The black wall street times: “Oklahoma Senate Candidate N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas Addresses Her Racial Identity”

Her statement echoes Obama’s 2008 call for clarity as she defines herself before opponents attempt to distort her identity.

by Nehemiah Frank December 11, 2025

OKLAHOMA CITY — N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Oklahoma, issued a rare and forthright three-page statement this week. She addressed speculation, coded comments, and whisper campaigns surrounding her racial identity. In a race marked by historic stakes, Thomas signals that transparency and representation sit at the core of her campaign.

“I am Black, White, and Native American,” she wrote. “I say it out loud so no one feels the need to speculate, whisper, or guess incorrectly. That truth is not divisive, it is representational.”

Her candid letter, dated December 8, 2025, serves as both a personal declaration and a political indictment. She calls out Oklahoma’s long exclusion of Black, Native, and multiracial communities from federal representation. Since statehood in 1907, every U.S. Senator from Oklahoma has been white. That reality persists despite the state’s sizable Native population, its growing Black communities, and an increasingly multiracial electorate.

Thomas notes that about 10% of Oklahoma residents are Native American and 7–8% are Black. She also highlights that more residents identify as multiracial each year. Yet, she writes, “Little Black girls in Oklahoma have never seen a U.S. Senator who looks like them. Little Native girls have never seen a U.S. Senator who looks like them.”

“That’s not unity,” she adds. “That’s erasure.”

Her move echoes Barack Obama’s approach during the 2008 presidential campaign. Obama delivered his landmark “A More Perfect Union” address after rising racial attacks and rumors. Thomas now uses a similar strategy to define herself before opponents attempt to distort her identity. She grounds her message in clarity, history, and purpose.

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