By Darla Shelden, Metropolis Sentinel Reporter
OKLAHOMA CITY – Communities Supporting Human Rights Oklahoma Metropolis (OKC4HR) has introduced a partnership with Communities Basis of Oklahoma (CFO) and the Arnall Household Basis (AFF). Collectively the three teams will conduct analysis on human rights violations in Oklahoma Metropolis.
“The objective of our analysis is to determine a baseline for the standing of human rights within the metropolis of Oklahoma Metropolis immediately,” mentioned OKC4HR spokesperson Maurianna Adams.
“This may present a helpful indicator for data-informed resolution making and help a localized human rights framework that will monitor and doc human rights points together with however not restricted to racial discrimination,” Adams added.
OKC4HR, or Communities Supporting Human Rights, Oklahoma Metropolis, is a nonpartisan, grassroots coalition of neighbors involved about racism and discrimination and the affect that has on the standard of lifetime of Oklahoma Metropolis residents. The group kinds a part of the Activity Drive established by OKC Mayor David Holt in July 2023 to discover the reestablishment of the defunct Human Rights Fee within the Metropolis of Oklahoma Metropolis.
Members of the Activity Drive board embody: Ward 7 Councilwoman Nikki Good (co-chair), Maurianna Adams (co-chair), Dr. Quintin Hughes, Sr. (co-chair), Ward 6 Councilwoman JoBeth Hamon, Ward 4 Councilman Todd Stone, Ward 8 Councilman Mark Stonecipher, and State Rep. Chelsey Branham. To see your complete checklist of members click on right here.
Section I of the venture, which was lately accomplished, included polling of Oklahoma Metropolis residents about their data, attitudes, and behaviors in the direction of human rights-related points.
The surveys have been typically proportionate to Oklahoma Metropolis’s precise inhabitants by way of gender, age teams, ethnic and racial identities, incapacity standing, foreign-born populations, training and revenue ranges, and regional distribution, in response to Adams.
Section II will construct on the survey outcomes to find out which teams have been both underrepresented because of complicated challenges or have been recognized to have disproportionate experiences with human rights points.
Subsequent phases will end in a report with coverage, training and neighborhood reconciliation suggestions.
In December 2023, the Arnall Household Basis dedicated over $55,000 for use by OKC4HR for the needs of the surveys and related analysis.
“The Arnall Household Basis is honored to accomplice with the Oklahoma Metropolis Human Rights Fee Activity Drive in its pursuit to raised perceive our neighborhood’s present human rights standing,” mentioned Sue Ann Arnall, president of the Arnall Household Basis
“We need to see our neighborhood freed from discrimination and injustice so that each particular person has the chance to thrive. We consider this venture shall be a essential step in working to realize this objective,” she mentioned.
The Communities Basis of Oklahoma has additionally dedicated help in the direction of the OKC4HR efforts.
“CFO is concentrated on serving to communities throughout our state flourish,” mentioned Teresa Rose Criminal, CFO Government Director. “To take action, we should tackle the underlying points that inhibit equality for all residents. CFO stands prepared to help the Communities for Human Rights-OKC as they search to construct the info and management programs vital to maneuver the needle in Oklahoma.”
Trent England of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, requested to touch upon the introduced examine, mirrored, “America is the primary nation in historical past based on the concept of human rights, and so it is smart that we proceed to attempt towards a ‘extra excellent union,’ to be a rustic and communities the place we actually do uphold this concept.
“The muse of civil rights is the understanding that every one persons are created equal, because it says in our Declaration of Independence, and that we’re all endowed with the identical fundamental rights. Hopefully this examine will relaxation on that agency basis.”
England, former government vp and now the David and Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow at OCPA, continued, “There’s a concern that teams attempt to wrap a political agenda within the guise of human rights. Relatively than utilizing rights as a defend to permit individuals to stay their lives in their very own means, they use it as a sword to strike down these they see as political adversaries. Most Oklahomans are fair-minded individuals, keen to stay and let stay. What they don’t need is a bunch of activists attacking their households or church buildings or jobs.”
Analysis exhibits that out of the 100 largest cities within the U.S., 67 use a board or fee to analyze, educate, and implement human and civil rights.
Oklahoma Metropolis is the nation’s twenty fifth largest metropolis by inhabitants. It doesn’t presently have such a board or fee.
Oklahoma Metropolis’s Human Rights Fee, established in 1963, was disbanded in 1996 amidst debate relating to prolonged protections for LGBTQ+ metropolis residents.
For extra info, go to okc4hr.com.
NOTE: Patrick B. McGuigan, editor of The Metropolis Sentinel, contributed to this report.
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