Focus: Black Oklahoma

This interview was taken from "Episode 66-Freedmen exclusion, Tulsa Food Not Bombs protest, & more" of Focus: Black Oklahoma . Music can entertain, inspire, and spark change—and few artists embody that power more than Rocky Dawuni. Born in Ghana and celebrated around the world, Dawuni blends Afro-roots music, reggae, and global influences to create songs that promote unity, social justice, and...

A court ruling affirming tribal authority over hunting and fishing rights on reservation lands has renewed conversations about sovereignty, citizenship, and belonging; It has also raised concerns among Freedmen descendants who remain excluded from certain tribal rights and benefits, including hunting and fishing privileges in some nations. Focus: Black Oklahoma correspondent Deon Osborne explores...

This is a short piece taken from our podcast "Walking the Margins: Mental Health & Housing Precarity Along Admiral" which you can listen to on demand at KOSU.org, the NPR app, NPR.org, or wherever you get your podcasts. A motel room. The interstate. Winter wind. Days of walking with no plan but to witness life on the street. Nick Alexandrov set out to report on mental health along an extended-...

This is a short piece taken from our podcast "Walking the Margins: Mental Health & Housing Precarity Along Admiral" which you can listen to on demand at KOSU.org, the NPR app, NPR.org, or wherever you get your podcasts. A motel room. The interstate. Winter wind. Days of walking with no plan but to witness life on the street. Nick Alexandrov set out to report on mental health along an extended-...

1:19 Bringing a child into the world should not come at the cost of a mother’s life. Yet in Ghana, many women continue to face significant challenges in accessing quality maternal healthcare. Behind the statistics are real stories of women, families, midwives, and healthcare workers navigating systems under pressure while working to ensure safer pregnancies and healthier futures. FBO’s Zaakirah Mu...

This is a short piece taken from our podcast "Walking the Margins: Mental Health & Housing Precarity Along Admiral" which you can listen to on demand at KOSU.org, the NPR app, NPR.org, or wherever you get your podcasts. A motel room. The interstate. Winter wind. Days of walking with no plan but to witness life on the street. Nick Alexandrov set out to report on mental health along an extended-...

1:25 Telling the truth is becoming more complicated—and more costly. Across the country and around the world, journalists are facing growing pressure for simply doing their jobs, and in the midst of it all, student journalists are stepping into an increasingly fraught landscape. What does it mean to pursue the truth when the stakes feel higher than ever? And how is this next generation navigating...

Walking the Margins: Mental Health & Housing Precarity Along Admiral A motel room. The interstate. Winter wind. Days of walking with no plan but to witness life on the street. Nick Alexandrov set out to report on mental health along an extended-stay motel corridor in Tulsa. What he found was a quieter, more elusive, more human story. Unfolding on sidewalks, overpasses, church steps, and in fle...

2:01 In communities across the US, questions about immigration enforcement and civil rights grow louder. For many Hispanic and Latino families, those questions are paired with something more personal—fear. Venson Fields takes us inside a community forum where frustration, uncertainty, and resilience met in one room to ensure community voices are heard. 12:04 On college and university campuses, stu...

00:50 For many families, Alzheimer’s doesn’t arrive all at once—it creeps in through forgotten names, missed appointments, and the quiet heartbreak of watching someone you love slip away. In the Black community, the disease hits harder and earlier. Zaakirah Muhammad has a story about Alzheimer’s—not just as a medical condition, but as a community issue that demands visibility, resources, and compa...

1:11 A 2016 study published in The Journal of the Oklahoma State Medical Association found that pancreatic cancer was the fourth most common cause of cancer death in Oklahoma from 2008 to 2012. FBO’s Zaakirah Muhammad examines why this cancer hits Black communities harder, what warning signs often go unheard, and how awareness, advocacy, and early action can save lives. 14:58 In communities across...

2:02 In part two of her look at the growing wave of attacks on free speech across college campuses, Nico Berlin takes us inside the story of the Maneater, the University of Missouri’s printed newspaper which switched to a digital only platform in May 2023 after nearly seven decades of publication. In her story, she reminds us that printed newspapers are significant because they make truth tangible...

1:33 Focus: Black Oklahoma’s Venson Fields turns our attention to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits crisis. Tens of thousands of families across the state are still feeling the ripple effects of the government shutdown—not in abstract political terms, but in their kitchens and on their dinner tables. 10:22 At the University of Central Oklahoma, student journalists at...

1:03 As the world celebrated a new ceasefire agreement in Gaza, other conflicts continue to rage across the globe, including in Sudan. In January, then Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared the Sudanese military and allied militias were committing genocide. What does this have to do with Oklahoma? Here’s FBO ’s Nick Alexandrov. 11:24 As federal budget cuts to healthcare and education take hol...

2:27 As the war in Gaza approaches its two year mark, criticism of Israel and support for the Palestinian population has ignited debates over free speech in the United States. Universities have become nexuses of protest against US support of Israel in the conflict, and the federal government’s response has been to block education funding for schools and targeting activists for deportation. State g...

1:53 Sex scandals and whistleblowers routinely make national headlines, but for years one Oklahoma whistleblower’s report has been swept under the rug. Dr. Whitney Louis was fired in January 2023 from her job as a prison psychologist at the Dr. Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft, after she reported numerous instances of rape and sexual assault of inmates by prison staff. Jeremy Kuzmarov has...

1:41 For people convicted of a crime, punishments can extend beyond time behind bars. They can lose the right to vote, own a gun, or lose access to certain career fields- and with colleges and universities screening for criminal history on admission applications, they can lose access to higher education. However, a legal movement is working to change that. FBO’s Dr. Nick Alexandrov has more. 10:35...

Despite a valiant effort by KOSU listeners and public media supporters nationwide, Congress has voted to rescind $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This money had already been promised and budgeted for at KOSU and public media stations across the country. Losing it is devastating, and one NPR estimate shows that roughly 18% of the country’s public radio stations will close...

In the next few days, the U.S. Senate will consider a package that would devastate many public radio stations by clawing back two years of previously approved funding. At KOSU, it would significantly impact our ability to provide emergency alerts and Oklahoma news. You can help by calling Senator Lankford and Senator Mullin to ask them to resist the rescission because of the impact it would have o...

00:49 This past month, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols announced the creation of the Greenwood Trust, a $105 million private fund dedicated to repairing and restoring the Greenwood District—site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. In an address rich with history and a call for shared courage, Nichols described the fund as the city’s next step in righting past wrongs and investing in a more just and equita...

For decades, homeschooling in the U.S. was largely associated with white, religious, or affluent families. But as Danielle A. Melton reports, a growing number of Black families are turning to homeschooling, seeking a more rigorous, culturally relevant education for their children. In our penultimate installment of Tribal Justice: The struggle for Black Rights on Native Land ( full story can be fou...

It’s rare to hear someone call hope a “bad strategy” but Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly doesn’t sugarcoat the truth. In a conversation with Focus: Black Oklahoma ’s Anthony Cherry, the Wayne State University Black Studies, political economy scholar, and author of Black Scare/ Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States explores the long history of racism, resistance, and radical ideas...

Fear is rising as politicians nationwide target immigrants with their Trump-inspired rhetoric and policies. KOSU's Lionel Ramos reports Oklahoma’s Latino immigrant community has been stirred into a panic. Translations in this story were voiced by Sierra Pfeifer. To read more about this legal clinic and immigration enforcement in Oklahoma, visit KOSU.org. In Oklahoma, as in many places, addiction c...

In the fall of 2020, Michael Hill, a Black citizen of the Cherokee Nation, woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone banging on the windows of his home. He called police for help, but the police arrested Michael in his own front yard. When trying to get his case heard in tribal court he was rejected because though he has tribal citizenship, he has no blood quantum and by federal l...

Recent studies have shown increasing suicide rates in the United States, particularly among Black youth. Experts in Oklahoma advocate for addressing cultural norms that prevent at risk youth and their families from seeking mental health treatment. Dawn Carter has details. In the fall of 2020, Michael Hill, a Black citizen of the Cherokee Nation, woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of s...