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When fifth-grader Mohammed Fáizy walked into his Tulsa school, just months after fleeing Afghanistan, he didn’t speak, read or write English. He faced the prospect of learning the language while adjusting culturally and catching up on the core subjects of reading, writing, science and math. Although government support of recent Afghan refugees is strong, refugee students from other countries face identical barriers without the same level of federal help. Across Tulsa Public Schools, 261 Afghan children enrolled in Pre-K through 12th grades ab...
PERRY — When her sister’s blood sugar rose to a dangerous level, Elaine Bubb found comfort five minutes from home. “If we had to go to Stillwater to take care of her blood sugar, it could’ve gone up, it would’ve been risky,” Bubb said last week while waiting for Marjorie Miccuci, a 62-year-old breast cancer patient, to be released from a Perry emergency room. “At the end of last month, I brought her in because she was running a 104-degree fever. We were transferred to Stillwater and by the time we got there, she was up to 106.” With Miccuci’s...
Republican legislators passed a law lowering taxes for businesses, but critics say it comes at the expense of jobless Oklahomans. The law, which passed along party lines in both the House and the Senate, cuts the maximum number of weeks that unemployed Oklahomans can receive financial support from 26 to 16 starting Jan. 1. Right now, Oklahoma offers the same number of weeks in unemployment benefits as 40 other states. But when House Bill 1933 takes effect, only four states will offer fewer weeks of emergency income to those looking for a job....
Saul Servin sells Mexican candy and party planning services at Dulceria El Girasol, his store on the corner of Shields Boulevard and SE 29th Street in Oklahoma City. He remembers parents weighing the cost of a child's birthday party against the need to save - in case one parent got deported. "We were all feeling a lot of anxiety because we didn't know what was going to happen," Servin said about his community. "We didn't know if we, as immigrants, were going to be able to stay in this country."...
Driving south from downtown Oklahoma City, it is hard to miss the sudden culture shift. Spanish-language signs and billboards line many streets, such as Southwest 29th Street, where the number of Hispanic-owned bakeries, restaurants, mechanic shops and other businesses has significantly increased over the past decade. Oklahoma's Hispanic population grew more than any other demographic group over the last 10 years, with Oklahoma City's southwest side fueling much of the growth. The increase in...
Dee Ann Russell mopped sticky floors, stocked shelves and took customers’ money for soda, beer and cigarettes at 7-Eleven for nine years, eventually earning $16.05 an hour. In March 2020, she decided it was no longer worth the risk. Hospitalized with pneumonia as the pandemic started, and already suffering from progressive heart failure, Russell was among 98,783 Oklahomans who filed for unemployment benefits that month. She received $636 a week for 12 months. On Aug. 12, while sitting on her living room sofa waiting for a virtual doctor’s app...
A Catholic organization responsible for refugee resettlement and leaders of the Oklahoma City Muslim community are preparing for hundreds of displaced Afghan families to arrive in Oklahoma. The questions of when they might arrive, how many are coming and where they will be housed remain unanswered one week after the final U.S. troops and diplomats departed Afghanistan. Over 120,000 Afghans and U.S. citizens were airlifted from Kabul during the massive humanitarian operation. The evacuees...
