State Senate reproves Jim Crow laws

By Tiffany Stockton, News9.com

The Oklahoma State Senate unanimously passed a concurrent resolution Tuesday that reproved the state's segregationionist past.

The resolution, which does not change any laws, calls for the Senate to begin Oklahoma's second century free from all racial bias or prejudice.

Sen. Earl Garrison, D-Muskogee, authored the resolution to denounce Oklahoma's Jim Crow laws, which orignated with Senate Bill No. 1 in Oklahoma's first State Legislature. The laws gave equal rights but required segregation in public transportaion, public education and other public facilities.

"As we begin a second century in Oklahoma, it's important that we as legislators and our fellow Oklahomans recognize and learn from the mistakes from the terribly dark era of out state," Garrison stated in a press release. "With February being Black History Month, I think this sends the timely and correct message that prejudice and racial bias won't be tolerated by this legislative body."