1:25 Telling the truth is becoming more complicated—and more costly. Across the country and around the world, journalists are facing growing pressure for simply doing their jobs, and in the midst of it all, student journalists are stepping into an increasingly fraught landscape. What does it mean to pursue the truth when the stakes feel higher than ever? And how is this next generation navigating a profession where the risks are no longer abstract, but immediate? Here are FBO’s Nico Berlin and Roma Carter with more.

12:03 What does Tulsa have in common with cosmopolitan destinations such as Buenos Aires, Berlin, Accra, Shanghai, and Sydney? Each city is home to a New York University Global Network University campus. FBO’s Zaakirah Muhammad has details.

23:23 What does it mean to live in a place that was never meant to feel like home? Across the country, extended stay hotels have become a last resort for individuals and families navigating housing instability. Behind those doors are stories often overlooked; of stress, isolation, resilience, and the quiet toll that instability takes on mental health. For those living on the margins, where access to care is limited and community can feel out of reach, how do people cope–and what support truly exists? This quick hit is a segment from a special episode of Focus: Black Oklahoma, which is part of a larger quarterly effort from Oklahoma media addressing mental health. Find the rest of the quarterly stories and more coverage from Tulsa Flyer, the Oklahoma Eagle, KOSU, La Semana, and the frontier at tulsaflyer.org.

27:42 Trauma doesn’t just live in our memories—it lives in the body. For many Black people, generations of stress, survival, and systemic harm are carried in muscle, breath, and nervous systems long after the moment has passed. Somatic therapy asks a different kind of healing question: not just what happened to you, but what is your body still holding? Alana Mbanza explores somatic therapy and why reconnecting with the Black body is a powerful, and often overlooked, path toward restoration and wholeness.

35:47 In her memoir, Trying My Hardest, Stephanie Janet turns her real life medical trauma into a complex story addressing maternal health, chronic illness, grief, and resilience. Stephanie–speaker, author, and founder of the nonprofit The Mighty Heart Warrior Project, sat down with FBO’s Quraysh Ali Lansana to discuss her new text and ways the book may spark conversations that matter.

42:40 We’re honored to spotlight the work of a Tulsa treasure—Chief Egunwale Amusan whose scholarship and storytelling are reshaping how we understand this city’s past and present. His powerful book, America’s Black Wall Street: The Untold Story of Broken Treaties, Black Resistance, Political Fear, and Sacred Ground, goes beyond the headlines to reveal the deeper forces that shaped Greenwood’s rise, the brutal assault it endured, and the enduring legacy of resistance and resilience that still radiates from this sacred terrain. Here’s FBO’s G. Vickers.

Focus: Black Oklahoma is produced in partnership with KOSU Radio & Tri-City Collective. Additional support is provided by the Commemoration Fund & Press Forward. Our theme music is by Moffett Music.

Focus: Black Oklahoma's executive producers are Quraysh Ali Lansana & Bracken Klar. Our associate producers are Jesse Ulrich, & Naomi Agnew. Our production interns are Alexander Evans, Roma Carter, Jess Grimes, & Anna Wilson.

You can visit us online at KOSU.org or FocusBlackOklahoma.com & on YouTube @TriCityCollectiveOK.

You can follow us on Instagram @FocusBlackOK & on Facebook at Facebook.com/FocusBlackOK.

You can hear Focus: Black Oklahoma on demand at KOSU.org, the NPR app, NPR.org, or wherever you get your podcasts.

https://linktr.ee/focusblackok

Walking the Margins: Mental Health & Housing Precarity Along Admiral

A motel room. The interstate. Winter wind. Days of walking with no plan but to witness life on the street. Nick Alexandrov set out to report on mental health along an extended-stay motel corridor in Tulsa. What he found was a quieter, more elusive, more human story.

Unfolding on sidewalks, overpasses, church steps, and in fleeting conversations with people living outside. This quarterly feature asks: How does this environment produce its own kind of mental strain? How do people cope with that stress? And what if, rather than the other way around, housing insecurity itself helps drive mental distress and addiction?

This special episode of Focus: Black Oklahoma is part of a larger quarterly effort from Oklahoma media addressing mental health. Find the rest of the quarterly and more stories and coverage from Tulsa Flyer, The Oklahoma Eagle, KOSU, La Semana, and The Frontier at TulsaFlyer.org.

Focus: Black Oklahoma is produced in partnership with KOSU, Tulsa Flyer, & Tri-City Collective.

Our theme music is by Moffett Music.

The production team for this special quarterly edition of Focus: Black Oklahoma are Quraysh Ali Lansana, Bracken Klar, & Jesse Ulrich.

You can visit us online at or FocusBlackOklahoma.com, & on YouTube @TriCityCollectiveOK.

You can follow us on Instagram @FocusBlackOK & on Facebook at Facebook.com/FocusBlackOK.

You can hear Focus: Black Oklahoma on demand at KOSU.org, the NPR app, NPR.org, or wherever you get your podcasts.

2:01 In communities across the US, questions about immigration enforcement and civil rights grow louder. For many Hispanic and Latino families, those questions are paired with something more personal—fear. Venson Fields takes us inside a community forum where frustration, uncertainty, and resilience met in one room to ensure community voices are heard.

12:04 On college and university campuses, student organizations can often reflect the political conversations shaping the nation beyond the classroom. At the University of Tulsa, a newly chartered chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), the organization founded by Charlie Kirk, is beginning to do just that. FBO’s Jess Grimes takes a look at how the campus community is responding.

27:04 In part two of her interview with Mike Appeal, Vice President of Spring Creek coalition, FBO’s Roma Carter continues exploring why the Arkansas based chicken poultry industry thrives on Oklahoma lands, and highlights sustainable ways rural citizens are maintaining their land.

34:10 Baseball has long been known as America’s pastime. But when you look at who’s playing the game—and where they come from—the picture is far more global than fans might expect. In the World Baseball Classic, national teams from around the world take the field, with players representing countries across Latin America, Asia, Europe, and North America. The contrast between a global tournament built around national identity and a professional league rooted in American sports culture reveals the shifting demographic of baseball itself. FBO’s Phil Childs explores how the World Baseball Classic showcases baseball’s international reach.

42:26 For many women, menopause marks a major transition—one that can bring physical changes, emotional shifts, and a new understanding of their bodies. Despite how common the experience is, conversations about menopause often remain quiet, private, or even stigmatized. For Sondra Slade, the journey into menopause brought unexpected challenges. Her story is one of adjustment, reflection, and learning to speak openly about an experience shared by millions of women.

Focus: Black Oklahoma is produced in partnership with KOSU Radio & Tri-City Collective. Additional support is provided by the Commemoration Fund & Press Forward. Our theme music is by Moffett Music.

Focus: Black Oklahoma's executive producers are Quraysh Ali Lansana & Bracken Klar. Our associate producers are Jesse Ulrich, & Naomi Agnew. Our production interns are Alexander Evans, Roma Carter, Jess Grimes, & Anna Wilson.

You can visit us online at KOSU.org or FocusBlackOklahoma.com & on YouTube @TriCityCollectiveOK.

You can follow us on Instagram @FocusBlackOK & on Facebook at Facebook.com/FocusBlackOK.

You can hear Focus: Black Oklahoma on demand at KOSU.org, the NPR app, NPR.org, or wherever you get your podcasts.

https://linktr.ee/focusblackok