Letters to the editor: On Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, immigrants and protecting seniors

Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board isn't to blame

Let me defend the Pardon and Parole Board.

Neither the board nor its staff caused Paul Anderson to cut out his neighbor’s heart and try to feed it to his uncle and his 4-year-old relative before killing them in Chickasha in 2021. This crime screams of mental health problems.

Regardless of why Anderson was released early from prison, we must remember this man was a low-level “nonviolent” drug offender serving an excessive sentence.

Most Oklahomans have no idea the parole board’s five members work part-time, charged with reviewing about 600 cases per month. Most of the board’s small staff work in prisons as investigators. The investigators look at each applicant for parole or commutation to evaluate whether the offender has met the criteria for board consideration. In some ways, the investigators serve as surrogate board members, recommending for or against release.

Twenty-five years ago, parole board members annually interviewed every eligible inmate. Now they interview very few, about 20 per month, for about 5 minutes. They have little opportunity to get to know the applicants. Inmates, especially those defined as “violent,” have little chance of gaining relief. Hence, Oklahoma’s prison population numbers about 23,000, almost twice the national average per population. The board is burdened with an impossible task. It needs to work full-time and interview every applicant.

Blaming the parole board for a heinous crime allows us to ignore the elephant in the room — a deficient mental health system that fails many of its citizens, both in and out of prison.

— Sue Hinton, Norman

Protection of North American boreal forest critical

Climate change is increasing temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns and causing extreme weather, resulting in fatalities and damage to infrastructure across the United States. Protecting the North American boreal forest, the world's largest undisturbed forest, from logging is critical for avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. Companies can have a larger impact on our climate than individuals can — especially companies that sell wood, like The Home Depot.

— Rebecca Mitchell, Moore

The face of an immigrant: Hold out your hand

When people talk about illegal immigrants or asylum seekers, they paint a face of a criminal, generally a man. The United States has the most immigrants of any nation globally. I’m here to paint a real face of these immigrants.

It’s the face of a mother who tried to hold down job after job, even though she couldn’t read or write. It’s a face of a child who never had a chance of escaping generational gang violence, rape, drugs and prostitution. It’s the face of a young boy who never had a mother or father who loved him.

These are the types of faces that often seek refuge in the United States. They have arrived at our doors, and they’re asking for our help. They’re asking for a hand to pull them out of the quicksand.

These are faces willing to work hard. These are souls willing to take jobs no one else wants. These are minds who are willing to follow laws if it means escaping their trauma back home. These are hearts willing to take on the traditions of a new country to become her citizens. Let us get involved with local agencies and encourage interagency interventions involving other organizations. Let’s connect these souls to social workers and other advocates who can explain and connect them to the process of citizenship. Let’s get to know their culture and connect them with the right help they need.

Please understand when you say, “Send them home,” you’re talking about a face that belongs to someone. You’re speaking of a face throwing out her hand and pleading with you to pull her out of death. And you’re telling her instead to go back to her hell. Instead let’s hold out our hand, find them help and look for better ways to encourage them to live lawfully among us and contribute to our economy.

— Terryn Michael Carson, Edmond

Learn from others' failures to protect seniors

It seems every time we have a bank failure it was precipitated by Congress eliminating banking regulations. This series of events has repeated itself for many decades, cycling over and over. We never seem to learn our lesson.

I can think of no better example of this than what Oklahoma legislators are considering now, the sunset bill (House Bill 2824) for the Oklahoma State Board of Examiners for Long-Term Care Administrators (OSBELTCA). Language in the bill has been set to decimate the role of the board, not to simply extend the sunset.

This board plays an important role in protecting our loved ones in long-term care facilities. The Board of Examiners for Long-Term Care Administrators may be misunderstood and it is certainly underappreciated.

Many bankers appreciate the rules put in place for their industry because it provides them with a safe zone within which to operate. As long as they follow the rules, they are generally safe from the actions of bad actors.

The Board of Examiners for Long-Term Care Administrators provides that same protection for long-term care providers. Yet, the providers are lobbying against it. One can only wonder why.

Let's not repeat mistakes with the most obvious consequences. Let's leave protections for older Oklahomans intact.

— Ken Jones, Duncan

Native American story a part of nation's history

The United States of America is not a conquered country due to the history made possible by the Native American story. In 1879, the landmark civil rights case Chief Standing Bear v. Crook (Nebraska District Court Judge Elmer Scopio Dundy) was originally set to determine if Standing Bear and fellow Poncas were legally arrested. Strategically planned, Standing Bear fought the arrest because Natives were not recognized as "persons" under federal law, so his objective was not being freed from detainment, but from being unrecognized as "persons."

Standing Bear, our nation's first civil rights leader and first Native to testify in federal court, stated, "This hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine is the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both." The powerful argument convinced Judge Dundy to overturn years of U.S. Native American policy when he determined that "the Indian is a PERSON within the meaning of the laws of the United States."

History is a "do better" opportunity. As Americans, we have the privilege of looking at history through the Native American story. In this case, Chief Standing Bear enabled a safe space, the courtroom setting, for reversal of the Native American policy. The United States gained so much from this decision. As "persons," Native American men became eligible to enlist and America received the largest-per-capita ethnic group willing to serve. Using their undecipherable languages, the Natives’ roles as “code talkers” in both world wars provided secure communication amongst soldiers leading to numerous allied victories. Our nation's history is, in part, a result of the Native American story. Without our code talkers, the United States, a nation of many nations, might have been a conquered people.

— Theresa Hinman, Norman

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Letters: On OK Pardon and Parole Board, protecting seniors and more