We also have to recognize that the men and women of the Tulsa Police Department are good people who put their lives on the line every day to protect the rest of us. Every day, Tulsa police officers put themselves in situations that most of us hope we would never find ourselves in at any point of our entire lives. A memorial at the training center here in Tulsa for our police department is a testament to the danger that our police officers face with every call that they respond to, and they are asked to make quick decisions to defend themselves and to defend us.

We have to acknowledge that a divide exists in our city. We can’t work to address it until we acknowledge it exists. We have a long way to go as a city when there is a 10-year life expectancy disparity between the most predominantly African-American part of our city and the rest of our city. We have a long way to go as a city when one part of our city is synonymous with an entire race. We have a long way to go as a city when people keep expecting lawlessness from African-Americans in response to an incident or a verdict. I would remind Tulsans that our history shows us African-Americans in Tulsa have not been the instigators of lawlessness and riots; they have been the victims of them. So I would ask that we not keep assuming the worst from a part of our community that has been exposed to the worst in this city’s history. We acknowledge the divide, and we acknowledge the long, difficult road that we have as a city to equity.