Jessie Christopher Smith

1 week ago | oklahoman.com | Jessie Christopher Smith

Signs bearing images from photographs of Malcolm X line the sidewalk leading into Frederick A. Douglass High School in northeast Oklahoma City for the first XFest OKC event on Sunday, May 25, 2025. Jessie Christopher Smith/The OklahomanMasood Abdul-Haqq embraces his wife, Dr. Noor Jihan Abdul-Haqq, at the first XFest OKC event inside Frederick A. Douglass High School in northeast Oklahoma City on May 25, 2025.

1 week ago | oklahoman.com | Jessie Christopher Smith

• The event, organized by local Black Muslim leader Masood Abdul-Haqq, featured speakers, performers, and vendors. That's how long Malcolm X lived on this Earth. But even now, 100 years after his birth, residents and leaders in Oklahoma City still are celebrating the work of a civil rights leader whose spirit lives on, six decades after his untimely death.

1 week ago | oklahoman.com | Jessie Christopher Smith

• Confusion surrounds the legal consequences for 154 individuals arrested at an alleged street takeover in Oklahoma City. • Conflicting statements have been given on whether state charges will be filed, with the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office stating the investigation is ongoing. • Community leaders and police offer differing accounts of the event, with some claiming it was a family-friendly gathering while police cite reckless driving and confiscated firearms and drugs.

1 week ago | oklahoman.com | Jessie Christopher Smith

• The Oklahoma City Police Department has proposed a $298 million budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, a $12 million increase. • The budget proposal includes funding for new facilities, improved 911 services, and increased staffing costs. • Community members have criticized the proposed increase, advocating for investment in social services and a participatory budget process. • The city council is expected to vote on the budget on June 4th.

2 weeks ago | oklahoman.com | Carla Hinton |Jessie Christopher Smith

Christian Hammons said he was hanging out with friends when Oklahoma City Police converged on him and others celebrating a birthday on the city's southside — and the next thing he knew, he was being placed in handcuffs with no idea why he was being arrested. "Being in those handcuffs was the worst feeling ... sitting out there in the rain and the hail," the student athlete said at a recent news conference held to discuss the mass arrest of more than 150 people on May 17.