A) City Council Meeting.
1. Arrival- We arrived at the meeting a little early before the rest of the group. After we met Muneer outside we all went in, but I paused to sign up to speak at the meeting. After we were seated, we had to wait a while for the meeting to start. There were a lot of other people there as well, wearing T- shirts supporting their stances and mingling together
2. Intro- After the meeting started with an intro from Mayor Mick Cornett, we listened to a opera solo by a graduate student at OCU. It was really nice but we could not understand what she was saying. After that the meeting really sped up, and the council went through a bunch of votes really quickly. They were all passed unanimously. While this was happening a lot of the members would get up and leave through a swinging door, and then come back in.
3. The Issue- The issue that was being discussed at the meeting was about whether or not to add sexual orientation to a equal opportunity jobs act in OKC. First the council members were allowed to speak.
- Ed Shadid, the council member who proposed the amendment, started off by supporting his points. He talked about the importance of civil rights, and then he talked about the bible. I did not really understand what he was saying, but I could tell that a lot of the audience was not happy. He also likened gay discrimination to Adolf Hitler's discrimination in Germany.
- Next, councilman Skip Kelly of ward 7 talked against the amendment. Kelly said black Americans like him know the most about discrimination, and that the city had no need to add the wording to its policy because there have been few claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation in city offices. He got a standing ovation for his remarks.
- Councilman Larry McAtee of ward 3 agreed with Kelly that there's no need for the policy in the city because there's not a track record of discrimination.
- Ward 5 Councilman David Greenwell expressed his reluctant support for the measure, saying he didn't think a vote was needed because of the relative lack of discrimination claims in the city, but that he didn't want to face criticism from people who didn't understand his views if he voted against it.
After that, the public was allowed to speak. Many speakers for different viewpoints came up to speak. There was a baptist preacher who spoke against it, and even called out on our Muslim presence. After him, there was a confusion about myself because I wasn't signed up to speak about the issue, and Muneer went up and talked instead about minority rights. There was a gay writer for the Oklahoma Gazette who had an emotional speech, as well an old man who supported the measure. After that we left, but there were still plenty of people left to talk.
B) CAIR office
1. After the meeting we went to the CAIR office and discussed the meeting. We also talked about the internship and our experiences. Muneer also told us about the people we would be meeting with at the state capitol.
C) The State Capitol
1. Jeannie McDaniel- Jeannie McDaniel is a representative from Tulsa. I found her talk to be really, really interesting. She talked to us about how she was a proponent for women's rights, education, and other things. Here are some of the issues we discussed with her:
- How bills are passed. She gave us a nice picture off of the state legislature website that illustrated it as well
- Affirmative Action which she is for
- Bullying in which she has done a lot of work, including the proposal of many bills.
- Foster homes which she wants to improve
- Children with parents in jail whom she wants to help
2. Capitol press room- The capitol press room was really really unlike what I had imagined. It was really small and cramped. We talked to 3 reporters. One from the Tulsa World, The Oklahoman, and an AP reporter. They basically talked about what they did and their work life. It was a good experience for anyone interested in that field.
3. Rep. for Mary Fallin- The representative for Mary Fallin (I didn't catch her name) was part of her PR staff. She talked about how she read emails and letters to the Governor regarding issues that the Governor was dealing with. We also asked her about her professional history as well as miscellaneous questions about her job.
D) Overall feelings: I really enjoyed the field trip and I felt like I learned a lot. I really also liked the work I did with CAIR and I would love to do something similar in the future. It really opened my eyes to how government works in the real world.
