KKK ceremony
© KOCO 5
Tulsa, Oklahoma is currently caught up in a struggle over racism and police brutality against people of color. With the shooting death of Terence Crutcher by police happening just a few months after Officer Robert Bates in Tulsa was sentenced to four years in prison for "mistaking" his gun for a Taser and shooting Eric Harris dead as he ran from police, tensions have reached a boiling point.

Less than a year ago, an Oklahoma mayor's husband was caught on film participating in a KKK ceremony that he insists was just a Halloween prank. Although Mayor Teresa Sharp of Lahoma, Oklahoma insisted that the stunt was just part of a Halloween costume, a burning cross in the background of the white-robed, hooded, torch-carrying men discounted those explanations.

Mayor Sharp didn't seem to understand just how much her husband's views would be seen as reflective of her own. Especially at such a contentious time, her excuses and dismissiveness of the film were even more offensive. Not only did many citizens of Oklahoma see it as reflective of the mayor's hidden racism, especially since she didn't seem to understand why so many were upset by it, many citizens also felt that it was reflective of a larger view of white folks and white leadership in Oklahoma.
"[It] happened on my property. You know, I don't know what else to say other than I'm sorry to the community and I'm sorry to the public [...] it was the stupidity and actions of four separate individuals and it does not reflect on me or anyone else who is in the community."
This isn't stupidity. This is racism and hatred. Dismissing that is absolutely reflective of the mayor's inability to understand both the historical and the current impact of racism across the country, which has never been more apparent than it is now, as new video and photos are released far too frequently of officers murdering black men and women and explaining it away by saying they seemed "threatening," highlighting an inherent fear of black and brown folks.

The video went public just seven months after the shooting of Eric Harris, after which the officer insisted that he didn't intend to kill the man and thought he had reached for his Taser. For once, not even a judge and jury were willing to excuse the volunteer deputy, Robert Bates, who was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison. The sentence did little to calm the outrage over the death of 44-year-old Harris and whatever message of understanding or refusal to accept intolerance that lawmakers hoped would sent by the conviction was erased by a white mayor calling the KKK display a "prank" or "stupidity."

Sharp originally refused to step down as mayor over the incident, although she was eventually forced to do so.
"It's four good ol' boys sitting around drinking and things got out of control [...] They didn't see the harm in dressing up as the KKK, in comparison to other people dressing up as murderers and bombers."
Despite her excuses and dismissals, Sharp is no longer the mayor in Lahoma, Oklahoma. As for the unknown number of white mayors, police officers, governors, judges, and others in power with KKK robes and hoods hidden in their own closets...they are so far still presiding over cases and incidents of police brutality against people of color.