The Tulsa Race Massacre: The Department of Justice Review and Evaluation by
U.S. Department of Justice
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I wanted to get a hard copy of this to have on hand with all the data/information purges going on under the Trump administration. The re-write of history and deletion of anything related to DEI. If it makes someone (white) uncomfortable, it must be bad and should not exist anymore.
I didn't learn about the Tulsa Race Massacre in school. I had read about it as an adult; where I first read about it, I no longer remember. This is the full official Department of Justice investigation of what happened. The DOJ looked at reports from the Bureau of Investigation (later known as the FBI), multiple members of law enforcement, first hand accounts & accounts of descendants, you name it, they studied it and included the source material.
The sad thing is, the statute of limitations is out and everyone is dead. If one believes in heaven/hell; the perpetrators are hopefully burning in hell.
For those that don't know; a (brief) summary:
The Tulsa Race Massacre took place May 31, 1921 to June 1, 1921 in Tulsa, OK. It started with the arrest of a Black man, Dick Rowland, 19 for allegedly assaulting a white woman (Sarah Page). The report points out that "Page bore no scratches, bruises, or disarranged dress and that she stated the boy made no bad remark of any kind." What really happened will never be known (they could have been in a relationship, he could have accidentally stepped on her foot, etc) Page also declined to press charges; but Rowland was arrested anyway. After a newspaper article was published with the lie that Page had been assaulted and had visible evidence of a violent attack. The article was sensationalist and was published to get people angry. A (white) crowd soon gathered demanding he be lynched. As the crowd grew, someone fired a shot and that was the trigger.
A white mob descended on an area of Tulsa known as Greenwood (also known as "Black Wall Street"). The attack was coordinated and destroyed Greenwood. People were murdered. Homes were looted and then burned. Nothing was spared; homes, business, places or worship; it was all targeted and burned. Ordinary white men were deputized to help deal with the "uprising" with the intent ((many? most? all?) of doing harm.
Martial law was declared on June 1st and Black residents were forced into internment camps. Residents were treated like criminals and lost everything. No one was ever charged (with murder, arson, theft, etc). No justice was ever handed down. No compensation was granted for the loss of homes and businesses. The city had promised some help to rebuild, but that never occurred and new fire codes priced people out of the area.
Bottom line: this was a coordinated attack by the white community of Tulsa against their Black neighbors. Yet another example of racism and the lasting generational trauma that racism causes.
For some people this is so difficult; treat people how you would want to be treated. Our history is our history. The good, the bad, the terrible. We need to own it. Teach it so we can learn from it. We can be better and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
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