LOCAL & STATE
Kimberly Marsh
Lacreshia Jackson, Photo, Basil Childers, The Oklahoma Eagle
In this unstable period, Tulsans are focused on their local communities, but they are also navigating a period of national and global uncertainty. The ongoing flurry of policy changes at the federal level is causing economic challenges.
While Tulsans press forward in their daily lives, they report higher stress levels, reflecting their heightened concerns about how they will adapt. The first weeks of the Trump administration froze federal funding and threatened cuts to social services that Americans depend upon from the government. They also intensified ideological divisions and polarization.
The Oklahoma Eagle interviewed 10 Tulsans about how they are navigating these challenges. We sought to capture the voices of a spectrum of locals as they grapple with existing and new challenges from economic hardship to government disruptions, social isolation, mental and emotional stress, and the ongoing fight for advancing human rights.
They are all anxious about rising prices for housing, groceries, healthcare, and necessities. After cutting their budgets as much as possible, those interviewed are worried about adapting further as the economic fallout from slashing government budgets and workforce reductions continues.
How are Tulsans doing?
To cope, most turn to faith. Many are also intentional about reducing the clutter in their lives and focusing on the most important aspects of life: family, nature, spirit, and mind.
In the coming months, we will continue highlighting government actions’ impacts on our community. Please email us at news@theokeagle.com to notify us of impacts on you, your families, businesses, or communities.
Duke Durant
Duke Durant, a father of three and a military veteran who owns a tree removal/trimming business and runs a weekly comedy show, is determined to attain his goals despite governmental cuts. He is continuing his education with veteran benefits and is in the process of applying to Spartan Aeronautics to become a private commercial pilot. Using his military credentials, Durant also recently applied to become a federal government contractor.
He recognizes that he and people around him are experiencing fear. He has escalating concerns for his 10-year-old daughter, Paris, who is experiencing racial and cultural tensions at school. She is president of the student council of her school. Durant and his daughter Paris are African American.
“She’s hearing some rhetoric regurgitated at school by some of her friends, who obviously get that at home,” Durant told The Oklahoma Eagle. He added that he advises Paris to be assertive. “I tell Paris, go with your elementary manners, kindergarten respect, and your common sense. Assert yourself to what you know is right. When you feel your heart, when you feel something weird in your chest, when you feel like there’s something that wants you to curl up… go against it,” Durant said, also reminding her that her elders fought for civil rights so she can stand up for herself.
An activist, Durant questions his role in making meaningful change. He moves between feelings of anger, rage, and despair. He fights fatigue but remains committed and determined.
“Every day, I guess it’s kind of in a nutshell how I feel, like a raging fire. I’m probably like a lot of other people, we get so upset and engulfed in our emotions that it gets tiresome, mentally and emotionally, and you just want to sit down and have a mood brew and not even say s***, you know, but you feel like you have to,” he said, also noting that he stopped drinking alcohol two years ago.
Lastly, Durant is optimistic that many Americans, across racial and economic lines, collectively realize these systemic issues are affecting them. That awakening could drive change.
Laquanda Pippins
Laquanda Pippins did not expect to be a single mom, widowed twice by the age of 48, working three jobs to pay the bills and accumulate some savings. Yet, the political climate of rapid changes in the first eight weeks of 2025 is not impacting her any more than in 2024 or previous years.
Working three jobs – with Keller Williams Realty, Magic Empire Girl Scouts Council, and LensCrafters – Pippins is so busy she has to make time for an interview while shopping. She does not mind working three jobs to provide for herself and three children, but she laments that it takes her working multiple jobs to make enough income to negate the need for credit cards. She would like to work in real estate full-time, but the economy will not support it.
As a real estate agent, she empathizes with first-time homebuyers who are having to use their credit cards to stay afloat. Relying on credit increases their debt-to-income ratio and compromises their credit scores, making it more difficult to be approved for a conventional mortgage loan. Like Oklahoma weather, Pippins said, the economic future is unpredictable.
On the home front, she is looking for ways to adapt simply to lower costs. For example, she is avoiding high-priced eggs by looking for alternatives, such as applesauce, for cake recipes. The shadows cast by political infighting do not concern her, as she does not follow politics or war. She is satisfied with either presidential candidate running in November last year. She calls upon her Christian faith to get by.
Instead, she worries about things closer to home, such as societal trends impacting family, friends, and people in her community, who she fears isolate themselves with their smartphones and disconnect from others.
“We all have some kind of need. We all need each other to be able to reach out. We do,” Pippins said. “There used to be a time where you would go and check on that elderly neighbor to make sure that elderly neighbor was okay. So, as we have come into a very big disconnect, and that is worldwide, we don’t care anymore.”
Lacreshia Jackson
The Oklahoma Eagle caught up with Lacreshia Jackson, mother of 10, on a day when she had been up for 24 hours working at the Rose Bowl, which was used as a warming station during sub-freezing temperatures in February. A housing specialist with the nonprofit Housing Solutions Tulsa, Jackson was ready for sleep. However, she was adamant about keeping her commitment for the newspaper interview despite her fatigue.
Jackson spends her days doing selfless work through Justice Link, located amid other social services offices on Archer.
“The main thing is to house the homeless population and getting what they need, which is out of the freezing temperatures in the winter weather,” Jackson said.
“I’m fair,” she said of her own well-being, noting that she deals with stress through meditation and faith. As far as the increased uncertainty in the U.S., Jackson, who was formerly incarcerated, has just had her right to vote restored.
She sees politics through the eyes of a registered Independent voter. She distrusts the two dominant political parties and cannot see that the existing power structure will ever do anything for the common good.
“I don’t feel the government was ever honest with us from the gate. So, you just have to see things for how they are and hope that the scales fall off your eyes to seek a bigger picture,” she said.
On a personal level, Jackson struggles with housing issues and cannot change her living situation on the income of one job. She and her 26-year-old daughter have shared a home for five years to meet their monthly needs and still have some savings for emergencies.
Jackson, 45, says their living arrangement creates a hardship for them both. She would like to find a two-bedroom apartment with a $900-$1,200 rent, but continued rising prices make it less likely to be able to do it without increased earnings.
“I’m budgeting every dollar, every bill, every penny. I’ve cut out all kinds of stuff, just so I could really see my money and see where I’m spending it,” she said. “I need a second job in order to sustain truthfully. I need a second job for rent only.”
Steven (Max) Arellano
Jocelyn Rojas Carranzo, an 11-year-old elementary school student in Gainesville, Texas, died on Feb. 8 after taking her own life. It was widely reported that at least one student was bullying Carranzo, chiding her with threats that her Latino immigrant parents would be deported, leaving her all alone.
The threats came because of the Trump administration’s heightened activity with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport illegal immigrants, with a focus on those who came to the U.S. from south of the border.
Steven Arellano, known by friends as Max, organized vigils in Tulsa and Oklahoma City for Carranzo. Arellano, who is Hispanic, said that although he was not related to Carranzo he was moved to lead the vigils out of solidarity. The vigil, which about 50 people attended, was largely made up of white allies. Arellano spoke to the group on behalf of Tulsa Latino Unidos, a youth organization of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Tulsans working to do more for their community using social media and events.
Since Trump’s rise to power for the second time, the potential harm to Latino immigrants and their families has been immense. Protecting and helping them with basic needs is Arellano’s biggest undertaking and priority. Part of that is training Latino Tulsans on their rights.
“We teach people they have the right to remain silent. They don’t have to talk to ICE,” said Arellano.
Arellano spoke about the danger they feel while doing everyday chores, such as going to the grocery store or taking their kids to school. Now they are afraid of losing their kids, he said. Schools report that absenteeism among the Hispanic population is up.
Local business owners are losing money because people are afraid to go shopping, and community members are isolated. Arellano’s efforts also aim to hold together the Hispanic community.
Arellano said that young people are hurting right now, regardless of their age, and it is incumbent upon adults to talk to them, to ask them how they are, and specifically ask if they are being bullied at school.
“The most important thing right now is talk to your young ones, your son, your daughter, talk to your niece, nephew. I talked to my niece and nephew this week… and sure enough they were suffering through having some teachers be a little bit more, you know, racist than the others, or principals a little bit more racist than others.
“There’ve been moments where I’ve had to step up and be like, ‘Hey, don’t lose hope. We’re still fighting.”
Komari Crisp
Komari Crisp, 20, is thinking mostly about education. She has not kept up with the news on the federal government changes because she finds it a drain on her energy, but she is painfully aware of Trump disbanding the U.S. Department of Education.
“That’s stressing me out, because I want to go back to school, and I’m like, how is higher ed going to be affected? But I’m also worried about the students that I know and what education will look like for them, because it already wasn’t great when I was in school.”
One tactic Trump’s administration has used is called “flooding the zone,” intended to distribute so much information at once that it overwhelms voters, consumers, news media, and opposing politicians.
“So, I try not to get on social media every day, but when I do, I will limit myself. If I need to search out information, that is all I’m searching out. I’ve been telling students I’ve encountered that we will all get through this as a community. We will rally together, and we will try to make it feel like we’re not living in such a tyrannical oligarchy that is the Trump administration,” Crisp said.
“Lean on your family, lean on your friends, lean on your support team, and spend the time with them. Don’t let this cloud you. Stay informed and watch out for your people, like, the people that mean the most to you, because something could affect them.”
Crisp is also concerned about the deportation of friends who do not know any other country besides the U.S. She laments that anti-LBGTQ policies are targeting her LGBTQ friends. As an employee of the Mental Health Association of Tulsa, Crisp does not like Trump’s pick for leading the Department of Health and Human Services.
“RFK is leading mental health in America, and he doesn’t believe in it. He doesn’t believe mental health is a thing. He thinks SSRIs (drugs used to treat mental health issues) are something that people are dependent on, and we should defund that,” she said.
“It’s a necessity that a lot of people have to live with, and if they don’t have that the results are drastic. It could lead people to do some really harmful things to themselves.”
Amanda Clinton
A consultant to tribal governments, Amanda Clinton is running for a seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives for the first time. She had previously aspired to it, but she said she believes representation matters, especially as the only Native American in the race. Part of her personal mission is to help individuals navigate bureaucracy. Overall, she has witnessed a mix of frustration, exhaustion, and determination among politically engaged Tulsans.
“I think the heaviest thing that’s weighing on my mind is the destruction of our institutions from inside the government. It’s very alarming.”
The visuals of Elon Musk with a chainsaw as he talked about cutting jobs, reducing budgets, and eliminating agencies through DOGE (U. S. Department of Government Efficiency), caused Clinton to defend civil servants.
“You need institutional knowledge for the government to run efficiently. To use a chainsaw to perform a surgery is really alarming to our institutions,” Clinton said, adding that she has not been too wound up about it all.
“I’ve been pretty calm as it’s been unfolding because this is exactly what Donald Trump said he was going to do. And so, it’s hard to be surprised when someone tells you what they’re going to do, and they do it.”
Clinton views herself as a product of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, benefiting from scholarships, healthcare, and opportunities that helped her succeed. The pushback against DEI is counterproductive and indicative of a group denying individuals the right to live productive lives. Opportunities for marginalized communities does not take anything away from others, she said.
“I don’t know what part of lifting others up makes people think that they get dragged down,” she said. “And by the way, my scholarships were always competitive. I had a valedictorian scholarship. I had a scholarship that was for kids, reserved for kids with a certain GPA who went through Cherokee Nation Head Start. And I had to compete for a scholarship/internship for minority students at OSU that I ended up getting at Channel 9 (television news).”
Clinton had some good advice for handling the information overload. Modify your news diet. She restricts her (access to news) to just a few news roundups each day.
Donald Gooden
At 75, Donald Gooden, who provides lawncare and other needs through his company DGA Services, has lived through many issues, changes, and policies. Suddenly all that his generation “fought, bled, and died” for in the human rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s is being discarded under the Trump administration.
“It scares me. And as a Black man, obviously, you know, things haven’t been like I would have wanted them to be,” he said, stating concern for losing all the ground gained in those decades.
However, he sees a lot of the confusion and chaos in semantics. Leaders throw out words carelessly and often change their meaning. Gooden said it’s not the MAGA brand that bothers him as much as it is the actions to defund services in a rash and chaotic way.
“It’s not affecting me right now, but I see it coming. If these proposed cuts to Medicaid and Medicare all actually take effect, it absolutely will affect me. I don’t receive them because I want them. I receive them because I need them, and I’m grateful for those things,” Gooden said. “But I see it coming.”
Gooden said he believes the come has come for major world change regardless of who is in office.
“I can’t be angry with Mr. Trump because he is just merely being used as a tool. I wish it weren’t like that. I would love to be able to encourage him, praise him, and congratulate him, but I can’t, even though I honestly believe I understand what’s happening,” he said, referring to the Corinthians letters in the Bible. Paul implies that challenges, divisions, and ethical and moral decay are ever-present threats to community foundations.
Donte Williams
Craftsman, teacher and artist Donte Williams also turns to his faith to get through with hope and optimism. Williams came to Tulsa before the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre 100th anniversary, intending to work within the Greenwood District to inspire adults and children to create through their hands.
He created a company called Mr. Fresh Ideas and found a job at Tulsa Job Corps teaching 16–24-year-olds the craft of furniture upholstery, mural and signage painting, and other projects. He was laid off about a month ago. The Job Corps is a program entirely funded by the federal government.
Creating new sources of income is his top priority. “I mean, yeah, it’s impacting me, but I’m trying to keep myself in a positive state of mind, because I feel like just focusing on that you’re gonna worry yourself to death. I stay in a creative flow and just try to stay working on all my different types of art and stuff. I’m keeping my mind occupied.”
Many people use social media to spread misinformation or to debate and argue, heightening the difference between the haves and have-nots. He stresses that social media is a tool that should be used to circulate positive messages and encourage each other to stay healthy during times of uncertainty.
Joseph Banuelos
Joseph Banuelos also participated in a local vigil for an 11-year-old Hispanic girl in Texas who took her life after being tormented by other students, preying on her fears that her parents might be deported.
Joining in community vigils and other rituals is one way to cope and stay connected to others. Banuelos said the hardest thing about watching others suffer is keeping his frustration and anger pointed at systems and not blaming people.
“I’m trying to convince other people of that, that way myself and whether it be my peers or not, that we all have our drive and our passion pointed in the right direction,” he said, adding that bad systems are reinforced when blame is placed elsewhere. “Systems are happy to evade blame,” he said.
He turns to organizing groups to return to meeting with people, celebrating successes, and continuing to perpetuate hope for Latino communities. Banuelos said investing time and money locally is important to keeping families and businesses going.
“We need an understanding of our resources, specifically time and money, investing locally, investing in people around us, voting with our dollar every day, you know, keeping up with boycotts and things like that.” Buying from the people you know who may have gardens or make or sell housewares or services is important.
“You don’t know Target. You don’t know Walmart, but I do know my friends who make similar things, and every time I spend money with them, that’s another connection. We’re here for a limited time…just understanding that within our labor, that within the context of where I put my time, whether it’s coming to a vigil, coming to an organizing meeting, going to a city council meeting, or whether it’s taking care of myself for self-care and just making sure that I can wake up and fight the next day.”
Angel Okolie
Artist Angel Okolie has been struggling for a few months since being laid off from his job with a credit union. He said the community around him feels different than in previous years. It is not quite as connected, but he senses it is more in a stage of rebuilding.
Every day, he wakes up stressed about money, paying the rent for his home and his art studio, and how to make more money from his art. He is pouring everything he has into his art and must remind himself that the art is no longer a side gig but his business and livelihood.
He yearns for more connection and mentorship from other artists. Okolie is driving toward something greater than himself by creating a space for other Black artists.
“I’m creating my own art shows and community spaces…so people like me can have opportunities,” he said.
Models of Resilience
While the challenges are real and sometimes overwhelming, the voices of Tulsans show a community trying to hold together. They rely on faith, creativity, and each other to get through this complicated time in our nation. They model resilience by focusing on what they can control – like supporting each other, getting involved locally, and finding small ways to adapt.
