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The Alabama Solution
Join us for an important screening of The Alabama Solution, followed by a community conversation around detention conditions in Oklahoma. The Alabama Solution is a powerful documentary that exposes the realities of Alabama’s prison system and centers the voices of those living within it. The brutality shown in the documentary is not unique. In a way, it shows every prison because of the violence and oppression that prison breeds. The film invites us to confront the human cost of incarceration, the forces that allow injustice to persist, and the urgent need for accountability and systemic change. Join advocates working across issues of incarceration, immigration detention, and the death penalty in Oklahoma for a community conversation after the screening that discusses how the film relates to what is happening in Oklahoma and actions you can take to fight injustice in our state.
Hosted by the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the Julius Jones Institute, and the ACLU of Oklahoma, this event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served, and we will be joined by local community organizations who will provide free resources and ways to stay involved in advocacy efforts.
ACLU of Oklahoma Calling for Independent Investigation into OCPD Arrest of Black Lives Matter Protester
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By Bryan Newell
Black Lives Matter Oklahoma, other organizations to hold peaceful protest and memorial vigil
July
By Bryan Newell
Records Show DPS Sought Access To Bank Account, Routing Numbers For Card Reader Program
State Sen. Kyle Loveless, R-Oklahoma City, said the card reader program was a dangerous, unconstitutional tool. Loveless said the fact that DPS officials initially sought access to banking information shows the program was just another method to take money.
“We’ve seen this time and time again,” Loveless said. “Now we see they were trying to get that type of information. This shows this isn’t about identity theft, drugs, or crime or ISIS, it’s just another method to take innocent people’s property.”
At least three requests for legislative studies about the program are pending in the House of Representatives. Loveless said he planned to hold a series of public meetings about the program this fall.
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Legislative Session “Mostly Bad News” ACLU Of Oklahoma Leader Says
“In reality, the session did very little to help people,” Kiesel said. “We saw some horrible examples of bigoted and hate-filled legislation and a poorly written budget that does more harm than good.”
Many legislators, he said, were more concerned about deflecting the public’s attention away from the budget problem.
Kiesel said bills such as Senate Bill 1552, which would have made it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, and Senate Bill 1619, which targeted Oklahoma’s transgender residents, did nothing positive for the state and were ‘obviously unconstitutional.’
In addition, lawmakers passed a resolution seeking to remove the firewall from the Oklahoma Constitution that keeps the state from funding religious organizations with public money.
Kiesel called that resolution ‘unnecessary.’
“It (the resolution) has nothing to do with policy,” he said. “Instead, it is all about politics. The resolution is
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