FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2022
Contact: Jennifer K. Falcon, Indigenous Environmental Network,
jennifer@ienearth.org
Media here

Free Julius Jones! Climbers Hang Message on Oklahoma Capitol’s 300 Ft. Oil Derrick Before State of the State Address 

Oklahoma City, OK- The morning of his State of the State address Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt woke up to three banners hanging on “Petunia ” an active oil derrick in front of the Oklahoma Capitol Building. Climbers ascended oil derricks in the lawn of the Capitol and across the Governor’s mansion with banners reading “Free Julius Jones,” “Stitt’s Failed State,” and “Oklahoma: We Deserve Clean Land, Air, Water. Build Back Fossil Free.” Stitt’s State of the State comes as Oklahoma was named the most dangerous state to live in during the Covid pandemic, as regulatory rollbacks for the oil industry and frackquakes continue to ravage the state, as Stitt continues to imprison Julius Jones for a crime he did not commit, as Oklahoma remains a top 10 state for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People, and as Stitt lost his egregious attempts to undermine tribal sovereignty and to further dispossess Indigenous peoples of their land by attacking the McGirt Supreme Court decision.
 
Statement from the autonomous group:

“Black and Indigenous communities are coming together to fight for our futures. We know the same powers that profit off the industrial prison complex that tears Black families apart from the poisoning of Indigenous land, water and air. Racism and hate have poisoned every system we are forced to navigate simply for existing. The white supremacists who control Oklahoma do not care about healthy communities. From Black Wall Street to McGirt we will not let Oklahoma’s anti-Indigenous, anti-Black elected officials continue to get away with murder or violence against our communities and lands. We are not giving up. We will continue to build and show up with new hearts and voices. We will defend our sovereignty and Black life. Another world is possible, expect us.”