TULSA, OK – This summer, Osborne Celestain will be the only Tulsa rider joining the 1,645-mile Black Wall Street to Wall Street Ride for Equity — a weeks-long journey from the heart of historic Greenwood to the skyscrapers of New York’s financial district.

Organized by Black Leaders Detroit, the ride aims to amplify national conversations about racial wealth gaps, Black entrepreneurship and community resilience.

“This isn’t just about getting to New York,” Celestain said. “This is a ride of remembrance, a ride to memorialize what was lost in Greenwood and to demand justice for what’s still owed.”

A ride rooted in history and resistance

The Ride for Equity isn’t new, but this year’s cross-country scale is groundbreaking. Black Leaders Detroit, the nonprofit behind the event, has led statewide rides across Michigan since 2019, raising over $4 million to support Black-owned startups.

This summer, they’re taking that mission nationwide, connecting Tulsa’s Black Wall Street to New York’s Wall Street to tell a bigger story about resilience, investment and racial equity.

For Celestain, this journey directly connects to the work he’s been doing at home. Last year, he and a team of Black cyclists rode 600 miles to all 13 historic Black towns in Oklahoma, tracing the paths carved by freedmen who traveled on the Trail of Tears and Black settlers after emancipation.

“When we rode to the Black towns, it hit me how much of our history people don’t know,” Celestain told The Black Wall Street Times in an interview last year. “That ride was about rediscovery, about lifting up the stories of survival that have been buried.”

A photo of Eyakem Gulilat and his bike covered in red mud from the dirt road. | Photo by Osborne Celestain

He sees the national Ride for Equity as the next chapter.

“This ride is about taking our history to the national stage,” Celestain said. “It’s about saying, ‘Look at what Black Wall Street built, look at what was taken from us, and look at what we’re still building despite it all.’”

Tulsa’s lone representative

While seven riders are making the full journey, including five from Detroit, one from London and Celestain from Tulsa, the weight on Celestain’s shoulders is unique.

“I had to ask myself, how can this happen in my own hometown and I not be part of it?” he said. “I couldn’t let that happen. I knew I had to ride.”

Celestain understands why more locals aren’t joining the full route. “Most people can’t afford to take seven weeks off to ride across the country,” he said. “You’ve either got to be retired, financially secure or planning this out a year or two ahead. It’s a big commitment.”

Still, that makes his presence even more meaningful.

“I’m carrying the banner for Tulsa,” Celestain said. “I’m carrying the stories of Greenwood, the legacy of Black Wall Street and the future we’re still fighting for.”

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More than miles

The ride won’t be easy, but Celestain is worried about unpredictable weather. The cyclists will average 60 to 70 miles a day over 31 riding days, with only four rest days across the entire seven weeks. But Celestain’s focus isn’t on the miles.

“This isn’t a race,” he said. “The story is so much more important than how fast we get there. It’s about the journey and the stops along the way.”

He wants the ride to spark national conversations about the gaps between Black and white communities, gaps that show up in Tulsa’s own data.

“North Tulsa has an eight-year shorter life expectancy than South Tulsa,” Celestain said. “That’s about access to good food, to healthcare, to opportunity. That’s what I’m riding for.”

Lighting the path

Celestain says the ride is also a declaration of resistance.

“When you stop doing what you believe in because of fear or politics, you’ve already lost,” he told The Black Wall Street Times. “We have a light inside us, and every time we strike a match or turn on that light, darkness has to retreat.”

For Celestain, this ride is a statement: Black voices, Black histories and Black futures won’t be erased.

“We’re not stopping,” he said. “We’re riding, we’re remembering and we’re demanding justice every mile, all the way to Wall Street.”

The ride kicks off May 31 in Tulsa during the 2025 Legacy Fest, with a July 4 arrival in New York. For Celestain, the destination matters — but the journey, and the conversations it sparks, matter more.

“Every time you strike a match, darkness has to retreat,” he said. “We’re not stopping.”