When Inaccurate Public Narratives Put Students and Community Programs at Risk

During a Tulsa Public School school board meeting about a month ago, a speaker mentioned my nonprofit, Urban Coders Guild, and claimed that we only serve Black, Latino, and Native students and that the only white students we serve are “boys who identify as transgender.”

I did not hear about it at the time. Someone told me later, and I went back and watched the video. I still remember that moment.

Yes, it made me angry. Because the statement is simply not true. Because it paints a picture of our organization that does not match reality. And because it completely erases the experiences of more than 300 students who have chosen to learn with us over the years, including our white students, who show up every week alongside their Black, Latino, and Native peers.

But beyond being wrong, it is dangerous.

It is dangerous because it turns real kids into something abstract. Our students are not political symbols. They are middle and high schoolers who come to learn, to build, to figure things out, and to belong. When adults talk about them this way, it sends a quiet but powerful message that their presence needs defending. No kid should ever feel that.

It is dangerous because parents hear this kind of thing, and students do too. When misinformation spreads, families who might otherwise be excited about our programs may decide it feels unsafe or unwelcoming. That loss does not show up in a headline, but it absolutely shows up in real lives.

It is dangerous because labeling students, or speculating about their gender identity or sexual orientation, can put them in harm’s way. Even perceived identity can make a young person a target for bullying or harassment. That is not theoretical. That is how harm actually happens.

It is dangerous because it chips away at trust. Trust between families and schools. Trust between students and the adults who are supposed to protect them. Once that trust is broken, especially for communities that already have reason to be wary, it is incredibly hard to rebuild.

And the harm does not stop with students.

Statements like this feed into broader attacks on programs that focus on equitable access to education, opportunity, and resources for Black, Latino, and Indigenous students. They push a false idea that serving students who have historically been left out somehow means excluding everyone else. That has never been true, and it is not true here.

Urban Coders Guild serves all students. We always have. We are also the only organization in Tulsa doing this work on the ground, for free, and open to any student regardless of where they live or what school they attend. When false narratives take hold, they do real damage.

They affect how potential funders see us. They make collaborators hesitate. They create questions we should never have to answer. We have already had to address this publicly, so the risk to our reputation is very real.

All of this is happening at a time when Black and BIPOC-led organizations are already being squeezed. We have experienced nearly a 50 percent reduction in funding, tied in no small part to quiet and not-so-quiet retreats from DEIB commitments. We are already working uphill. When misinformation is allowed to spread, it makes that climb even steeper.

And yes, this is personal.

I have spent my career trying to build bridges across the things people use to divide us. Race. Gender. Sexual orientation. Economic status. Language. Culture. As one of the few Black, native Tulsan nonprofit leaders, I carry this work with me every day. I deeply believe in collaboration, shared responsibility, and in creating spaces where young people learn together, not apart.

This is not about politics. It is about kids. It is about telling the truth. And it is about being careful with our words, because those words land on young people who did nothing more than show up to learn.

We can disagree. We can debate policy. But we should never be careless with children, or with the people and organizations working every day to support them.

That line matters. And I am not willing to blur it.