Attorneys for the two remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre said Thursday they will petition the Oklahoma Supreme Court for a rehearing in the case seeking reparations for one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history.
The Tulsa Race Massacre was an eighteen-hour ordeal occurring from May 31 through June 1, 1921. The mostly Black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma was attacked by a white mob, destroying homes and businesses. Between 150 and 300 people lost their lives in one of the most heinous acts of racial violence in United States history.
Over the past month, racial equity has been a key part of our national dialogue as we observed the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death, the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre and Juneteenth, the oldest nationally recognized commemoration marking the end of slavery in the United States.
The Tulsa Race Massacre is a prime example of inflaming issues and ignoring history. They both significantly lead to the inability and failure to learn the real lessons that true history can teach us. It was the inflammatory reporting of the chance encounter of a young Black man, Dick Rowland; and a young white elevator operator, Sarah Page, that ignited one of the deadliest episodes of racial violence in our nation’s history.