Other than having sung Oklahoma in community and school choirs, and having seen the movie, I really knew nothing about the state, nor did I have even a remote idea that it would become important to me.
I began my teaching career in Richmond, California back in the earliest years of the 1970s.
Because of the oil refinery and storage tanks there, it was where many Oklahomans, fleeing the Dust Bowl, ended up as refugees. My first classes contained some of the grandchildren of those “Okies”.
Many of the students’ houses had items in them that were brought to California during those days in the 1930s, and there was constant talk of one day returning home.
The elder generation spoke nostalgically of a place they had known as home, the middle spoke of the memories influenced by the immaturity of their childhood perception, and the younger spoke of a place both real and embellished that they heard about from their elders.
Along with the expressions of home sickness for the land of their parents and grandparents, the land of legends, my students’ parents were only too happy to hand you some artifact and accompany it with a story connected to it, and recount what they could remember of the journey west that they had experienced, or heard of from their elders.
The most depressing part of the many tales, and the part that was always expressed in hushed tones accompanied by a look of dejection was the retelling of getting to the border of California and being stopped by state police blocking their way.
Local towns had signs noting that along with dogs and Mexicans, ”Okies” weren’t welcome in stores, hotels, camp sites, or any place usually open to the public.
The idea that as Americans, but not Californians, they had traveled over a thousand miles only to be initially denied housing and work, or even entry into the state was still an open wound for them.
For many, the only reason they got in was either because they had relatives already there, or they had some experience in the oil fields back home that could be used by the oil fields and refineries around Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay.
Eventually, by the whims of fate, I ended up teaching in Oklahoma twenty years later.
To a certain degree I knew more about the experiences of those who had left during the Dust Bowl, having spoken often with the parents and their children who had left during that era and whose children and grandchildren I taught than people in the home state who knew of their experiences which was limited, what they read in books and heard in class, and assumed.
Their stories were those of the ones who had watched the people leave.
The Dust Bowl happened in the North Western part of the state, so in spite of those in the Eastern part, who may say they survived the Dust Bowl, their only connection was its happening in parts of their state, and their surviving it is more romance than reality.
The people I had befriended and whose children I taught were the descendants of the Joads, the ones who lost it all and had to flee to survive.
I had come to expect empathy from Oklahomans when it came to people from other places who had to flee from their home places for whatever reason called for it, but it isn’t actually there to the extent I thought it would have been.
Just as with the “Okies”, to whom that name was derisively applied while taking on as a badge of honor at home by those who did not have to deal with its influence, the Vietnamese were reduced to names and stereotypes when they fled the Communist North, as were the people from Central America who had fled the various wars and drug cartels in the places they had called home.
And now you have the governor of that state, with whom I am very well acquainted, being among those Republican governors who have stated they will not accept Syrian refugees in spite of the federal government having exclusive authority to regulate immigration and the 14th amendment prohibiting discrimination on basis of national origin.
Governor Mary Fallin and U.S. Senator James Inhofe are calling for a halt in accepting refugees from Syria.
Fallin’s statement said: “The Obama administration needs to assure the public that the background checks they are doing are rigorous, and that American lives will not be endangered in the process. Until then, I call on the Obama administration to suspend any Syrian refugees into the United States. During these uncertain times, the Obama administration needs to make sure those entering the United States are not terrorists. During a U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing last week, FBI Director James Comey said there is a risk bringing anybody in from the outside, but especially from a conflict zone like Syria. The American people need to be assured that national security will not be compromised. We must maintain a strict verification process against possible terrorists.”
Those fleeing Oklahoma were seen as a threat to the safety of Californians as they were assumed to be uneducated, low class, and desperate enough to rely on crime to survive. No one would be safe if all the Oklahomans seeking entry into California were allowed in.
Presently, as back then, what Syrian refugees have been given entre into the state, all three of them, were allowed in for family reunification.
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State Rep. Casey Murdock said, “We applaud Governor Fallin in her efforts to stop the influx of Syrian refugees into the United States and into the state of Oklahoma. We should continue efforts by suspending all state agencies in assisting in the resettlement of additional refugees. If the federal government is not going to keep the American people safe, it is up to the states to keep us safe.”
State Rep. Sean Roberts commented, “States should unify on this movement. The tragic events going on across our world are disheartening. We should assist, but this is not the way. If one state allows the resettlement of refugees, they can continue to cross state lines with no true discourse.”
How 1930’s Californian of them.
But these are people whose families did not head west. Yes, they love to brag about the Dust Bowl to illustrate the resilience and spirit of Oklahomans, but they really do not know what it took, and obviously cannot see it in others.
Senator Jim (The Snowball Thrower) Inhofe made this statement: “In light of the attacks in Paris, I call on the Obama administration to put a pause in accepting Syrians as refugees into the United States until Congress can review and conduct appropriate oversight of the State Department’s vetting process. Accepting refugees is an important and historical practice of our nation, but the Syrian refugee situation is atypical due to ISIS’s attempts to exploit the crisis and concerns over the validity of Syrian passports. We saw this danger first hand with Ahmad Al Mohammad who participated in the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and whose passport and fingerprints matched a person who passed through Greece as a Syrian refugee. With ISIS releasing a video on Monday vowing its next attacks on America, this is clearly not a time for the Obama administration to increase, much less expedite, refugees being brought to our soil.
As the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, ‘We don’t obviously put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees.’ Furthermore, the Obama administration must better secure our dangerously porous borders. One ISIS terrorist entering our country – through whatever means – will enable that cancer to grow and will directly threaten our homeland and its people.”
None of those who perpetrated the attack in Paris were Syrian refugees. They were naturally born European citizens.
Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett sent a statement on the matter as well: “Many citizens have asked if Tulsa is accepting Syrian refugees. I want to let you know that I’m currently drafting a letter to President Obama urging him not to accept any more Syrian refugees into our country and we should have never allowed this to begin with. We must protect our borders during this critical time for the safety of our citizens. Although I have no authority over the matter, I wanted to share my position with President Obama and let you know the importance I’m placing on this issue to keep Tulsa’s security and safety in line.”
If these people are so concerned about domestic safety, perhaps they should suggest the deportation of members of those White supremacist and militia groups who are threatening actions and carrying out the terrorist actions for which they are responsible, or could at least advocate gun laws that will make it more difficult to get the rifles they do.
Inhofe opposes more gun restrictions.
He voted no on banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets, on banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers for gun violence, and on background checks at gun shows.
He voted yes on prohibiting foreign and UN aid that restricts US gun ownership, on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers, on loosening license & background checks at gun shows, and on maintaining current law regarding guns sold without trigger locks.
He co-sponsored a bill allowing firearms in National Parks.
Inhofe has earned an A+ rating by the NRA because of his pro-gun rights voting record.
Meanwhile, private US companies provided equipment to Al Qaeda,in some cases from government surplus because they were not required to check buyers’ backgrounds or obtain government licences for the sales.
Sensitive military equipment barred from export is legal to sell within the US, with little restriction.
Gregory Kutz of the Government Accountability Office told a congressional panel: “The lack of legal restrictions over domestic sales of these items, combined with the difficulties associated with inspecting packages and individuals leaving the United States, results in a weak control environment that does not effectively prevent terrorists and agents of foreign governments from obtaining these sensitive items.”
Adam Gadahn, a senior al-Qaida operative, made it known that “America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center” and buy a gun without a background check.
Under current laws, if a background check reveals that your name is on the national terrorism watch list, you are still free to walk out of a gun dealership with a firearm. You just can’t be a known criminal or have a mental illness.
The NRA has long argued that the terrorism watch list is arbitrary and has no due-process behind it, and thus it should have no bearing on who can buy guns.
And it has been determines that at least 4,000 terrorists have obtained weapons in the United States.
So it would appear that as they claim to be looking out for the safety of U.S. citizens and citizens of their states, fear-mongering about Syrian refugees endears senators and governors to the xenophobes while doing nothing about loose gun control laws endears them to the NRA and the unreasonable gun lobby.
But, yeah, it’s for the people’s safety that we use the Syrian refugees as the threat.