still have these issues. I don’t know that us being in positions of power in the system are going to change anything because the system is not designed for us,” she said. “It was designed to oppress us as a people.” Keith Humphrey is the Norman police chief, and he said he watched the videos of Crutcher’s shooting. A black man himself, Humphrey said he understands
both sides of the issue. “I think that any time there’s an incident where it appears a person does not have a weapon, and it seems a person is in a complying technique, it’s going to bring questions,” he said. “It looks bad. It looks as though this gentleman was complying, it looked like he had his hands up … You didn’t see his hands from the officer’s perspective, you didn’t hear what he said to the officers … But I think that the nation is going to be focused on the fact that he appeared to be compliant and had his hands up and did not have a weapon,” Humphrey said. In the audio of the helicopter video angle, a man can be heard saying that Crutcher “looks like a bad dude” and “could be on something.” Henderson said he thinks the man said that because Crutcher was a black man with his hands up. “ T h i s i s n o t a m o v i e ,” Henderson said. “You don’t even know this man and you’re saying he’s a bad dude. What’s a bad dude look like? This is a man with his hands in the air, how bad can that be?” Henderson has fought the human relations fight for decades, and said through it all, he has not lost his faith in humanity — and that the day he does, he will die. “I will die emotionally, and I will stop caring,” he said. “And I will shrivel up as a human being and be dead. If not in reality, in mind and spirit, and very quickly, the body will follow.” Andrew Clark
andrewclark@ou.edu
DIE-IN EVENT An on-campus Black Lives Matter die-in event is planned in response to the death of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa on Monday. WHEN: Noon on Thursday WHERE: Unity Garden DRESS CODE: All Black