UnWokable Part 1: Exposing Light to What's Hidden in the Dark

When one's character and past is relevant

Education is serious business in Oklahoma, with over 50% of the state budget earmarked for this and previous years. It’s also where your kids go to get educated, which is why your additional property taxes go to support these institutions. Schools are community hubs, preparing generation after generation to be successful citizens and contributors in Oklahoma and the USA. Schools represent a culture unique to each district. What may be best for Oklahoma City schools, may not be best for rural schools like Lexington or Allen, places where I’ve lived. All of this seems great, until the State Department of Education rolls in and mandates (at the behest of the federal government) an agenda that conflicts with a community’s culture and vision for their children’s future.

Take Stillwater, where parents are at odds with the school board. Transgender issues, right now, are at the forefront of Oklahoma politics. Recently, Governor Stitt signed into law Senate Bill 2, which ensures biological males can’t participate in biological female sports. Oklahoma is poised to stand on the principal that biological sex cannot be changed, so it is no wonder that the legislature and governor is tackling the issue of boys and girls picking and choosing which bathrooms they want to use. By ignoring this issue in Stillwater, our conservative leaders in Oklahoma would signal that protecting girls is not important, something contrary to Oklahoma culture.

Another area that schools are tearing at the fabric of Oklahoma values is the implementation of critical race theory; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and social emotional learning. One district mired in these teachings is Norman. One only needs to go to the school’s website to understand what the school intends to force feed to the student body, if you understand how to decipher their rhetoric code. I could write countless paragraphs about the concerns that parents have about this kind of training and teaching for their children, but there are many out there more knowledgeable and succinct in explaining the pitfalls. One of those is the online persona, UnWokable.

UnWokable appeared on social media and began making political splashes about CRT, but the persona hid behind the moniker alone. At this juncture, I’d link the social media accounts, but I’ve been blocked. Why? Because I dared to reach out for an interview. More to that momentarily.

Earlier this year, UnWokable faced a moment where the time to self-out himself came on social media. He explains himself that he was being threatened to be outed.

Before I decided to start doing independent journalism (something I’ve discussed with close family and friends for years), I had two opportunities to listen to John Mark Ousley (UnWokable) after he made himself known. In both instances, I found myself agreeing with what he was saying, and it backed up my own research into the issues. But I will be honest, something tickled the back of my brain. I’ve mentioned discernment before, and I put the utmost care in making sure I listen to my initial judgement. So why did I feel like something was off? If it wasn’t the message, it had to be the person.

Every day, I believe we face political battles that can likely shape generations after. As a Christian, I believe we face even more important spiritual battles, a lot intersecting with politics. For some readers right now, maybe these two battles don’t cross, and for others, spiritual battles might not even be a concern, but they are very real and difficult for many Oklahomans. Therefore, I’ve wanted to report my own journalism for some time, and now seemed like a great time to get it done.

I listened to Ousley one more time in Tulsa. Already practicing as an independent journalist, I committing to that forum before I did. I will not report on anything at those meetings out of respect to those who held the meeting and those that attended. As for Ousley, everything I am going to say moving forward is through my research and things he has repeated endlessly on his social media.

First, when looking at UnWokable, one must decide: do I refer to UnWokable as John Ousley, J. Mark Ousley, or just Mark Ousley? The evolution of the name is relevant. It not only shows a shift to find a prevailing identity among the masses, but one that shows a transformation to hide from a past, one which is likely damaging to a reputation that speaks with moral authority.

When meeting Ousley, he will quickly hand you a business card: logo on one side, contact information on the other. His education jumps off the paper. He has a Bachelor of Music Education, a Master of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts. But wait, that doesn’t comport with the Facebook post above. Once you recheck (I’ll wait), you will see the post states that he is DMA (ABD). ABD stands for All But Dissertation, implying that he has done all the classwork, entering the final phase of defending the written research.

Fraud may be too harsh a word, but using academic credentials you’ve not obtained is misleading at best. To verify, I reached out to the University of Oklahoma (OU), seeking an open records request for directory information on Ousley. OU verified that Ousley attended the university between the dates of 8-22-2011 and 5-14-2021, where he obtained his Master of Music on 8-16-2013. Enrolled for his doctorate, Ousley left OU without obtaining his DMA. As note of chronology, OU answered my open records request on 4-28-2022.

However, the appearance gets worse when Ousley made this post and response on Facebook.

At this point, Ousley is openly soliciting for money from his followers, all under the guise of an apparent lie: he is blackballed even though he is a “freshly minted doctorate”.

Because I want to be as clear and open in my reporting, Ousley did reach out to me with this email response. I will let the reader decide if what he describes is accurate. I apologize for the formatting of the image.

Eddrick,

I blocked you on social media at the advice of contacts that gave me further information about your contacts and intentions for your series of articles, your unexpected connections with local and state politicians, and your connections and involvement and work in surveillance for entities that cannot currently be policed by state agencies.

This concern is underscored by your claim of an open records request, considering that to the best of my understanding, none of my private information as a student would be available to you, other than my status as a GTA. Not being a GTA (an employee of the university) does not indicate that I am not a student.

Regarding the issue of my comment about being “a freshly minted doctorate.” This was an attempt at short hand on Facebook post without explaining the intricacies of this position in my academic pursuits. It accurately describes my position in terms of my attempt at jobs, as it is not at all uncommon for a someone in my position to get a job as a new professor while being ABD. In fact many of my colleagues have gotten jobs that have lasted for years before finishing their dissertations. It often takes years of continued research and writing to complete a dissertation, that is why the university allows 5 years to complete it after defending the proposal.

I have finished all of my course work, passed my general exams, and was even approved to walk in graduation in 2021, as you can and should confirm yourself by checking the roster and videos from May 2021.

Again, you claim to be journalist but your background, profession, and the information I have gathered on you and your connections indicates that you are possibly using illegal methods to target me beyond what is allowed by a journalist of any experience level, much less one that only started their publication 18 days ago.

Regards,

Mark Ousley

To understand issues raised by Ousley about OU, you can turn to one of two of his writings that he wrote under the approval of Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA). Here, he talks about the challenges he faced at OU. Notice the date of this article, which is a just a few months before his last day to attend OU.

If you are unfamiliar with OCPA, you can peruse their website with the link provided. You can look at their J. Rufus Fears Fellowship program, which Ousley proudly professes that he attended and became a fellow, even getting paid for his time. At the time of this publication, I have not heard back from Rick Farmer, who is the dean of the fellowship. I did leave him a voice message on his cell phone. Hopefully, I will have an update on that later.

When I first reached out to Ousley, I didn’t mention anything about what I was investigating. I simply asked him if I could interview him about his work fighting CRT. Him being cagey is an understatement. Through the conversation I initiated through Twitter, he first said everything was off the record, which I told him I didn’t agree to and that wasn’t quite how that worked, but I said I had no intention to use our conversation setting up the interview, until he made vague threats toward me.

So exactly where am I going? What is my angle? Ousley is a conduit between unelected people hoping to influence state policy and law. Elected officials are hitching their wagons to UnWokable because he is saying what they want to hear, while ignoring the other things he is saying or represents. In short, he is the story because he chose to make himself the story.

Some people may read this article and say, Edrick, you are writing in the first person, aren’t you making yourself the story? No, I am not. I am using New Journalism techniques. There is no inverted pyramid or lede to consider, per se, but a stylized writing that shows you how the sausage is made, while also reporting on the sausage.

Ousley labels himself a journalist, also, which is odd when he calls people “groomers.” Look at his Facebook and Twitter feeds, and you will find this practice in abundance. If not him, you’ll see where his followers felt encourage to do it themselves. This is neither a practice that builds bridges or relationships, nor one that seems journalistic. It’s a scorched earth policy that threatens any bipartisan cooperation, along with statements without basis, and our elected officials is not even considering this. Here is one example:

Why would one make a statement about altering government records? This seems bizarre. It only gets weirder.

In part two of my reporting, I will show details of past news articles that concern Ousley and his time as a teacher, where he resigned amid a scandal involving sex tapes and black mail as reported by local, national, and international agencies.

Semper Fidelis