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Tulsa City Council Set to Resume Equality Indicators Work in 2020

Community Service Council

Tulsa city councilors will continue digging into the Equality Indicators in 2020.

The report shows disparities in the city across a broad spectrum of measures, and it made clear there are big differences in how often police arrest or use force against black Tulsans compared to other racial groups.

The council wants to make policy recommendations to alleviate some of those disparities. Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper said she has a clear goal in mind: police oversight.

"I certainly will not rest until we have an Office of the Independent Monitor, and a monitor that has teeth for investigations, to actually initiate or at least have something to say about policies," Hall-Harper said.

Mayor G.T. Bynum’s effort to set up an Office of the Independent Monitor stalled earlier this year amid police union pushback.

Hall-Harper gives the council about a "C" grade handling the Equality Indicators so far. She said her call for a deeper dive into the report was mostly ignored until Councilors Kara Joy McKee and Lori Decter Wright backed her.

"Unfortunately, that’s just how our community is. We don’t oftentimes see the disparities or the issues in black communities and communities of color until someone that’s caucasian amplifies those concerns," Hall-Harper said.

The Equality Indicators debuted in 2018, with the second annual report coming out in April 2019.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.