OKPOLICY.ORG
By William Maetzold
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — You might have thought Halloween was a few days early or zombies were real if you near the Oklahoma State Capitol on Saturday.
A group of protesters descended on the Capitol building to show their opposition to the stalled state budget talks.
“It’s almost a like zombie infection to believe that Oklahoma’s just fine and we don’t need any more revenues,” Together Oklahoma coordinator Kara Joy McKee said.
The march was organized by Together Oklahoma, which is part of the Oklahoma Policy Institute.
Zombies marched up to people playing the part of state employees that need funding. One of those is teacher Ashley Taylor.
“We need better computers,” Taylor said. “How about just pencil and paper? Better textbooks. I see students come in that I tutor and their textbooks are falling apart. They’re taped together with masking tape.”
Taylor is a math teacher at the University of Central Oklahoma. She said she has had to buy supplies for her students with her own money.
“We’re the lowest in the nation,” she said. “It’s not OK. It’s embarrassing to tell people I’m a teacher in Oklahoma. They automatically assume, ‘Oh, you don’t make a lot of money do you?'”
The protesters want more revenue and say more taxes can be the answer. But the legislature hasn’t been convinced yet that’s the way to go.
“It’s really hard to understand why they’re having such a hard time compromising,” McKee said. “It’s really hard for us to understand it. It’s making us wonder, ‘Have they been infected by a zombie virus?'”
The protest also coincided with a film shoot on the zombie march.
The regular work of the Oklahoma Policy Institute is to talk to state legislators about what’s important to their constituents. They urge anyone concerned about this to contact their lawmaker.
http://okcfox.com/news/local/protesters-dressed-as-zombies-march-at-capitol
