U.S. Secretary of Labor tours Tulsa’s Black Wall Street

History matters.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh connected with Tulsa residents and business owners as he dove into the history of Black Wall Street on Friday.

Two days before Secretary Walsh’s visit, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the unemployment rate for Black Americans is at its second lowest point in history. In an effort to eliminate the systemic issues barring Oklahomans from accessing unemployment and insurance benefits, Secretary Walsh announced Oklahoma will receive a $4,562,000 grant that the American Rescue Plan Act funds. New Jersey and Connecticut will receive similar grants.

Secretary Walsh’s tour of Black Wall Street allowed him to grasp Tulsa’s economic background on a personal level through conversations with local business owners, a visit to the Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center and a tour of the Greenwood District. Tulsa’s Greenwood district thrived after World War I. A brief elevator ride that a Black man and a white woman shared sparked accusations that inspired white rioters to destroy the city, leaving about 800 injured and 300 dead. The Oklahoma education system omitted the Tulsa Race Massacre from its curriculum until 2020.

“Understanding history’s successes and failures allows us to change our present and our future by ending economic injustice and making sure people in underserved communities share in our nation’s prosperity,” Secretary Walsh said. “The Biden-Harris administration is empowering Black entrepreneurs in places like Tulsa with new investments that will lead to business start-ups, innovation and job creation. Supporting Black businesses builds Black wealth and provides good-paying jobs for workers in these communities.”

The Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center details the events that demolished the once-thriving black community of Greenwood. The center consists of historical artifacts, media docu- ments and a barbershop that reflects the atmosphere of 1921. “What really struck me is, it wasn’t that long ago,” Secretary Walsh said.

Seeming- ly after Witcraft’s win, he did the same again to Fix who went out and picked up the lone bonus point win for the Cowboys with an 11-1 major decision over Derrick Cardinal.

Outside of Fix’s major decision, the Cowboys didn’t stretch leads like Smith has been preaching. Kaden Gfeller (157) fell short of a major decision in his 8-1 victory against Cael Swenson. The Cowboys had scores of 3-1 at 149, 3-0 at 184 and 8-6 at 165. If scrambles had gone slightly different, those matches could have easily gone in favor of the Jackrabbits.

To the same token, the Jackrabbits didn’t stretch scores either. SDSU’s highest-ranked wrestler, No. 9 Tanner Sloan defeated No. 16 Luke Surber 7-0. Surber gave sloan three points by stalling and couldn’t seem to generate anything underneath, which is where he spent the majority of the time in his match.

Smith has also said that he wants Carter Young to wrestle the full seven minutes. Young wrestled for about a minute before it was all Clay Carson. Young got the first takedown, but Carson changed the tide with an escape followed by a takedown.

Carson defeated Young 4-3, ending his five-match winning streak. Young defeated two top-10 opponents in during that stretch, but couldn’t get another over the No. 10 141-pounder in the nation.

Dustin Plott dropped his secondstraight match. No. 13 Cade DeVos defeated Plott with a 9-5 decision. Plott has lost back-to-back matches four times in his career up until this point. For a team who’s most wrestlers seem to be peaking at this point, Plott seems to have hit a wall, and he’ll only have three more chance to break through it before the Big 12 Tournament.

Garzon shoots out of slump in OSU win vs Baylor

son long, and she reaffirmed her status against the Bears, hitting spot-ups, moving 3s and step-backs along the way.

Despite her recent slump, OSU coach Jacie Hoyt was never concerned about Garzon’s ability to space the floor.

“She’s just on the roller coaster that shooters get on sometimes,” Hoyt said.

those tough shots after the game.

“There’s no question that Garzon came in and gave her a step back, you know, it’s not easy,” Collen said.

The good part of a shooting slump is you can get out of it.

After a three-game span where she shot only 20% from deep, Cowgirls forward Lior Garzon returned to form, making 44% of her attempts beyond the arc, helping OSU defeat Baylor in dominant fashion, 77-56.

Garzon, once in the top 10 nationally in 3-point percentage, has been the Cowgirls’ best perimeter threat all sea-

“Sometimes you’re going to have nights where you can’t miss, and sometimes you’re going to have nights where you feel like you can’t make anything.”

Garzon’s performance Saturday was a mix of both, with the third-year forward hitting a few impossibleseeming shots, but also missing a couple Garzon usually hits.

Garzon’s ability to make these tough shots is what sets her apart from the run-of-the-mill shooter, and Baylor coach Nicki Collen mentioned some of

Overall, Garzon’s 44% from 3 comes in right around her season average of 42%. With the rest of her Cowgirl teammates playing their best basketball of the season, Garzon’s return to form couldn’t come at a better time, as OSU has made its way up to fourth in the Big 12 standings, with third being just an Iowa State loss away.

“It was good,” Garzon said. “The coaches really believe in me, so all I have to do is keep shooting, keep working hard, and I always say at the right time it’s going to fall down, so it definitely was the right time today.” sports.ed@ocolly.com

Wright...

Continued from 1

Both were the case in the first meeting between these teams.

And once again, the final 20 minutes went exactly how OSU would have hoped. Different from the first half. The Cowboys shot 57% from the field and 40% from 3-point range and held Iowa State scoreless in the final 2:43.

“I think we did disrupt their rhythm, we talked about that,” Boynton said. “We wanted to make them go to their ‘B game’ so to speak.”

OSU shot 10-of-16 at the free throw line in the second half, compared to the Cyclones’ subpar 5-of-12. The Cowboys delivered when it mattered most.

“You gotta do that on the road, gotta be able to close the game out when you have a lead and they have to foul you,” Boynton said. “Just proud of the collective mindset of our guys to come together and stick together in a really tough environment.” sports.ed@ocolly.com