Statement

With Tulsa’s COVID numbers rising, our president’s lack of responsiveness to that information, and the complete disregard to the harm that his arrival would bring upon the black community and allies of the black lives matter movement,  we wish to have Mayor GT Bynum cancel Trump’s rally on the 20th of June. 

Public Health

In Tulsa, we are in our third phase of opening the city back up. With our largest venue in Tulsa holding a capacity of 19,000 people, it can be concluded that an expected 200,000 people at the venue is not plausible. 

Our numbers for COVID cases are rising(https://www.tulsa-health.org/COVID19 with our current cases at:

- 7,848 confirmed cases (+222)

-  359 reported deaths (+2)

-  154 hospitalizations (confirmed & suspected, as of 6/11)

(https://twitter.com/KassieMcClung/status/1271473400557510656?s=20

 It is not practical to expect these people to practice social distancing, and with that comes the even larger spike in COVID cases, which will overwhelm our city’s hospitals. A large gathering of 200,000 people simply cannot happen during a pandemic with our numbers showing no signs of dropping. With that said, our president has not spoken at all on how he will accommodate us with our health in mind. He is not attempting to adhere to social distancing policies, on the contrary, he has a disclaimer on his website that states that the attendees cannot sue him if they contract the virus (scroll to bottom portion: https://events.donaldjtrump.com/events/tulsa-oklahoma-rally-june-19?utm_content=rally_list&utm_medium=web&utm_source=djt_web . Though that is frightening as it is, that does not even cover the exposure the people attending could possibly have with the virus and pass on to people that are not attending. His response to the large number of people requesting tickets was joy in a tweet(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1271644267275063297?s=20  and not concern. He is not concerned for the health of Tulsa, so we find it absolutely necessary to cancel this event until we are in a better place in terms of this pandemic. 

Historical Significance

As citizens of Tulsa, we are well aware of the significance of Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre that happened downtown, minutes away from the BOK center. During this time of peaceful protesting in part to amplify that part of our horrific history and make amends to the city, it is completely disrespectful to have a public figure with a racist background to host a rally that highlights the parts of Tulsa we are desperately trying to grow from. Our president, who has so often shown negligence to the black community and the black lives matter movement during his presidency, has no place in such a vulnerable city as ours, as we are trying to let our outcry be heard for the black community. 

To Conclude

We urge Mayor GT Bynum to reconsider the decision to allow this Rally to happen for the safety of this city’s public health, and to allow the Black Lives Matter movement to be the center of attention as we attempt to manifest his, and our new vision of Tulsa.