Former Tulsa City Councilor Shares 'Me Too' Experiences

<p>A frightening experience in downtown Tulsa Wednesday night led Parks and Recreation Director Anna America&nbsp;to share her &quot;Me Too&quot; experiences on Facebook.&nbsp;</p>

Thursday, September 27th 2018, 9:47 am

By: Dee Duren


A frightening experience led a former Tulsa city councilor to share her "Me Too" experiences on Facebook. Anna America said she was leaving City Hall Wednesday night when she was approached by two teenage girls who asked for help.

The girls said a man was following them, and they asked America to wait with them for police, she said. The councilor said as they waited, the man came up to the girls and tried to lean into them.

"I got in front of them and told him to leave them alone, and he just stared at me as he leaned around and kept trying to touch them," she wrote.

Even after America and the girls retreated into City Hall for safety, the man followed them inside and started grabbing one of the girls. America said the man finally left as she tried to push him out the door, and the girls told him police were on their way.

"Frustrated and angry and wondering, for like the millionth time in my life, what the heck is wrong with some men," she posted.

"Women, and girls, deal with that kind of crap their entire freaking life. I have been accosted/grabbed/insulted/threatened/harassed/molested by adult men literally dozens of times in my life. The first time I was 6 and an elderly family friend got me alone and put his hand in my pants," she posted.

"The last time was last year when I came out of a City Council meeting to find a graphic sexual picture drawn on my car. Some times are just annoying or hurtful, others are scary like when, at 17, I was the last person off the bus and the driver blocked my exit and tried to grab me and tell me how much he “liked” me, or when in my 20s, I was jogging on an isolated street and found the sidewalk blocked by a man exposing himself, or the time in my 30s I was leaving the office late at night and a man followed me to my car while telling me in graphic detail what he wanted to do to me and how much I would like it.

"Or like tonight, for these two girls, who told me they had come downtown after school to take Instagram pictures. They literally ran to their car, terrified, and left without any pictures. Who knows if they will come back.

"I’m not going to get into the politics of everything that is going on these days, and I’ll delete any reply that does, but after a lifetime of this, I’ll end where I started, frustrated and angry and wondering what the heck is wrong with some men."

Anna America was the councilor for Tulsa's district 7 and is now the city's parks and recreation director.

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