Tulsa is a quivering mess right now. I got permission from a friend to post this text from ground zero as long as I removed everyone’s names. The writer is a good friend of a friend of my friend. So this is third-hand but well-sourced (my buddy vouched for the writer) from Thursday, June 18th.
Local tension is high as locals fear that 3 days of Juneteenth celebrations and demonstrations wrapped around Trump's rally are dry tinder and gasoline waiting for a spark. The text in Blockquotes is the writer’s without any alterations.
I live in Tulsa and feel like i need to communicate how fucking tense it’s getting here.
QuikTrip, a locally-based convenience store chain which never ever closes (to the detriment of its employees, who routinely have work during natural disasters), has closed six stores nearest the Trump rally site, boarded them up and barricaded off the parking lots.
Check out this local TV coverage for confirmation and pictures.
There’s truckloads of barricades rolling around, barriers going up everywhere, people buying out sheets of plywood at hardware stores. Storefronts and other businesses boarding up throughout the city, big fuck-off fences going up around public buildings like the central library and the courthouse.
Here’s coverage of that aspect.
There’s already thousands of Trump supporters here from out-of-state, with more arriving by the hour. They’re not just filling up hotels, they’re camping out on the fucking sidewalks with tents and sleeping bags and giant TRUMP flags, some of them miles and miles away from the actual rally. Nearly every street going into downtown is closing in a few hours, to be colsed until Sunday.
As I said, I was told this was written Thursday. Here’s NBC News’ take.
Just a few blocks away from the rally is Greenwood, and the rest of North Tulsa which is also predominantly black. There will be people rallying there, celebrating Juneteenth or protesting in support of Black Lives Matter, all weekend.
Greenwood is the site of the Tulsa race massacre in 1921.
There will be tens of thousands of angry Trump fans right there, many of them unable to get into the rally — a big mob of bored, hot, riled-up reactionaries, right fucking there, with Trump gassing them up over the loudspeakers. At this point it’s not a question of if there will be a fight, it’s which side is going to throw the first punch.
Here’s The Guardian’s take.
People are scared. Locals are prepping for this rally like it’s an impending natural disaster.
I’m checking in with other friends up there and will update with interesting information as I get it.