In April of 1950, my parents, Meyer & Manya Korenblit, immigrated to the United States as Jewish refugees, survivors of the Holocaust. They were sent to Ponca City, Oklahoma. One of the first persons to befriend my parents was a Black man, Gershon Tucker, and his family. In 1952, my parents witnessed their first election … Read more

Twenty years ago today I was in a training session across the country from my new wife and the life I had just begun as a postdoctoral psychology provider in Kansas. The small group I was with had bonded somewhat over the previous day and a half we spent together, but we were still strangers, … Read more

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan, OCCC Faculty and Human Rights Speaker for The Respect Diversity Foundation, has again received a “50 Making a Difference” award from the Journal Record. From the article: ‘“Through her experiences and insights, Dr. Khan introduces her students to ideas and concepts they may never come in contact with outside of the … Read more

We are 100 years to the day from the Tulsa Race Massacre, arguably the single worst atrocity committed against Black Americans since slavery. We (I mean here white society, and yes, I take responsibility because I have passively benefited from it from the moment of my birth) have made it really easy to let 100 … Read more

By Noel J. Jacobs, PhD (Title adapted from The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman, excerpt taken from spoken word) We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one … Read more

Happy New Year!  Now is the season of renewal and making resolutions, for giving thanks for what has come in the past year and deciding what we want to come next. For some, however, true thankfulness for the past year is hard to experience. Real harm and the recurring threat of real harm by openly … Read more

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in … Read more

About two weeks ago I flew halfway around the world with my best friend, who is also my brother, and  13 wonderful people I now count as friends. We spent one amazing week in an historic, beloved, conflicted, painful place. It is a very young country, a little over 70 years old, and it is … Read more

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door. These words, by Emma Lazarus, are at the base of one of the most iconic statues in this country.  Except … Read more

I grew up with a sense of belonging in both received and chosen communities. I existed in several –Christian and Episcopalian; OU fan; Republican; middle class; Okie; American; guy. All of those communities create images of shared characteristics and maybe even a sense of connectedness for me at times. Community membership has many immediate benefits: it helps us identify “our” … Read more