Vignette: A Certain Town in Oklahoma

There is a certain town in Oklahoma I’d like to discuss, but I won’t say exactly where for two reasons.

First, the people who live there have been through enough. Like the Vietnam War—another of America’s greatest mistakes—we should hate that it happened, but support the people who were forced to experience it firsthand. Such are the residents of this city. They’ve suffered more than anyone else.

Second, though I’m thinking of a specific city, I’m sure that more than one such city exists. What applies here applies to many.

When you look up this certain city in Tripadvisor, the highest-rated thing to do is “leave,” followed by “meth” and “diabetes” rounding out the top three.

It’s the sort of place where the Civil War never ended, it just seems to be taking a break. You can tell because racism is enshrined as history. People are still waiting to see where we’ll actually come out on the question of all people being human beings. They have their doubts.

In the 19th century, the main industry was white men with power screwing over the disadvantaged. The local histories call this “business acumen.” The residents, many forced at literal gun point to be there, couldn’t even count on being left alone if someone found profitable ways to steal minerals, rights-of-way, or a buck.

Today the main industry is crime—committing or enforcing—which is to say not much has changed since the 19th century. The residents proudly talk about police corruption in terms of it “being a small town.” There’s no fancy mixing up of brutal enforcement with justice and laws. It’s who you know and not what you did that counts. And you can see why they’re proud of the corruption—for those on the right side of the old-town families, baseless discrimination will be the only privilege they’ve known.

Of course to enjoy this “privilege,” they had to live in this godforsaken certain town their whole lives—the kind of place where those sleeping in the Motel 6 might envy those locked up in the jail, because the people in jail have rights, healthcare, a library, and a release date.

There is a certain town in Oklahoma, and I think we all would’ve been happier if no one had ever been forced to go there.