OKLAHOMA CITY — A protest about racism in McCurtain County that was set for the State Capitol last week was cancelled at the last minute, after questions surfaced about one of the organizers.
Listed as Unity Over Violence, the protest was scheduled for May 19. Posts on social media sites listed the McCurtain County Movement, the Oklahoma Poor People’s Campaign and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition as sponsors.
Sources told the Ledger the event was supposed to feature the Rev. Jessie Jackson Sr. who was expected to address the issue of violence and the recent audio recordings made by McCurtain Gazette publisher Bruce Willingham.
However, just days before the event was set to take place, notices were published which said the protest had been cancelled. No reason was listed.
The cancellation followed the publication of a story in the May 14 edition of the Gazette which reported that one of the organizers, Derek Van Voast, was neither a representative of Jackson nor affiliated with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Cameron Barnes, the National Youth Director of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition told the Gazette that Van Voast wasn’t an employee of the organization and had no authority to speak for Jackson.
“We met this young man in Tulsa in 2021. He befriended Rev. Jackson, but caused many problems with our national staff and while he was never hired as a staff member, he was instructed to cease and desist from all interactions with Rev. Jackson and Rainbow Push by our national board of directors over a year ago,” Barnes told the newspaper.
Audio and video recordings show Van Voast speaking to protestors in Idabel. In addition, cards from Van Voast listed him as a special assistant-successor to Jackson.
Van Voast, who lives in Arkansas, told the Gazette that he never mentioned PUSH in anything. He said he was an associate of Jackson but did not come to Oklahoma at his request.
Despite protests and calls by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and state Attorney General Gentner Drummond to resign, two of the county officials on the audio recording remain in office. McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy and his chief investigator Alicia Manning have, so far, refused to resign.
Last week Drummond sent Stitt a letter saying he was expanding the investigation of Clardy and the three other McCurtain County officials who were recorded making threats and racist comments. In the letter, Drummond said he asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to expand the investigation requested by Stitt in late April. That investigation continues.