Here’s a very short history of the original Oklahoma flag, which several protesters in OKC are being charged by @OKCPD with terrorism for carrying cc: @davidfholt https://www.oklahoman.com/article/5665507/protesters-charged-with-terrorism-rioting-assault

1. Yes, the original OK flag was absolutely linked with socialism from day one. This is different from being a socialist flag: it wasn’t. But: socialists were common in Oklahoma then and had an outsize influence on state politics. I know. Your teachers didn’t tell you this.

2. OK’s constitution was, like its med marijuana laws today, one of the most progressive of its time- largely bc it wasn’t written by white ppl: First Nations, vying for their own native state, wrote a constitution & when hites won the political battle they copy/pasted it. Yup.

3. Ten + years later, during the height of the 2nd KKK, when Daughters of the Am Rev were putting up many of the racist statues we’re finally tearing down today, these same lovely daughters decided the OK flag was an abomination. Guess what? “Abominations” are almost always good.

4. This led, eventually, to the milquetoast puke blue flag Oklahoma flies today. I say this bc the entire flag, sponsored by these lovely racist daughters, is a lie. It suggests NDN ppl were part of the creation of the state. If they were a part, it was just as: a stepping stone.

5. There was never any agreement on the part of First Nations for the state of Oklahoma to exist. The flag is an insult, using a racist “peace pipe” crossed with a Roman laurel leaf (hello, imperial conqueror) to suggest 1, not racist! while 2, also managing to be hella racist.

6. All this happened in a specific context: while white Tulsans were massacring black Tulsans, the socialist movement in OK was also, simultaneously, gaining ground. This is why the Daughters wanted that flag changed, stat. It was the KKK way or the highway. Us socialists chose:

7. Not the highway. We organized. We were the single largest voice against racism in 1920s Oklahoma and we are proud of that history. That’s why now, as klan-adjacent groups are gaining ground in our beautiful state, groups like @OKCPD want to lock us up: they’re ...klan adjacent

8. Though the Daughters succeeded in making their racist flag official, we succeeded, too: by early 1930s, Okies had more socialists per capita than any other state in the union. Why? We were almost a black, and then almost a native state. Why socialism? You decide.

9. That’s not the end of the story of socialism in OK but it is the end of the story of how we went from a cool af socialist-adjacent flag to a puke blue KKK-adjacent flag, a flag which pretends a harmony between whites and NDNs that never, ever existed. Wanna switch?