UnWokable Part 2: Exposing Light to What's Hidden in the Dark
When one's character and past is relevant
As mentioned in UnWokable Part 1, Ousley, through different periods of time, goes by different variants of his name: John Ousley, J. Mark Ousley, and Mark Ousley is the most recent. Settling on what is comfortable or due to branding, this action itself does not seem odd, but when someone is making waves in political discussions, giving advice and meeting with elected officials, it makes for a difficult time to understand who that person is in terms of reliability of information. It’s difficult to trace their history that backs up the story they are telling to active audiences.
Also, as previously stated, Ousley moved from vocal citizen to active player in the political realm. As J. Mark Ousley, he attended the J. Rufus Fears Fellowship training, operated under the umbrella of Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA). Their mission statement sums up their intent: To promote the flourishing of the people of Oklahoma by advancing principles and policies that support free enterprise, limited government, individual initiative, and personal responsibility. Make no mistake, they are in the Oklahoma policy game, even going as far as rating politicians, which is a common practice with political non-profits. Why is this piece of information important? It creates a symbiotic relationship between elected and non-elected policy influencers. With the Fears Fellowship, you see a spring board that helped put Ousley into the rooms of eager listeners. It also provided him the opportunity to write articles for OCPA, an environment that immediately gives him legitimacy in Oklahoma politics.
At one of the Fellowship’s cohorts, Ousley got training and introductions to Oklahoma’s political and business leaders. And as the page mentions, he learned “how to translate ideas into action.” A self-professed competitive process, Ousley likely competed against people that are ambitious and leaders in both the academic and business worlds.
I requested an application, just to see what required information OCPA needed to separate the wheat from the chaff. Outside of routine information such as name, birthdate, and address, there are only three questions of note: statement of interest, letters of recommendation (two needed), and resume. As for how Ousley answered, that information will never come to light, unless OCPA cares to share it for this reporting. And if there is another layer of questions to complete the process, hopefully OCPA shares those as well.
If someone, at this juncture, wants to know more about J. Mark Ousley, a simple Google search will net information that points to OCPA, the UnWokable persona through various social media sites, and maybe a blurb or two of his time at OU. In fact, it isn’t overly apparent that his first name is John. Even looking for John Ousley, the search results are thin. Given his stated grievances with OU through his OCPA writing, these results make sense. Joe Nobody becomes Joe Somebody; it happens every day.
Discernment. Remember that word?
This is 2022, and no one exists without a digital footprint of some kind, even if it is one as benign as a personal Facebook page, where a person comments about a friend’s birthday or likes someone’s silly pet pictures. J. Mark Ousley as UnWokable simply began a few years ago. Pounding the digital shoe leather, a Facebook profile for John Ousley came to light. A quick peruse through this profile, and it is clear that this is UnWokable’s personal profile, though it appears defunct in 2018. A snapshot of the profile is provided, given the possibility of the profile being deleted after this reporting.
Being that the profile states that Ousley lives in Houston, a quick Google search of his name plus the city, and a different John Ousley emerges from the search.
In 2016, Ousley found himself mired in a scandal. There is no reason to rehash the coverage of the incident here, so provided links (no discernable order or exhaustive in nature) are below:
From reading these sources, paying attention to the pictures, this version of Ousley is easily identified as UnWokable, the outspoken critical race theory critic known in Oklahoma. But journalistic principles demand further verification, not solely relying on these articles.
Looking into the marriage and divorce from Hippensteel first, Facebook provided another link of verification. When finding her profile, a quick search of Ousley’s name results with a few pictures and one mention. The picture below is provided for posterity of the reporting.
Looking at the Texas vital records, which is open to the public, one can use the information in the articles to look at the records to find Ousley’s divorce indexed in 2016.
This piece of information provides an additional detail: a middle initial, which is M, an indicator that shows the evolution of the name he is known by today. Remember, going by J. Mark or simply Mark is not mentioned or seen in 2018 or before in records that this investigation turned up.
Another aspect reported in the sources is the mentioning of revenge porn, which points directly at quite a few Facebook posts by Ousley.
The sources also mention that Ousley resigned from Houston Christian High School. Reaching out to the school via phone call, the only information provided by the school was that Ousley was a former teacher. When asked to provide employment dates, the school’s HR department stated they could not provide that information.
Looking into public records once again, if one goes to the Texas Education Agency’s website, you can do a certificate lookup. Typing in his name, you will find an expired official record of certification.
Stating the obvious, Ousley did not break any laws. Police investigated others for crimes, so why is this reporting necessary: character. Something Ousley even speaks about:
As shown in Part 1, Ousley makes claims that this reporting is “possibly using illegal methods.” Therefore, this report links the sites this information came from. There is nothing illegal about it. It is all open to those who know where to look, along with those who take the time to look, that last part being a key factor in any investigation.
Ousley claims that his school enrollment information is private. Is it? When you look on OU’s website under their Division of Enrollment Management, the Release of Student Information section, specifically part 3, it details that directory information, without a hold, is accessible by any member of the public.
And this goes back to his character. Instead of understanding how a journalist can come by this information legally and quite easily, accusations of illegality are thrown about in emails. He questions ethics just because someone asked him for an interview.
In part three of this investigation, character content, and its revealed importance, makes its way onto center stage.
John Mark Ousley is trash. Glad I found this article.