The day before crowds are expected to descend on Greenwood for Tulsa’s Juneteenth Festival, faith leaders gathered to pray for peace and unity.
Lauren Corbitt-Evans, executive director of Tulsa Juneteenth Inc., said before any celebratory festivities would begin this year, it was necessary to “cover this space” following 22-year-old Isaiah Knight’s death at the 2025 Juneteenth Festival.
Knight’s death led her to have a greater focus on security protocols, mandating registration, bag checks and gated entry this year.
“This has been an uphill battle to bring this together. We had a tragedy last year with the shooting that occurred. And I really just wanted to cover this space, cover this area of the festival as we get started this weekend,” she said Friday morning.
In the days leading up to the festival, Corbitt-Evans explained, she had not felt fully at peace.
Attendees at the ceremony included faith leaders like Brenda and Tommy Todd of Transformation Church; Jaime and Cherae Thompson of Oklahoma City’s The Birthing Room; and Brandon Sims, the new senior pastor of Vernon A.M.E Church.
They walked from the corner of Archer and Greenwood towards the Oklahoma State University-Tulsa campus. Some stretched their arms toward the sky. Others held hands.
A small group, including the Todds, stopped under the bridge near where Knight lost his life.
“Unify us as a people. Let no weapon form against us, against this city, against this gathering,” Brenda Todd prayed.
Her words throughout the ceremony moved many in the crowd to tears.
“We are believing for real that there is safety,” she prayed. “And we are declaring no harm in the name of Jesus.”
Corbitt-Evans told The Eagle the ceremony lifted some of the stress that she’d been carrying about the upcoming festival.
“I feel lighter. I’ve been a little anxious up until this point. But things are coming together,” she said. “I feel a relief. I’m happy, grateful and ready to go.”
