Mark Faulk » Directory of award recipients

Biographical Info

Nominated by Victor Gorin.

I have known Mark Faulk since 2014, when he ran as a Democratic candidate for State House District 88. While not successful in the election, he ran a good campaign. He ran on a platform which, among many good things, supported virtually every facet of human rights. I am nominating Mark Faulk because I feel that he has done an outstanding job of promoting Human Rights in Oklahoma and he deserves the honor and recognition. He was born in 1956 in Ft. Gordon, Georgia into a military family. His dad, a college instructor, founded the NAACP in Edmond, working with Clara Luper. After an interlude running a tile business and raising a family, he got into activism. He wrote the book, The Naked Truth about Wall Street economic exploitation and fraud in 2008 and later did a documentary about the subject.

For the past 15 years, he has engaged in tireless activism working for Human Rights and the environment. Among his involvement, was leadership in Occupy OKC movement, which was part of a movement to address poverty and income inequality. He was among those arrested at a Del City Wal-Mart in 2011in support of a living wage for workers. He was instrumentally in a successful rally in 2013 to prevent oil exploration near Lake Hefner. And involved again in another successful rally to save the Donney Building, a historic structure on Classen. Along with co-producer Brittney Guest, he is currently in the process of completing Voices in a Jailhouse, a documentary film which depicts the aspects and racial inequalities of mass incarceration, scheduled for release this year. In the making of the movie, he played a major part in the release of Larry Yarbrough, who was released from prison this year. Mr. Yarbrough made history as the ONLY Oklahoman sentenced to Life Without Parole to be released from our prison system.

He is also a major plaintiff in an ACLU law suit against the OKC anti-panhandling ordinance, which violates the rights of those in poverty, as well as first amendment rights of free speech; which is scheduled for trial in October of 2018. Mr. Faulk is currently the Chair of the OK County Democratic Party and has proven to be an outstanding leader, focusing the party on progressive causes and an activist approach to politics. As Chair, he helped recruit Democratic candidates for every legislative race in OK County for 2018, including a record number of women candidates and candidates of color. He has an internet radio show, “Red State Revolt” that airs on Toginet Radio (toginet.com) every Thursday at 5 p.m., which is a forum for progressive ideas.

Mark has lived his life dedicated to promoting fairness to everyone. Reviewing his history, talking to anyone who knows him, and you will agree this is totally deserved.