Oklahoma City Memorial Museum offers lessons on responding to political violence

Pictured is the Oklahoma City National Memorial. (Getty Images) (This image cannot be republished unless you have a Getty subscription.)

As Oklahomans prepare for November’s presidential election and respond to this weekend’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, it’s easy to let despair and despondency set in.

But Oklahoma is no stranger to political violence. Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum CEO Kari Watkins says we can apply lessons learned from the 1995 Murrah Building Bombing to today’s political environment.

“We all have a very significant responsibility to tone it down,” Watkins said. “To take a deep breath, to listen, to listen some more and be willing to share why we feel strongly about something. But that doesn’t mean we’re always right.”

Watkins said extremists and people who engage in political violence are often cut off from others.

“I think we have to figure out how to reach those marginalized or bullied people,” Watkins said. “Because (Timothy) McVeigh was one. This guy appears to have had some of the same treatment. How do we reach those people on the fringe, that seem to be the most extreme?”

The answer, Watkins said, is to seek out and talk to people with different opinions.

“It can’t just stop at the ballot box, and it doesn’t need to go to the bullet box,” she said. “It needs to go to a table where you can sit down around and have a conversation.”

One place to do that is the Memorial Museum itself. Watkins says they’ve been hosting Better Conversations with Oklahoma government figures. Recent talks featured Congresswoman Stephanie Bice, OKC Mayor David Holt and Steven Taylor, who served on the State Supreme Court and presided over the state trial of the Murrah bombing.

“Those were all good discussions,” she said. “But they’re not easy — they’re hard discussions.”

Watkins said more talks are coming up in August and September, and information will be available on the OKC Memorial Museum’s website .

This article was originally published by KOSU .

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