Tulsa reparations, Religion and Politics

 

 

There was no set agenda for the meeting and the group discussed a number of issues related to the Justice System and communication challenges.

 

The group began discussing an upcoming case in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.  Three survivors of the Tulsa massacre are suing to determine their standing to bring a case forward related to reparations. The case must move in a timely fashion as the survivors are all over 100, in fact, one of the survivors passed away while the case was working it's way through the state court.  It is critical to the future of the case that standing be determined in order that the descendents of the survivors can see the case and remedies that come from it can come to a conclusion.

 

This led to a discussion about the recent California case involving the Bruce Family and an ocean front property that was taken by imminent domain by the City of Manhattan Beach in the early part of the last century.  The city returned the property to the family in 2022.  The family subsequently made the decision to sell the property back to the city and to use the proceeds to benefit the family.  There has been criticism of the family for doing this.  The family notes that the sale permitted them to provide benefits to move family members forward by supporting education, business development and home ownership.

 

Finally, also related to the court system, the document mishandling case in Florida was discussed in light of the possibility that double jeopardy may apply and accountability not be achieved.

 

There was a brief discussion about judicial ethics and recusal when appropriate.

The group next discussed several issues related to communication and the media.  One participant discussed "drama based decision making" as a feature of some media outlets.  Concerned that facts were losing out to external social emotions.  The difficulty of determining facts and sources of facts was discussed.  

 

Finally, the group discussed the book "The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory" by Tim Alberta.

 

The next meeting will be April 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM PST.  At that meeting, Dr. Linda Pope, a regular participant, will lead a discussion about the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.  This promises to be a very intersting session featuring personal reactions to this powerful book.