#Family law tulsa

[boysborntodie]

Details from The Outsiders you may have forgotten or missed

-Cherry doesn't appear after the hearing (her not waving Ponyboy is just a movie thing)

-Ponyboy fucking hates people with green eyes so bad and gets pissed when someone points out he also has green eyes

-Steve always combs his hair into complicated swirls

-The Greasers always play football together

-Soda is one of the only Greasers who never gets drunk

-He also doesn't smoke unless something is bothering him or he wants to look tuff

-Darry, on the other hand, never smokes because it would affect his perfect body which he is very proud of

-Darry is also proud of being smart and sensible

-Ponyboy is the heaviest smoker out of the Curtis family

-Johnny started smoking at 9 and Steve at 11

-Johnny would've run away from Tulsa if it weren't for the gang

-Soda gives killer massages

-Ponyboy's razor wasn't working while he had to dissect a frog so he just took out his knife

-Darry goes skiing with some of his old friends sometimes

-Cherry and Marcia barrel race often and are pretty good at it

-Soda used to ride in rodeos but after breaking a ligament, his dad made him quit

-Sometimes Soda and Steve let Ponyboy help them fix the cars at the DX

-Johnny is the most law-abiding of the gang, and didn't even carry a knife until the Socs jumped him

-Cherry has an older brother

-Ponyboy used to have a yeller cur dog

-Johnny's scar his from his temple to his cheekbone (it's huge and also hard to look at)

-Two-Bit is great at doing impressions

-Two-Bit often raises one eyebrow, and the gang associate the gesture with him

-Dally and the Curtis mother got along well before she died

-Ponyboy is a scarily good liar

-Ponyboy notes that while he sees Johnny as a scared puppy, he actually looks rather hardened and cold to a stranger

-Johnny's skin is lighter under his bangs

-When at the church, Johnny puts his jean jacket over Ponyboy while he went out to get groceries

-Steve, Dally and Two-Bit wouldn't have thought of buying soap at a grocery store

-Ponyboy calls himself a Pepsi addict

-Dally hardly ever cuts his hair

-Johnny loves drag races

-The Curtis Dad took the brothers out hunting often in the country

-Ponyboy has the best aim but hates shooting

-Dally heard of the old church from a cousin

-Ponyboy is the youngest person on the track team but still one of the fastest

-Darry was the closest to their dad

-Steve once called Darry 'all brawn ans no brains' which made Darry made because it reminded him of the fact he didn't go to college

-Darry will suddenly pick up a random Greasers and swings them around

-The Curtis Dad used to call Soda 'Pepsi-Cola'

-The Shepard gang and the Curtis gang have fought seriously on at least on occasion (but it's nothing compared to the rumble)

-The Curtis brothers stayed at the hospital all night for Johnny and Dally until a doctor forced them to leave

-Johnny has a clean police record

-Ponyboy chews his fingernails when nervous

-Johnny often sleeps at Two-Bit's house

-The Curtis brothers all have huge appetites

-Darry always checks Ponyboy's Math homework for mistakes

-Johnny looks like his mother; having the same black hair, dark eyes and tiny built/height

-Soda did actually try really hard to stay in school but he kept failing

-Darry and Ponyboy both enjoyed school and athletics while Soda isn't into either

-The only thing Dally did honestly was jockeying

-Johnny really good at poker (or Ponyboy is really bad)

-The only time Johnny has been confident and not scared in his life, was when rescuing the kids in the church

-Johnny actually gets hurt because he pushed Ponyboy out first of the church

-Sodapop loves attention and was good with the reporters

-Sodapop has a crazy sweet tooth

-The Curtis brothers all love chocolate

-Darry never locks the front door in case one of the gang need a place to stay

-Ponyboy once found Tim Shepard sitting on their couch reading the newspaper

-Ponyboy thinks that Two-Bit wouldn't have gone inside the church if he was there

-Two Bit wished that the one hurt was anybody but Johnny and that the gang would have still been able to get along had it been anyone else

-Darry once took an aerobatics course and taught all the Greasers everything he knew

-Soda and Two-Bit were doing aerobatics and then got arrested for disturbing the peace

-The Curtis gang are noted to be better at fighting than the Shepard gang

-Tim Shepard looked like a model from the magazines Ponyboy reads

-Ponyboy notes that sweat ran down Dally's face when Johnny died, but it was probably tears

-Cherry drives a Sting Ray

-Curly once slipped off a telephone poll and broke his arm

-Johny's a good listener and all the members of the gang often go to tell him about their day or their problems

-Johnny says in his letter that the lives of kids were worth more than his

[berryhobii]

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH! 🖤🖤🖤In honor of this wonderful month and the history of our people, I want to provide information on pieces of black history that is often overlooked due to the whitewashing of education.

First up, the race riots and black massacres that occurred. Many people do not know but before, during, and after segregation and Jim Crow laws, black people had built wealthy black communities and were striving despite racial discrimination.

A black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma was known as Black Wall Street. Black owned businesses thrived and we were reaching the same levels as our white counterparts. The masacre started on Memorial Day weekend when a young black man by the name of Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting a young white woman. After this hearsay reached the white community, they gathered their arms, Rowland was arrested and set to be lynched with no trial. Due to a white man being lynched the year before, white people took this as an opportunity to get revenge. After a report that hundreds of white men had gathered to hurt Rowland in prison, a group of 75 black men also gathered to protect him. However, a white officer convinced them to leave. It was later found that Rowland was beaten by this officer already but didn’t want anyone else to find out.

Referring to as a “rolling gunfight”, more instances of white people provoking black people led to a shootout between both communities. When outnumbered, the black people were forced to retreat.

As news of his gun violence spread, mob violence reached its peak. For an entire day and night, white rioters looted stores, burned down buildings, destroyed homes, and unalived many black people. It’s also believed that white rioters started this massacre as a way to knock black wealth down out of jealousy and white supremacy.

A little over 10,000 black people were left homeless and the property damage to the community was set close to $1.5Million and personal property at $750,000(equal to about $36.92 Million today). Due to racial discrimination and redlining, the city and banks refused to compensate black people while simultaneously handing out loans to white businesses that were not affected during the riots. This caused many black families to leave Tulsa in search of a new place to settle. Due to white people’s power over media, the Tulsa Riots remained omitted from national histories. It didn’t even get published into history books until the 1960s.

While Tulsa is the most common masacre we hear about, it’s not the only one. The destruction of black communities have led to the property value in those areas steadily decreasing. Redlining made it so that black people could not rebuild and the majority of money was funneled into white communities. Today, it’s why POC communities are more likely to be dilapidated and poverty stricken while white communities are maintained and clean.

I will provide a list of other race riots and black massacres here.

Educate yourself. Teach the children. Don’t let them gaslight you. Our history is long and harsh and it deserves to be spoken about.

[alittlebitofloveliness]

Gold

This is my fic for outsiders week day two!

*********

Cherry used to love gold.

The frame on the mirror in the bathroom was wrought gold, and it wreathed her freckled face each morning when she brushed her teeth, red hair tumbling past her shoulders, cheeks rosy with childhood. The accents in the living room wallpaper were tiny golden flowers and she used to stare at them when she was little and pretend she was a fairy while she sat between dad and her older brother Leon while one of them read her a bedtime story. more often than not it was dad, reading her some old legal textbook ishe never understood- he always said age was no excuse for idiocy, and made sure both his children kept their manners sharp and their minds sharper. If it was good enough for him to read, he always said, it was good enough for her to hear- but sometimes, Dad would light his cigar and hold her on his lap and Leon would read her fairytales instead, stories of mermaids, princesses, and dragons and she’d feel like the luckiest little girl in the whole world, a princess in her own story. Those nights Leon would carry her to her room, the hallway illuminated from the soft golden glow of the lamps mom loved to collect from all over the world, the ones dad always brought home for her when he was done his travelling for work. 

In the mornings, the gold trim on Leon’s letterman jacket would glint in the buttery sunshine as he ruffled her hair and ran out the door, always late for something in a way that drove dad crazy. Cherry never minded when he ran away early though, because then she and mom would have breakfast together, a precious few minutes Cherry had Elyse Valance all to herself- a precious commodity indeed. More often than not, dad would be at work before Cherry was roused to get ready for school, but mom was always there, makeup flawless but her sleep clothes still on, flowing golden hair sleek and shiny. She’d pour Cherry a cup of orange juice and smooth her copper curls, and they’d gossip about anything and everything until it was time for Cherry to catch the bus. Mom would wave at her from the steps, bathed in the golden glow of the early morning sunshine, and people would stop and stare, the way they always did when mom was around, because Cherry’s mom was the prettiest lady anyone in Tulsa had ever seen. 

Yes, Cherry used to love gold. Before.

Such days, of soft gold evenings and warm gold mornings, of stories and smiles and the naive, childish belief that nothing would ever change, are long gone.

Leon’s football jacket now lives in her closet, instead of thrown haphazardly over the back of a chair or on a random doorknob, and she wears it on the days when she misses him most, now he’s away working on the other side of the country after graduating uni and marrying the only girl he claims ever fit right for him. He calls- he’s good about calling, always has been, is still her hero at almost eighteen the same as he was when she was six- but it’s different now that he has a wife and a baby on the way and no need for the little sister he left behind in a house that’s too big without him. He’d never forsake her, but he has left her, and maybe it’s the natural order of things but it still feels all sorts of wrong that her protector is no longer around to do any sort of protecting. 

Gone are the evenings when dad would smoke his pipe in the family room. Now, she’s lucky if he knocks on her door to make sure she finished her homework. Instead, he now stays locked behind the door of his study, drowning under the weight of his ever growing law firm and his inability to face the demons that invaded their home, leaving destruction in their wake.  She stops sometimes, at her most foolish, when she walks past and the lamplight glints off the gold of the doorknocker- a beacon tempting fate- but she knows that any attempt to reach him only ever draws him further away.

She only ever sighs and keeps going, tired of fighting a battle no one else can even see. 

Mom doesn’t wait for her in the mornings anymore. Instead, Cherry pours a glass of water and cup of coffee while she makes up a breakfast tray before knocking softly and creeping into her parents’ room. Mom is usually asleep, once peachy skin sickly pale, her golden hair dried lank and brittle ever since she first got sick and the doctors said other than slowing things down there was nothing they could do. Cherry wakes her gently, spoons yogurt into her mouth, coaxes her into swallowing her pills, taking each of her mother’s weak thanks and praises and wishing she still had the strength to talk and laugh like she used to, like the whole world was a playground made just for her. 

The tiny gold earings mom’s day nurse wears glint in the sunlight as Cherry passes her on the way out the door. Mrs.Matthews is a lovely woman but Cherry hates her, hates her kindness and her understanding and the fact that they need her. Hates that she gets to see everything wrong with Cherry’s once perfect, unbroken family. 

The sun will shine, harshly golden, burning her eyes as she drives herself to school. 

Cherry used to love gold. But not anymore. 

[ausetkmt]

Freedmen Seek Their Fair Share of Billions of Dollars in Federal Aid and Why We Should Care/Rise UP and Support Them

By Eli Grayson Eagle Guest Writer

Eli Grayson is a Creek Citizen and unabashed supporter of the Freedmen descendants of the 5 Civilized Tribes and the 1866 Reconstruction Treaties.

This past week, we celebrated our Nation’s 244th year of Independence with family and friends over BBQ and fireworks, we should all stop to reflect on its significance, particularly in light of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

The protests that have swept the country by those outraged over the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many others, most of whose names have not garnered national attention, has sparked a long-overdue National dialogue about the treatment of Black Americans in the United States, a reckoning with this country’s past, the many vestiges of slavery that continue today, and what we as a country can and must do to address racism. [It also reminds ALL of us that we have a long way to go.]

Not only have the egregious deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery led to a growing chorus of voices calling for criminal justice reform, it has prompted many to reflect upon racism in both its subtle and overt forms today. It has prompted many to learn about events long celebrated by Black Americans such as Juneteenth (even the NFL recently recognized Juneteenth as an official holiday). And it has prompted many to consider what steps we as individuals, and as a society, can take to affirmatively address it. Here in Oklahoma, attention has focused on Black Wall Street and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Well known is the U.S. Government’s abhorrent treatment of Native Americans, which included abrogation of countless treaties, appropriation of land, and forced removal to Western territories, including what is today Oklahoma.

Less well known, however, is the fact that the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole Nations – collectively known today as the Five Civilized Tribes – enslaved Africans. Like Southern plantation owners, they bought and sold slaves and treated them as chattel property. Indeed, slaveholding was such an integral part of the daily life of these tribal nations that each entered treaties with the Confederate States of America in 1861 to ensure its continuance.

Many Americans recently learned for the first time about the meaning and significance of Juneteenth, when nearly all remaining slaves in the United States and its territories were freed – a full 71 days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865 to Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant.

Enslaved Africans of Indian Territory

This was not the case for the enslaved Africans of Indian Territory. Even after Lee’s surrender, and even after General Granger read his Orders, the enslaved Africans of Indian Territory were kept in bondage.

Sadly, it was not until the Five Tribes of Indian Territory entered Treaties with the U.S. Government on March 21, with the Seminole Nation, on April 28, with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations, on June 14, with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and on July 19, with the Cherokee Nation in 1866 – more than a year after Lee’s surrender – were these slaves granted freedom, tribal citizenship, and equal interest in the soil and national funds.

Each of these treaties (collectively known as the Treaties of 1866) contained provisions freeing the slaves and an express acknowledgement that the U.S. Constitution was, and shall remain, the Supreme Law of the land. Notably, there was no mention of tribal law or sovereignty insulating these slave holding tribes from full compliance with the U.S. Constitution, which includes all the Civil War reconstruction amendments.

Today, we find ourselves at a turning point in society. Similar to the country as a whole, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole Nations must take this seminal moment to carefully examine their slaveholding past, their prior allegiance with the Confederacy, enshrined through Treaties entered in 1861, and how they can make amends by fully adhering to both the letter and spirit of the 1866 Reconstruction Peace Treaties.

Congressional legislation

The three House bills are H.R. 2, the Invest in America Act, which includes $1 billion for the Native American Housing Block Grant Program to create or rehabilitate over 8,000 affordable homes for Native Americans on tribal lands; H.R. 6800, the HEROES Act, which includes $6 billion for housing and community development to respond to the Coronavirus; and H.R. 5319, the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act (NAHASDA), which would authorize $680 million in grants to tribes in the first year and grow to $824 million in the fifth and final year.

Why is this important and why should you care? NAHASDA was originally passed by Congress in 1996 to address poor housing conditions in Indian country and last re-authorized in 2008. It is a flagship Federal law for Native American tribes and the vehicle through which approximately $650 million flows annually to the tribes. In Oklahoma, the Five Civilized Tribes receive more than $62 million annually in direct grants for housing and community development projects. These grants are based on a formula that takes into account various factors including the number of tribal members. Notably, these grants are supported by taxpayers.

For the 2021 Fiscal Year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is responsible for administering NAHASDA, has informed the Five Civilized Tribes that they can expect to receive $62,223,462. Thus, nearly 10 percent of all NAHASDA grant funds will go to just these five tribes. By any measure, this is a significant sum, particularly when you consider that there are approximately 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States today, according to data from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. And, the final amount will be even greater as Congress has (appropriately) increased the amount of funds for NAHASDA far above the amounts requested by this Administration, including an appropriation of $825 million for this Fiscal Year.

Oklahoma Tribes receive millions in housing aid

Native American Tribes also receive other competitively awarded grants from HUD through a program known as the Indian Community Development Block Grant program. The Choctaw Nation was recently awarded $900,000 to rehabilitate 60 single-family homes while the Cherokee Nation received the same sum to construct a community building, which will house the Early Head Start program. The Chickasaw Nation was awarded $900,000 to construct a youth center in Ardmore, Oklahoma that will provide a safe and clean place for activities and services for Chickasaw tribal youth while the Muscogee (Creek) Nation will use its $900,000 award to construct a facility on the campus of the College of Muscogee Nation. The facility will include space for exhibitions and a lecture hall. These are worthy projects and it is vital that all those in need, including Freedmen descendants, can benefit.

Why Freedmen are concerned

Now if you have read this far, you must be thinking this is great news for these five tribes. And indeed, it is. However, for the Freedmen who are de facto members of the tribe, they may never see a dime of these funds if history is any guide.

Steps such as conditioning or denying the issuance of Citizenship Cards to Freedmen descendants, as well the disenrollment of Freedmen as tribal citizens, is what first led Congress in 2008 to include language in the NAHASDA re-authorization bill to link the receipt of NAHASDA housing grants to compliance with the treaty rights and benefits conferred on the Freedmen through the 1866 treaties.

That is why the efforts of House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-California, to fight on behalf of the Freedmen of all Five Civilized Tribes is so vital.

The committee she chairs oversees HUD and is responsible for periodically re-authorizing NAHASDA. A bi-partisan bill introduced in Congress last December would re-authorize NAHASDA. However, unlike the 2008 legislation, which contained language to prevent the Cherokee Nation from denying Cherokee Freedmen under the Act, the bill introduced by Rep. Denny Heck and co-sponsored by Reps. Scott Tipton (R-Colorado), Ben Ray Lujan (D-New Mexico), Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), Deb Haaland (D- New Mexico), Don Young (R-Arkansas), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisconsin), and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), does not contain any protections for the Cherokee Freedmen nor the Freedmen of the other Civilized Tribes. Similarly, the version introduced in the Senate last week is devoid of such protections for the Freedmen.

Disturbed by the pattern of denying benefits to Freedmen, Chairwoman Waters is seeking assurance that descendants of Freedmen are not denied NAHASDA funds received by the Tribes. The Descendants of the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes have been working to include language that would ensure that the Freedmen of all Five Civilized Tribes receive taxpayer funded NAHASDA benefits. A similar effort advanced by former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank was successful and helped to ensure that Cherokee Freedmen received NAHASDA benefits. And in case, any question whether such protections were needed, one look only to the fact that HUD held up NAHASDA funds to the Cherokee Nation for noncompliance.

Native Americans keep fight against Freedmen

Given the harsh treatment of Native Americans at the hands of whites, one naturally would expect these Five Tribes and their supporters and defenders to be more sensitive to the plight of Freedmen who today make up more than 200,000 descendants.

The reality has been quite the opposite.

Despite knowing all this, tribal leaders and their supporters and defenders continue to maintain that such language is not needed and further argue that such language infringes upon the sovereign rights of ALL Native American tribes.

Both arguments could not be further from the truth.

Language ensuring that the Freedmen have access to federal housing benefits is urgently needed for the very reason that Freedmen have routinely been denied NAHASDA benefits for years. And let’s be clear – language we are seeking does not apply to ALL tribes, but rather only to the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes.

And it does not stop at NAHASDA benefits. Freedmen have been denied tribal citizenship, benefits, and the right to vote as well. Regarding sovereignty, these are federal taxpayer dollars – as such, the federal government and, by extension, its American citizens, have a vested interest in ensuring that all tribal members, including Freedmen, benefit from the funds appropriated pursuant to NAHASDA.

If tribes feel so strongly about their sovereign right to continue to discriminate against Freedmen through denial of federally funded benefits, they can opt to refuse the funding, which would then be redistributed to other tribes. Indeed, it is the height of hypocrisy for any of the Five Civilized Tribes or their supporters to makes these arguments as they count the Freedmen when it comes to the allocation of federal housing grants from HUD yet turn around and deny those very same Freedmen from receiving such benefits.

Freedmen are equal, lawful Tribal citizens

And don’t be mistaken. While Freedmen should be treated as equal citizens under the respective 1866 Treaties, the language we are seeking to include in each of these three bills carefully avoids this ensuring Freedmen receive taxpayer housing and community development benefits on the same terms and conditions as their Native American sisters and brothers.

Indeed, in many instances, these truly are their sisters and brothers given the extensive intermixing of Freedmen and By Blood tribal members over the years. Ironically, this has resulted in some members of a family being considered by the Five Tribes as Indian and therefore citizens of the Tribe while other family members being considered by the tribe as non-Indian and therefore like black sheep.

Yet every time we make a further legislative concession and are led to believe that we are close to a final agreement on language, the Tribes and their supporters and defenders move the goalposts. Sound familiar? Yes, a sensitive issue. The Freedmen only seek to ensure that the Five Civilized Tribes comply with the Treaties of 1866.

Tribal Nations’ actions throw shade on BLM

Lastly, the Five Civilized tribes cannot have it both ways. They cannot on the one hand claim they are victims of discrimination and participate in BLM rallies yet discriminate against Freedmen by denying them suffrage and other rights of tribal citizenship under the guise of sovereignty.

And we are under no illusion that fighting this battle for justice and equality will not remain a challenge. The Five Civilized Tribes have wielded their extensive influence amongst the Nation’s 573 tribes to frame the debate and shape the position of the National tribal organizations in Washington, whom the Members of Congress look to when writing laws that affect the tribes. Adding to the challenge is the fact that the Five Civilized tribes have deployed their sizable resources to contribute to key Members of Congress with the dual purpose of keeping Americans in the dark about their slaveholding past and ensuring that these legal protections for Freedmen never see the light of day in Congress.

But just like our Nation, it is time for the Five Civilized Tribes to stand up and confront their past by taking immediate and affirmative steps to ensure that all descendants of Freedmen receive the federal housing benefits.

This they can do by supporting legislation being courageously advanced by Chairwoman Waters that would require the Five Civilized Tribes to both comply with their Treaty obligations of ensuring access to benefits for Freedmen and report on their compliance to Congress.

Featured Image (Top), Buck C. Franklin, Nashville, Tennessee, 1899, Calvert Brothers Studio Glass Plate Negatives Collection, The Tennessee State Library and Archives Blog

[bullet-prooflove]

New Characters Added:

Eliot Spencer

Max Bankman/Tristan Silva

Goodie Carangi

New Fics Under The Cut:

911 Lone Star:

Ain’t Got An Ounce of Quit - Judd knows his girl doesn't have an ounce of quit in her.

The Bear:

Rooftop - Carmen asks you an important question on the rooftop of Richie's building.

Patterns - Carmy falls into old patterns when you're injured at the farm.

Chicago Med:

Exes - Leanne has issues with yours and Dean's wedding.

Doctor Odyssey:

The Photographer - Max reflects upon his first cruise on The Odyssey.

Anything That Truly Matters - Tristan confronts Max about withdrawing from the two of you.

FBI:

Pot - Omar's family troubles come to a head when he finds a pot plant in the shower.

Shirt - Jubal has a thing about you in his shirts.

Justified:

Lucky - Tim's assignment doesn't go to plan.

Law & Order:

The Hardest Part - You don't want an abortion and neither does Cyrus.

Leverage:

The Worst Thing - There's only two people that know the worst thing Eliot has ever done.

Mayans:

Breaking the Rules - Manny breaks all of the rules when it comes to you.

Mayor of Kingstown:

Dreams - Mike experiances a panic attack in the middle of the night.

Full Moon - Things always get crazy during the full moon.

NCIS:

Two Points For Honesty - Alden makes a confession about his time on the run with Viv.

Wild Flowers - You confront Viv about what happened with Alden.

NCIS Origins:

Lilies - Gibbs knows you're not fine.

Numb3rs:

Fish - Don has to stop you getting mischevious when after having dental surgery.

Silent Witness:

Paint Party - Jack knows theres something going on with you.

Top Gun Maverick:

Scar Tissue - Beau and you discuss your decision to resign your commision.

The Other Family - Jake didn't realise his father was still alive...

Twisters:

Hands - There's a reason Tyler doesn't sleep with other women.

Tulsa King:

Ayahuasca - A bad trip at a wellness retreat brings you and Bodhi together.

Journaling - Bodhi reflects on how he ended up in Tulsa.

Espresso (NSFW) - Bodhi and you piss off the HOA once more with your antics.

There’s Always A But - Goodie's always been in love with you, he's just never been able to have you.

Yellowstone:

Snow - Jamie tries to come to terms with John's death.

A Little Encouragement (NSFW) - You and Travis take small steps into being intimate again.

Ice Pack - You find Ryan waiting for you when you get home.

Blood - Beth confronts Lee about the other brother.

[littlestarbigsky]

inflicting paul with an older sister (who i have named penelope) to further my peril angst potential in my foster ponyboy au

- so i absolutely see penelope and paul as age gap siblings, so paul was born when penny was 16 and a junior in high school

(a bunch more under the cut ;)

- penelope was 100% the golden child for her whole life. the whole nine yards, she did track, swimming, and cheerleading, she was valedictorian, truly every parent’s dream child

- she had such a good relationship with her parents, too, man they ADORED her, mr. holden was always bragging on the golf course about his brilliant baby girl was gonna go to stanford or columbia (bc she had the grades to get in anywhere and tbh they could afford to send her anywhere she wanted to go) and mrs. holden was constantly taking her on little girls dates and just spoiling the hell out of her

- not gonna lie, her parents having paul her junior year kinda messed with her.. she was well on her way to a full ride to whatever college she wanted with her grades and her athletics but she really took it hard when paul was born and she lost her relationship with both of her parents

- all this is NOT to say that she didn’t like paul bc man she loved this baby boy SO MUCH and she was seriously the best big sister… but paul doesn’t remember that, just growing up in her shadow but never even really knowing her *tear*

- with nobody really pushing her to go to college on a scholarship or pressuring her into going to law school, she kinda figured out that she really.. hated the idea?

- she eventually decided to start saving up her allowance (which let’s be honest, it’s probably way too much) and after she graduated, she took her car and headed west until she hit the ocean and just,, never came back

- she def kept in contact with the family, only really came back to visit for christmas and maybe once in the summer if california was realllly hot (tulsa wasn’t much better but at least it rained god damn) but other than that she doesn’t really ever see them

- paul does NOT like to admit it,, but he misses her :( obviously his parents are very supportive of him in football and whatever else, but he wishes she wanted to see him more, especially because their mom talks ALL THE TIME about how great of a big sister was when he was little before she left

- penny and paul have a lot of unresolved resentment towards each other (penny bc when paul was born he ruined her relationship with her parents and paul bc he’s been compared to her for his whole life) which SUCKS bc they really kinda need each other bc they’re not really mad at each other their parents just didn’t know how to have two kids

- so naturally, when ponyboy comes into the picture and paul is already trying to navigate *this* dynamic change and how he feels about it (*cough* darry *cough*) of fucking course that’s when penelope decides to come back home for a couple of months

- she bonds with ponyboy pretty much right away, even though she’s like almost 30 and pony is still 13, they just get each other. don’t ask him about it bc he might punch a wall but paul is SO jealous of it

- not that hippies are a thing in tulsa but my god she’s well on her way lol which i think blends realllllly well with pony’s sunset-poetry-head-in-the-clouds vibe

- on the hippie note: she absolutely gives pony a blunt at some point thinking he’s older than 13 and he tells her EVERYTHING, literally nothing is off the table; his parents, his brothers, HIS BROTHER AND HER BROTHER

- so yea that’s how penny found out about paul and darry lol

- and like the big sister that she is, she obviously is gonna invite darry and soda over for dinner one night just to watch the two of them go insane (and also pony gets to see his brothers so, win-win)

[deafmangoes]

I've been mulling over Nex Benedict's death. That news struck me in a way I didn't expect.

I'm British, but my spouse's family is American, originally from Oklahoma. Eighteen months ago or so, my brother-in-law got married and we flew out to Tulsa for the wedding.

I had come out to my spouse as a trans woman one month earlier. I spent the whole week kinda worried that I'd say the wrong thing, give myself away, even though I was still outwardly presenting as masc. It was the first time I didn't actually feel safe. I didn't know how people would react. I heard them speak in open terms about their politics and opinions, expecting (of course) that I was fully in agreement with them.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy myself there. We'd both been dreading it. But... I did find things to like about Oklahoma! The landscape was beautiful. The day we spent in Tahlequah was wonderful, and I even thought to myself that I'd be happy to live there.

At the end of last year, my spouse's whole family decided to move back to the states, leaving her behind. It's been really hard on her. We still haven't told them that I'm trans, or that we're still happily married - just lesbians now. They all live just outside Tulsa now. I guess at some point we'd be expected to go visit.

Then I read about Nex Benedict. Nex was 16, like Brianna Ghey. The news of Nex's murder (and it is murder, no matter what the cops say) hit me in a similar way to Brianna's, because I'd begun to hope that maybe there'd be a small corner of Oklahoma that I could visit, a patch I could enjoy authentically, as myself. We could come out to our parents, and navigate those waters, but still have somewhere to go.

Then Nex was murdered. It's ridiculous of me to mourn some ephemeral wounded feelings, because they were murdered. 16 years old. Half my age. A whole life ahead of them. Murdered. Fucking murdered.

And when I saw that one of the OK senators referred to people like Nex - like me - as 'filth' that 'we don't want here', after they were fucking murdered, in their own school, by other children. And they said it in Tahlequah, the Cherokee capital. At the heart of a town that serves in memory of the tens of thousands of slaughtered Native Americans, just like Nex.

I'm angry. I'm upset. I can't even really explain it properly. I hoped writing all this rambling out might help, but now there's just burning in my chest and tears in my eyes. I'm sorry, Nex, that you suffered. I'm sorry for all my trans siblings. I know that come November, we're going to have another gut-wrenching list of names to read out on the Day of Remembrance. And all the while, politicians and feckless, evil people sit there and gloat about it.

I want them to hurt, too. I really do. I want them to understand it.

But. Tomorrow, I have to just... bite it all back? Go on living? I know it's said to be the "best revenge", but it sure doesn't fucking feel like it.

For what it's worth, I don't think I'm going to forget Nex's name. I think I'll think of them every time I talk to my Republican in-laws who will vote for that hateful senator this year. Every time I think back to that beautiful day in Talehquah.

Shit I don't even know where to wrap this up. I'm just...

[fastlikealambo]

again spoilers for killers of the flower moon for a couple of scenes I wanna mention and encourage you to see them for yourselves

one, there is a scene where Mollie ( lily gladstone) is at her baby's naming ceremony (this could be incorrect but it was a ceremony/celebration for the newborn baby) and she looks out in the attendees and just sees a sea of white faces and no family.

two, the scene where Ernest ( Leo DiCaprio) a whiskey soaked condom of a man, goes to mollie's house for the first time and during a storm, Mollie tells him they have to sit quietly, it just reminded me of having to turn off everything and not do anything during storms as a kid which I think is a common thing in black households

three, the contrast between in the start of the movie mollie's mother lizzie q (tantoo cardinal) being able to walk freely through her house at the beginning of the movie to her musty ass son in law moving in a whole bunch of white people into her house and we see her being quite literally backed into a corner.

four, when bill hale ( robert de niro) is looking to see if they can blame the murders on a black person and wants to use The Tulsa Massacre to justify it, William Hale, hell is not hot enough for you

five, when one of the murderers asks an insurance agent quite literally if he adopts and then pew pews his Osage children will their rights to the land go to him. it's played for laughs to show how dumb and evil his character is but it so beyond horrifying.

i want to read the book the film is based on, I'm probably gonna go see it again and if you wanna discuss the movie on anon, do it I wanna talk about it

[destiny-in-the-universe]

Hoo boy,

Okay. The Outsiders x RC9GN AU’s and I literally have about four of them. I’ll gladly talk about all of them in more detail anyway, but hear me out-

The first one doesn’t have a name, at all but it follows the idea that the greasers and the cast from RC9GN live in the same time period. Due to my headcanons that Norrisville is in Oklahoma, and Tulsa is also in the same state, something brings all of them to meet. Currently the idea is that a sports competition from the two schools leads to this, and now our favorite greaser boys are dragged into the shenanigans of the Ninja- this is pretty self indulgent but it exists now. So there you go

The next is honestly- and again, this is extremely self indulgent, what I say goes. By some main character shenanigans, and the will of the author, Ponyboy becomes the Ninja; Dallas Winston, on the other hand, also gains a mantle because I said so - currently the idea is either Phoenix… or something like the Kitsune but still,

Third idea — and this one I’m completely onboard with, and I will write it somehow but hear me out Randy Cunningham is a soc. Spike, the leader of the punk bots and the junkyard from show canon (“McSatchle”, “Escape from Scrap City”) is a greaser — his gang of course, are the other punk bots. Shenanigans ensue and then Randy discovers a little something about his family history

Fourth idea! This one’s insane and a little wild, because it technically works with Outsiders book canon (in other words, a divergent storyline) but following the latest in Dallas Winston’s arrests - he’s given one final chance to fix his act. And that solution is by being forced into a rehabilitation program for juvies — what this means is that he’s paired off with a family who will house him and steer him into the right side of the law. He’s placed in the Cunningham household, and is less than pleased by the entire freaking thing but of course, life has something in store for him… in ways he didn’t expect

I’m oddly surprised none of these have been done before- although the last one could also be written in the context of the book itself; Dallas is instead placed with the Curtises, and they do not die- because I am not that mean usually, and well, I’ll get to that later, but I am itching and shaking and growling and crying over these ideas

You will get more for them later

[shoujoboy-restart]

16-year-old non-binary student Nex Benedict was beaten to death at Owasso High School in Oklahoma.

Self-described stochastic terrorist and January 6th Capitol rioter Chaya Raichik, owner of the social media account Libs of TikTok, has become infamous for her viral harassment and moral panic campaigns targeting minorities— with an emphasis on vilifying LGBTQ+ existence. Since 2021, Raichik’s posts targeting advocates for and members of the LGBTQ+ community have been followed with a deluge of violent death threats (including lynching threats against the Los Angeles Unified School District). Nowhere has Raichik’s influence been more visible than Oklahoma, where her anti-LGBTQ+ exploits earned her an official position on the Oklahoma Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee by controversial far-right Superintendent Ryan Walters. Under Walters’ leadership, Oklahoma has been aggressively working to ban books and education on LGBTQ+ issues in schools across the state, with Oklahoma’s Attorney General Gentner Drummond stating that proposed rules to ban LGBTQ+ books and content were “unconstitutional and cannot be enforced.” It’s been confirmed that Raichik’s posts have fueled multiple bomb threats against schools specifically in Oklahoma. Officials from Oklahoma told NBC News that they believe Chaya Raichik’s anti-LGBTQ+ culture warring “sparked threats in their localities with her posts on social media that digitally heckle people such as drag performers, LGBTQ teachers and doctors who treat transgender patients.”   One of these instances was at the Owasso School District (just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma). In 2022, Chaya Raichik targeted an Owasso teacher for speaking out in support of LGBTQ+ students who lacked acceptance from their parents. Raichik’s post was shared thousands of times on social media and resulted in the teacher getting condemned and harassed until they resigned. The posts Raichik made about the teacher were later deleted, but have been archived. It’s unclear what prompted the deletion of the posts by Raichik. We know Raichik’s Libs of TikTok posts have contributed to a culture of intolerance against LGBTQ+ youth in schools, and now this hate may be manifesting beyond mere threats. This month, a non-binary 16-year-old student at Owasso High School was brutally murdered in the girl’s restroom. According to local news outlets and family, Nex Benedict was beaten by three older female students. The mother of Benedict’s best friend told KJRH News that "one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating [Benedict’s] head across the floor.” Reports say Benedict was unable to take themselves to the nurse’s office after a teacher finally intervened in the brutal assault. For reasons that remain unclear, Owasso High School refused to call an ambulance for 16-year-old Nex Benedict, who died from their injuries in the hospital the next day. A motive for this killing has not been shared by law enforcement, but we know that schools in Oklahoma have been specifically pushing violent eliminationist rhetoric against transgender and non-binary youth— a fact exemplified by the state’s hiring of Chaya Raichik following her incitements of terror against the state’s schools over LGBTQ+ rights.  “This is the inevitable result of the anti trans moral panic,” said civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo, who shared an article about Benedict’s death published by the Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents Blog. “This is horrifying, and comes as lawmakers are increasingly spreading fear over trans people in bathrooms,” wrote LGBTQ+ journalist and advocate Erin Reed regarding this murder.

[dawn-likes-cigarettes]

{Dawn Wilson Information}

My name is Dawn Wilson. I’m 18 years old and I’ve lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma my whole life. I’m a drug addict, which I wish I could change but I can’t help it… I occasionally drink and I live with my brother with his wife and kid.

OOC: GOT INSPIRATION FROM @s0dap0p-curt1s :3 I made this for fun to have more information lol 🐭1. {Basics} 2. {Appearance} 3. {Personality} 4. {Relationships} 5. {Interests} 6. {Background} 7. {RP information}

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Full name: Dawn Holly Wilson ⁃ {Nicknames} ⁃ Dusk; it’s the opposite of Dawn lol ⁃ Hollandaise sauce; her middle name ⁃ Kid; cause of her height ⁃ Little sis; by Austin ⁃ Pretty little grease; by male socs ⁃ Whore/slut/hoe; by female socs ⁃ Drunk/smoker; by little kids that have terrible parents (cause they don’t pay attention to their kids) ☆Age: 18 years old ⁃ {Birthday}: June 5, 1949 ⁃ {Zodiac}: Gemini ☆Gender: Cis Female ⁃ {Species}: Drug addicted human

☆Sexual Orientation: Lesbian ☆Nationality: American, German background ☆Ethnicity: American German ☆Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma: North side

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Occupation: Waitress; does not pay well so her brother gives her money

☆Religion: unreligious; parents are Jewish-Germans ☆Languages: ⁃ English ⁃ Some German, but barely

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Height: 5’4” ☆Weight: 95 lbs ☆Body type: petite, curvy

☆Skin: ⁃ {Texture}: soft, a little dirty ⁃ {Tone}: tan ☆Hair: ⁃ {Color}: golden blond ⁃ {Length}: middle-back length ⁃ {Style}: always down but swept to the side

☆Eyes: ⁃ {Shape}: Doe ⁃ {Color}: light light blue ☆Scars: ⁃ Not a lot of scars ⁃ Practically scratches now ⁃ Cigarette burns on her thighs ☆Piercings: two piercings each on both ears ☆Accessories: ⁃ bracelets ⁃ Rag outside her back pocket ⁃ Usually wears a headband when she’s feeling pretty 😋

☆Clothing style: Dirty (dirt and grease dirty) casual

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆No drugs personality: ⁃ mean, quiet, compulsive liar, a bitch, cranky, hateful, stubborn, isn’t toxic or abusive, dramatic, suicidal ☆With drugs personality: ⁃ nice, loud, childish, still a bitch but a bad bitch, stubborn, happy, positive, dramatic

☆Positive traits: street smart and positive ☆Negative traits: stubborn, forgetful, and cranky, suicidal

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Habits: ⁃ Extremely hard drug user ⁃ Constantly getting hurt physically ⁃ Very addictive smoker ⁃ {tw; self harm} Cutting self ☆Pet Peeves: ⁃ extremely rude ⁃ Toxic relationships ⁃ Ignorance

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Usual first impression: ⁃ nasty drunk but is actually a smoker ⁃ Mean and carefree ⁃ Disrespectful ☆Fears: ⁃ fear of losing family ⁃ fear of boredom ⁃ fear of old men ⁃ fear of dying too young ⁃ fear of being forgotten (OOC: same)

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Mother: Martha A. James ☆Father: Unknown

☆Siblings: ⁃ {Brother}: Austin K. Wilson ⁃ {Sister-in-Law}: Jazzlynn K. Wilson ☆Niece: ⁃ Marygold E. Wilson

☆Grandparents: ⁃ Thomas F. James ⁃ Cleo H. James

☆Friends: ⁃ Ponyboy Curtis (only met once and now Pony thinks they’re best friends. Wtf bruh)

☆Lover: ⁃ no one yet, does have a crush on a girl named Callie Collidge (eh eh, see the reference hehe)

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Likes: ⁃ smoking ⁃ Teasing ⁃ Cookies ⁃ Flowers ⁃ Self control (but she herself cannot do that…) ⁃ Parties ⁃ Compliments ☆Dislikes: ⁃ Quiet rooms ⁃ Leprechauns (Staar…) ⁃ Calming environments ⁃ Reading ⁃ Church (it’s boring to her since she’s not religious)

☆Hobbies: ⁃ {Music}: Rock, Metal, loud, head-banging music ⁃ Shoplifting ⁃ Pretending to be a cowgirl ⁃ Smoking ⁃ Dancing aggressively

☆Talents: ⁃ can surprising make extremely good food ⁃ Being a bad bitch ⁃ Can get high and after 2 hours, is back to normal

☆Skills: ⁃ Fights ⁃ Shoplifting ⁃ Flirting ⁃ Getting burned and not caring; high pain tolerance

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Favorite people: ⁃ Austin Wilson ⁃ Jazzlynn Wilson ⁃ Marygold Wilson ⁃ Jibril Wa’el (thinks of him kinda like a father figure :3) ⁃ Staar (only cause they are a hilarious duo) ☆Least favorite people: ⁃ Launcey Williams (only cause she’s kinda rude) ⁃ Dallas Winston (he’s annoying) ⁃ Curly Shepard (same as Dally) ⁃ Tim Shepard (he’s like an old man)

☆Tolerable people: ⁃ Angela Shepard (she’s okay just judgmental towards EVERYTHING) ⁃ Johnny Cade ⁃ TwoBit Mathews ⁃ Steve Randle

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆Background: ⁃ {childhood}: ⁃ She was constantly bullied for being fatherless. ⁃ Of course Austin was a butthead as a kid as well, being 16 when she was 6. ⁃ Their mother was a drunk and constantly had panic attacks. ⁃ {most of teenage life} ⁃ Same bullying but their mother went into a coma, leaving Austin as the “parent” of the house. ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

☆RP Information: ⁃ {is it open?} ⁃ Yes!! It’s always open!! ⁃ {what am I comfortable?} ⁃ I am comfortable with nsfw, sfw, agere, petre, anything as long as it’s not pedo, rape, or anything like that. (I also do angst.)

OOC: Hello it’s @i-like-ratsssss !!!! Hope this give enough information, it definitely did for me so I can go back to this and see what to tell people 😭

[reasoningdaily]

Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, Race Reparations, and Reconciliation

click the title link to DOWNLOAD FREE From The BLACK TRUEBRARY

Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, Race Reparations, and Reconciliation

click the title link to DOWNLOAD FREE From The BLACK TRUEBRARY

The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot was the country's bloodiest civil disturbance of the century. Leaving perhaps 150 dead, 30 city blocks burned to the ground, and more than a thousand families homeless, the riot represented an unprecedented breakdown of the rule of law. It reduced the prosperous black community of Greenwood, Oklahoma, to rubble.

In Reconstructing the Dreamland, Alfred Brophy draws on his own extensive research into contemporary accounts and court documents to chronicle this devastating riot, showing how and why the rule of law quickly eroded. Brophy offers a gut-wrenching portrait of mob violence and racism run amok, both on the night of the riot and the morning after, when a coordinated sunrise attack, accompanied by airplanes, stormed through Greenwood, torching and looting the community.

Equally important, he shows how the city government and police not only permitted the looting, shootings, and burning of Greenwood, but actively participated in it. The police department, fearing that Greenwood was erupting into a "negro uprising" (which Brophy shows was not the case), deputized white citizens haphazardly, gave out guns and badges with little background check, or sent men to hardware stores to arm themselves. Likewise, the Tulsa-based units of the National Guard acted unconstitutionally, arresting every black resident they could find, leaving Greenwood property vulnerable to the white mob, special deputies, and police that followed behind and burned it.

Brophy's revelations and stark narrative of the events of 1921 bring to life an incidence of racial violence that until recently lay mostly forgotten. Reconstructing the Dreamland concludes with a discussion of reparations for victims of the riot. That case has implications for other reparations movements, including reparations for slavery.

click the title link to DOWNLOAD FREE From The BLACK TRUEBRARY

[seriousposting]

Editor's note: This story has been updated. It contains descriptions of violence against a nonbinary person.

Nex Benedict, a nonbinary high school sophomore died on February 8, the day after reportedly being beaten by classmates in the bathroom of their high school in Owasso, Oklahoma.

An anonymous source who identified herself as a friend of Benedict’s mother told local news outlet KJRH that the 16-year-old was attacked by three older classmates on February 7, adding that she believed Benedict died from “complications from brain trauma.” The source claimed that although Benedict couldn’t walk to the nurse on their own following the incident, school staff did not call an ambulance. According to KJRH, Benedict’s grandmother brought the student to the hospital after the altercation.

"I know at one point, one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating [their] head across the floor," the source told KJRH.

The Owasso Police Department (OPD) told KJRH that they were called to Bailey Medical Center on the afternoon of February 7. When they arrived, Benedict’s parents told police their child had been involved in a fight at school. OPD provided a statement saying that the cause of death has not yet been made public.

Since Benedict’s death on February 8, they have been repeatedly misgendered and deadnamed in media reports.

“As many are learning of the horrific news out of Owasso, OK, many news outlets, and therefore, many of you, are using their dead name,” the official X account for Oklahoma County Democrats wrote in a February 19 post. “Their name is Nex Benedict. They were a 4.0 student. They liked cats. They deserved to live. May they find peace now.”

Benedict’s grandmother, Sue Benedict, told The Independent that other students started bullying Nex at the beginning of the 2023 school year. The Independent notes that the 2023 school year started just four months which was a few months after a bill requiring public school students to use bathrooms that matched the sex on their birth certificates became law.

The LGBTQ+ advocacy group Freedom Oklahoma, as well as numerous progressive and LGBTQ+ media outlets (such as the Los Angeles Blade, Daily Kos, and LGBTQ Nation) pointed out that Benedict’s death comes as Oklahoma’s head education official, state superintendent Ryan Walters, continues to embrace anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policy. In January, Walters pushed an emergency rule to prevent students from changing the gender listed on their school records. Last month, he also appointed Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the virulently anti-LGBTQ+ platform Libs of TikTok, to the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s advisory council overseeing the state’s school libraries, despite Raichik not even living in Oklahoma. Last year, a Tulsa elementary school received a bomb threat after Raichik shared a video with the name and school of a local librarian. In 2022, Raichik similarly targeted a teacher in Benedict’s school district for openly supporting LGBTQ+ students who weren’t accepted by their families. The teacher later resigned following harassment.

Freedom Oklahoma remembered Benedict in a February 19 social media post, writing, “We wanted to reach out to our community grappling with this horrific harm, and the grief we all share as we reflect on the growing anti-2SLGBTQ+ sentiments out youngest community members are facing more often, fueled by state law and the rhetoric around it, words and actions of our state elected officials, and the growing platforms those in power are giving to people like Chaya Raichik who continues to use her platform in a way that leads others to threaten real harm at Oklahoma kids.”

In the post, Freedom Oklahoma also shared memories of Benedict from people who knew them. They described the 16-year-old as an unfailingly kind person who “always searched for the best in people.” Benedict, who The Independent reported, is of Choctaw ancestry, is described as a lover of rock music, who often bonded with others over headbanging. A post from Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents says that Benedict loved The Walking Dead, playing ARK and Minecraft, drawing, and reading. During the funeral, their family said they loved to cook and would often make up their own recipes. Nex was also a straight-A student.

A previous version of this story said that Nex was a member of the Cherokee nation. They were of Choctaw ancestry. We regret the error.

[old-type-40]

"[Dwight's] the one who's building a whole new family. They're not just goons. They're not just cutthroat gangs. They're not part of that. He really takes them in and they become his family structure." - Sylvester Stallone

I hadn't seen any discussion in the Tulsa King tag that while Dwight is creating an organized crime "family", he's creating a "found family". That's why his new family has an ex-taxi driver, a hippie, an ex-cowboy/bartender/singer, and a goth girl. He cares about all of them. There's no ruling through fear and intimidation. He keeps encouraging Tyson to think about going to college. And he gives Armand the option of not participating in the battle against Waltrip's biker gang.

In the premiere, I thought Dwight was doing the typical thing of simply extorting Bodhi for a cut of his dispensary revenue. But he quickly demonstrated that he doesn't want to exploit people. He wants all his dealings to be mutually beneficial. He may be willing to break the law but Dwight only uses violence against bad guys and a-holes like the racist car dealership owner who wouldn't sell Tyson a vehicle.

[ausetkmt]

The 1921 destruction in Tulsa wasn't the first or the last race massacre that leveled homes, usurped land or destroyed livelihoods for Black Americans.

One of the first was in 1863 – sparked by a draft law. One of the last happened in 1923 in Rosewood, Florida. Whatever the precipitating event, the desire was generally the same: to destroy Black upward mobility.

Below, is a database of recorded massacres (defined for the purposes of this project as one or more mob attacks on a Black community that resulted in the aggregate loss of lives, homes, land and livelihoods).

The attacks frequently drove residents away from a community for good. In other instances, Black residents hid in swamps and woods for days to escape death. Others tried to rebuild their town's former glory, but failed with little to no assistance from the surrounding community or government.

One of the most frequently used justifications for an attack? The rumor that an African American male had assaulted a white female. Usually the rumor was unfounded. Frequently it was sparked by an erroneous news report.

This list is by no means, complete. Attacks were frequently denied and not documented by authorities. This is a living, breathing document culled from numerous news reports, historical sites and encyclopedias among other online resources.

I also reached out to every city listed in this database to find out whether reparative actions are currently being taken (of any kind), and if the city's history includes reparations of any sort. The information that I received, along with other information found through searches, is included under the "Reparations history" section.

When more information becomes available, it will be added.

In rare instances, the aftermath of a massacre, and the help given, was meticulously documented. White merchants in New York, for example, raised $40,000 for Black victims of the 1863 attack. The committee's notes were archived in the Library of Congress, and made available through the HathiTrust Digital Library. See them here.

Keeping the public informed about this nation's too frequently ignored history of massacres also depends on you.

Is your family or community history missing from this list? Send us your story along with documentation. Reach me at erivers@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nearly two dozen massacres in US history. Reparations? Rarely.

[bullet-prooflove]

New Characters:

Tim Gutterson (Justified)

Armand Truisi (Tulsa King)

Leroy Jethro Gibbs (NCIS: Origins)

Mike Franks (NCIS: Origins)

New Fics:

911 - Lone Star:

The Night Shift - Judd reassures you about your new role on the nightshift.

Chicago Med:

Someone Who Loves You - Sean and you become a family.

Scars - Jack wants more but is shy for asking about it.

Umbrella - Dean has a new lease of life after this surgery.

Field of Daisies - Mitch knows exactly how to get you out of your head.

Cobra Kai:

Postcards From My Heart - Terry discovers what you've been up to abroad.

CSI:

Worry - Josh worries about you.

FBI:

The Life You Could Have - You get a glimpse into the life you could have with Stuart.

Haven:

Virgin (NSFW) - You and Dwight try something new.

Death In A Tarot Card - Duke learns his fate.

Justified:

Bad Timing - You and Tim have always had a case of bad timing.

Law & Order:

Too Damn Close - Jalen thinks about what almost happened.

Magnum PI:

Put On A Show - You get a little hot and bothered when Shammy works out.

NCIS - Origins:

The Ice Queen - Gibbs meets The Ice Queen for the first time.

Break The Ice - A act of decency helps Gibbs to break the ice.

Count To Five (NSFW) - Mike comes home to a naked woman in his bed.

Pool House (NSFW) - You and Mike steal a moment alone at the LA Law Enforcement Conference.

Psych:

Every Single Word (NSFW) - Carlton meant every single word of that voice mail.

Supernatural:

Knoxville - Dean fucks up after struggling with his feelings for you.

Tulsa King:

Whiskey Business - Your relationship with Bill changes during a whiskey tasting event.

Her Name Was Lola - You meet Mitch's wife.

Hell of A Message - You send a message to your ex Bill.

Edibles (NSFW) - You help Armand to relax.

Yellowstone:

Wet - You and Travis discuss something you've been avoiding.

Dick - Those rumours about Travis are true.

Promises - Jamie makes a promise to your baby.