Following recent shootings downtown, city officials hosted a community forum Tuesday evening at New Jerusalem Baptist Church in north Tulsa to address curbing gun violence.
The city enacted a curfew from 9 p.m. Thursdays to 6 a.m. Sundays for everyone 17 and under in the downtown area. The goal is to stop arguments among young people from escalating.
A shooting during Juneteenth celebrations left 22-year-old Isaiah Knight dead and several injured.
That curfew has received pushback from some residents, which Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols addressed directly in front of the large audience.
“A lot of other folks have said, ‘Well, you can’t just do a curfew.’ I couldn’t agree more,” Nichols said. “I do not believe that curfews alone stop people from getting shot.”
Nichols said the curfew serves a specific, limited purpose.
“Our goal is not to just interact with kids and write them tickets all the time,” he said. “Our goal is to make sure that the crowds downtown are not so big that they are difficult to make sure that we can ensure public safety for everybody down there, particularly the young people.”
Under the Trump administration, the federal government has slashed grants for public safety, including community violence intervention programs across the country.
When asked how the city can address issues like gun violence while funding remains uncertain, Nichols said pooling resources from nonprofit organizations and average community members is key.
“There are maybe fewer dollars to go around, but how do we leverage every one of those dollars?”
Nichols said he sees hope working with community organizations.
“As we pool resources together, we might find that we have more than we thought.”
The forum Tuesday was attended by other city leaders and community organizers, including Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Ebony Johnson.
Residents, educators and faith leaders broke into groups for moderated discussions about preventing violence.
While many said the discussions were productive, Tanya Crutcher, a family member of the event organizers, said follow-through is necessary.
“We’re actually tired of having these meetings. Now, we really need to implement a plan of action.”
