State lawmakers reflect 30 years after Oklahoma City bombing

Yahoo

19-04-2025

As the leader of the Oklahoma Senate, Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton often can find himself in the thick of rough-and-tumble politics. But when rhetoric and tone begin to rise uncomfortably, Paxton remembers an important principle — to disagree without being disagreeable.
Among the lessons Oklahomans learned from the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, that resulted in the deaths of 168 people and injured hundreds more are that there are things much more important than political arguments, that love always trumps hate and that harsh political discourse sometimes can lead to violent consequences.
Those lessons remain relevant in politics today, legislative leaders affirmed this week.
'I always worry about that,' Paxton said Thursday. 'I have a lot of friends in this building, and we disagree and we agree all the time on things. We do it in a way that is respectful. But sometimes there's people out there that do it in a way that is where it demeans people and kind of almost dehumanizes people.'
Paxton, R-Tuttle, said he's seen people serving on school boards or city councils berated on social media as 'a thief or a crook or corrupt' by someone who disagrees with them. He worries about where such political discourse can lead, citing the April 13 attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's home, in which a man has been accused of breaking in and setting a fire. Search warrants in that case have cited political differences between the suspect and Shapiro as a possible motive.
'You look at threats to different members of Congress that's happened, and you know it just seems to be — I don't have this have the stats to say whether it's more now than it has been, but it sure feels like it is,' Paxton said. 'It's a great observation, because I do think it's a real question to ask.'
Paxton's counterparts in Capitol leadership shared similar feelings on Thursday about the dangers of allowing political disagreements to go unresolved.
On Thursday, the House passed — after lengthy debate — a resolution authored by Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, declaring 'Christ is King.' House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, and other members of her party objected to what they saw as the politicization of Christian faith. Debate on the House floor, at times, seemed passionate and heated.
But Munson — who was 9 and living in Lawton, attending Hugh Bish Elementary School, when the bombing occurred — noted lessons learned, much like Paxton, of not letting such disagreements get out of hand.
'Especially my generation of leaders, we talk a lot about service, the Oklahoma Standard, helping others — a lot of the emphasis was on that and making sure that we look out for each other now, especially being in politics and where we are today,' she said. 'It is why I'm so passionate about, you know, let's figure out a way to sit face to face, look each other in the eye and have conversations.'
Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, was away at college in April 1995, and upon her return to Oklahoma City, the local response to the bombing made a lasting impression.
'It was amazing to watch because it really created a solidarity of community that comes out of that kind of strife,' Kirt said. 'But I think there was a real clarity around how impossible (it was) and how much we had to not let that happen again with Americans.'
Anti-government views held by bomber Timothy McVeigh were at the root of his actions. It's important, Kirt said, to treat those working in government with respect.
'To me, anti-government sentiment can go awry when it's combined with dehumanizing and extremism,' she said. 'And I see a lot of anti-government sentiment that does not recognize the government is us and government are people we've hired to do work and we've asked to do a service.
'We might choose we don't think the state should do that service anymore. OK, that's one thing, but we don't say that that person's not a person. We don't say that they're not worthy. What I do is I meet a whole lot of public servants who are doing the hard work and are kind of under-appreciated. I'm deeply concerned about it, and I think some of the language we use up here really encourages that kind of dehumanizing mindset.'
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, was just 1 year old when the bombing happened. While he has no memories of it, he learned about what happened while growing up in Depew. Now that he's a state lawmaker, he said he understands his generation's responsibility to follow, and pass along, the principle of what's now known as the Oklahoma Standard.
'The fact that the speaker of the House for Oklahoma was 1 year old at the time (of the bombing) is a reminder of the reason we need to remember and never forget what happened,' Hilbert said.
He spoke of his experience attending a program put on a few months ago by the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in his House district in Mannford. Mannford High School Principal Kyle Genzer — whose mother, Jamie Genzer, died in the bombing — spoke about how that experience changed his life.
'You talk about lessons learned,' Hilbert said. 'I can tell you from what I experienced in Mannford a few months ago — all those high school freshmen came in. Fourteen-year-olds, it's sometimes hard to get their attention, but they all were locked in when Mr. Genzer got up and told his personal story and his personal connection and how the events of the bombing led him to where he is today as a principal at Mannford and the impact he's been able to have and take that terrible incident and make something good out of it.'
Munson said it's important to remember McVeigh 'was very radical and clearly was disconnecting himself from reality ... and feeling like the government was after him.'
Instead, she said, the aim of government should be to encourage people to work together, despite their differences. As an example, she cited the spirited debate over the 'Christ is King' resolution.
'I was upset about something, and I went over to a member and I just said, 'I hope that's not what you meant.' (That) allowed us to work something out,' she said. 'And I think that that's where we have to get to. And I hope that over the course of this week and this weekend that that's what people will remember and recommit to doing.'
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: State lawmakers reflect 30 years after Oklahoma City bombing