Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford apologized to Black voters for the Republican Party's numerous efforts to have the votes of millions thrown out in the 2020 election, writing in a letter that he deeply regretted how it was interpreted by Black people in his state.

Lankford, like many Republican leaders, has been facing calls to resign or step down for his role in trying to overturn the election results and for the numerous lawsuits that specifically sought to have many states outright remove the votes of Black people.

President Donald Trump led the effort but dozens of Republican leaders followed him and amplified the conspiracy theories that eventually led to their supporters violently attacking Congress on Jan. 6, while the Electoral College results were being certified.

"My action of asking for more election information caused a firestorm of suspicion among many of my friends, particularly in Black communities around the state. I was completely blindsided, but I also found a blind spot. What I did not realize was all of the national conversations about states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, was seen as casting doubt on the validity of votes coming out of predominantly Black communities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit," he wrote in his letter, which was addressed to "friends in North Tulsa," in the Tulsa World newspaper.

"After decades of fighting for voting rights, many Black friends in Oklahoma saw this as a direct attack on their right to vote, for their vote to matter, and even a belief that their votes made an election in our country illegitimate. I can assure you, my intent to give a voice to Oklahomas who had questions was never also an intent to diminish the vote of any Black American," he said, adding, "I deeply regret my blindness to that perception, and for that I am sorry."

Republican leaders and news outlets spent months spreading unfounded conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and then justified their opposition to the results by saying people had "questions" about the results. People only believed there was something to be questioned about the results because Republican leaders kept questioning it themselves in public.

Most of the lawsuits filed in dozens of states focused specifically on the votes coming out of areas with high Black populations like Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Detroit, as Blavity previously reported.

The NAACP was forced to file dozens of lawsuits in response to protect the votes, and all of the cases Republican officials filed were denied, even by Trump-appointed judges, for being ridiculous and openly bigoted.

"By targeting communities of color with false claims of voter fraud, and by coordinating actions to pressure state and local officials to discard votes cast in cities with large Black populations, President Trump, his campaign, and the RNC, have undermined our most sacred constitutional values," Sam Spital, director of litigation for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said in a statement after the election.

Yet even in his apology, Lankford tacitly justifies the attempt to overturn the election results.

"When I announced my support for an Electoral Commission to spend 10 days auditing the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, it was never my intention to disenfranchise any voter or state. It was my intention to resolve any outstanding questions before the inauguration on Jan. 20," he wrote.

"I believe Congress cannot legally ignore any state's electors or change any state's vote, but we can work to get answers to outstanding questions I want to strengthen the confidence all Americans have in their electoral system so everyone is encouraged to vote and knows their vote matters."

Lankford is one of the few Republicans to make legitimate appeals to Black voters and has spent years building ties within the Black community in Tulsa. But he is now facing backlash for his actions in the 2020 election and Black leaders have demanded his removal from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, according to Tulsa World.

Rep. Monroe Nichols and Sen. Kevin Matthews told the newspaper on Wednesday how Black Tulsans were interpreting Lankford's efforts since the 2020 election.

“This is a great example of Black people voting in record numbers, with a coalition of people who look different, who are being told, ‘No, their votes didn’t count,’” Nichols said.

Some of what Lankford said in his letter is what he told local news outlets on Wednesday. He said he was surprised to discover that Black people were interpreting his efforts to throw out their votes as an attack on them.

“I was shocked [when Black friends] said to me, ‘This was about keeping African Americans from voting.’ My comment to them was, ‘That never crossed my mind. Why would I do that? Why would I think that?’" Lankford said on Wednesday to Tulsa World.

“Some people caught me and said, ‘Let me describe it to you this way’ — and they were spot on with this — ‘You hear the president say, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania are problems. We hear the president say, Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia are problems.’ And I said, ‘You’re exactly correct. I hear what you’re saying now.’”

Members of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission said they will continue to discuss whether Lankford should be allowed to stay involved, but tensions in the state are high considering the blatant racism in so many of the Republican-led lawsuits aimed at the election.

In the latter parts of his letter, Lankford begged to stay on the commission and touted his past efforts to highlight what happened during the 1921 Tulsa Race Riots nationally, writing that "being a part of the effort to shine a light on North Tulsa is an honor and a responsibility for me."

Other Senators, like Missouri's Josh Hawley and Texas' Ted Cruz, are facing similar calls for their resignation not only for participating in the disenfranchising effort but also for their rhetoric ahead of the domestic terrorist attack on Congress.

Matthews, who has worked closely with Lankford in the past, said that his actions, whether intentional or not, were an attack on Black residents of the state.

“Let me tell you what racism feels like to Black people. When you tell us the rules and why we can’t be president before Obama or vice president, we have to jump through these hoops, and as we’re jumping through the hoops you move the goalposts. And you keep moving them. And when we get to the goalposts, you want to check our ID and our credentials over and over and over," Matthews told Tulsa World.

“We have a Black woman, the first Black woman with an opportunity to be vice president and possible opportunity to be president — she’s at least next in line — and now is when we want to put out all of these extra alarms? That’s what Black people think.”

James-Lankford

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