#1921 tulsa

[blackbrownfamily]

The Black Family

[mermazeablaze]

I thought some of my Tumblr mutuals would be interested to see this article.

Viola Ford Fletcher, aged 109, just published a memoir 'Don't Let Them Bury My Story' about her experience during the Greenwood/Tulsa Massacre. It will be available for purchase August 15th.

"Her memoir, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story,” is a call to action for readers to pursue truth, justice and reconciliation no matter how long it takes. Written with graphic details of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that she witnessed at age seven, Fletcher said she hoped to preserve a narrative of events that was nearly lost to a lack of acknowledgement from mainstream historians and political leaders.

The questions I had then remain to this day,” Fletcher writes in the book. “How could you just give a mob of violent, crazed, racist people a bunch of deadly weapons and allow them — no, encourage them — to go out and kill innocent Black folks and demolish a whole community?”

“As it turns out, we were victims of a lie,” she writes.

Fletcher notes in her memoir just how much history she has lived through — from several virus outbreaks preceding the coronavirus pandemic, to the Great Depression of 1929 and the Great Recession of 2008 to every war and international conflict of the last seven decades. She has watched the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. lead the national Civil Rights Movement, seen the historic election of former President Barack Obama and witnessed the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement."

[whenweallvote]

After the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision today, the last two survivors will likely not receive justice for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre where a mob killed hundreds, demolished nearly 200 businesses, and displaced roughly 10,000 Black people from their homes — destroying the once thriving Greenwood District.

For years, Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Ford Fletcher have sought justice for all that they lost 103 years ago. The Oklahoma judicial system has once again failed to deliver it for them and the entire Greenwood District community, but the fight for justice continues.

[reasoningdaily]

GREENWOOD, Dist. – On the 102nd anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Tulsa Community Remembrance Coalition honors unknown victims with a solemn soil collection ceremony at Standpipe Hill in the Historic Greenwood District. The gathered soil, collected from both Standpipe Hill and Oaklawn Cemetery, honors those whose lives were tragically lost during this dark and painful moment in history.

The exact number of victims who perished in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 remains unknown. However, estimations range from 300 to upwards of 500. The event, which took place over a two-day period from May 31 to June 1, resulted in widespread destruction and loss of life in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as “Black Wall Street.” However, due to the chaotic nature of the massacre, the destruction of records, and a lack of comprehensive investigations, an accurate and final count of the victims has never been determined.

Recent efforts to uncover the full extent of the tragedy continue, including through forensic investigations and testimonies from survivors and their descendants.

Greg Robinson, a member of the Tulsa Community Remembrance Coalition, emphasized the significance of gathering at Standpipe Hill. “It is amazing that we honor those unknown who were lost in the Tulsa Race Massacre. That we do it here on truly sacred ground – that actually represents the greatness of what Black Wall Street was, is and will be into the future,” Robinson shared. He then honored the American World War I veterans who lost their lives. “It is not lost on us that we honor veterans on this day as well,” Robinson added. 

During the ceremony, Kristi Williams, a member of the Tulsa Remembrance Coalition and a descendant of the massacre, delivered a poignant reading. Through her words, she reminded everyone in attendance of the historical significance of the Tulsa Race Massacre and shed light on the countless victims whose identities have been lost to time, emphasizing the need to remember and honor them.

“Less than two dozen victims have been documented by name, but research has estimated that hundreds of Black men, women and children died in the massacre,” Williams sternly explained. 

During Williams’ address, she shared an intriguing detail about the majestic hackberry tree standing tall on Standpipe Hill. She then revealed that this remarkable tree possesses a special ability to grow thick bark over the areas that were once damaged by fire, creating a protective shield against future harm, explaining that its resilient characteristic serves as a metaphor for the community’s ability to heal and endure in the face of adversity.

Williams proceeded to recount the heroic tale of Horace ‘Peg leg’ Taylor, a World War I veteran. She described how Taylor courageously positioned himself atop Standpipe Hill, wielding a gatling gun, and valiantly defended the hill for hours, providing a vital shield for the residents of Greenwood as they sought to escape from the violent White mob.

US Veteran Kenneth ‘K.Roc’ Brant, who works for the Terence Crutcher Foundation, shared a deeply personal reflection on the mental struggle he faced during the Centennial of the Massacre back in 2021. 

He recounted the challenge of honoring both the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre and the veterans during the centennial commemoration, which coincided with Memorial Day weekend. 

“That weekend weighed heavily on me. [I was] torn as a Black military veteran and a Black man living in Tulsa,” Brant shared. At the ceremony, Brant recited a poem he wrote called “Holding Space” to express the thoughts and feelings he experienced. “This weekend, we remembered that some gave all. Here in Tulsa, we remembered that some took all. How do I hold space for both?” Brant said.

Brant’s individual story sheds light on the emotional and psychological battle he endured during his time in service and while navigating the complexities of what Black soldiers experienced during the Massacre upon their return to Tulsa after WWI.

[kaerinio]

songs i associate with my muse

i. made of gold - ibeyi ii. this unrest - siouxsie and the banshees iii. w.o.t.h - tamino iv. crown - kendrick lamar v. tulsa, 1921: catch the fire - laura karpman & raphael saadiq (ft. janai brugger) vi. human - sevdaliza vii. cavalry - mashrou' leila viii. pearls - sade ix. numb - ibeyi x. drink before the war - sinéad o'connor bonus because it's more hype than most of the songs i included but !! the darkness that you fear - the chemical brothers !! 🥹

tagged by: my precious @heinevitable 💖😘 tagging: @lifebloomd ; @draconikia ; @nightstriumph ; @ircnwrought ; you!

[whitesinhistory]

White Mob in Tulsa Destroys Black Community; Kills Hundreds

On June 1, 1921, the Black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was left in ruins following several days of violent attacks by white mobs outraged that Black residents had organized to protect a Black man from lynching.

Tulsa's Greenwood District, known as "Negro Wall Street," was considered one of the wealthiest Black communities in the nation in 1921. Many residents worked and did business in central Tulsa, coming into contact with white men and women—some of whom resented their prosperity.

On May 30, while working in a building in downtown Tulsa, 19-year-old Dick Rowland boarded an elevator operated by Sarah Page, a 17-year-old white girl. When a store clerk heard a scream, he ran to the elevator to find Ms. Page. The clerk assumed that the young Black man in the elevator had tried to attack Ms. Page and quickly called police to arrest Dick Rowland.

Ms. Page told police that Mr. Rowland had startled her by touching her arm but insisted she did not want to press charges. Rumors soon spread, however, and turned into a sensationalized allegation that Dick Rowland had attempted rape. Police arrested Mr. Rowland at his Greenwood home and jailed him at the courthouse. The next night, a mob of white men gathered at the jail seeking to lynch him, but 30 armed Black men from Greenwood were there to ensure that the sheriff and deputies were able to protect Dick Rowland from that fate.

Enraged, members of the mob returned with firearms, and several white people were killed or wounded in the ensuing gunfight. When the Black men returned to Greenwood, white rioters followed and attacked the community, burning 40 city blocks, killing hundreds of Black residents, and displacing many more.

"In all of my experience I have never witnessed such scenes as prevailed in this city when I arrived at the height of the rioting," a military official recalled days later in a New York Times news article. "Twenty-five thousand whites, armed to the teeth, were raging the city in utter and ruthless defiance of every concept of law and righteousness. Motor cars, bristling with guns swept through your city, their occupants firing at will." Some researchers estimate that as many as 300 Black people were killed in the violence.

None of the white rioters were convicted of any crime for their violent attack, and survivors of the violence received no compensation for lost property. In 2001, 80 years after the massacre, Oklahoma approved funds to redevelop the area and build a memorial.

Today, the Greenwood Cultural Center stands in the same community where the massacre took place, committed to preserving and sharing the proud and tragic history of "Black Wall Street."

[aiiaiiiyo]

[serious2020]

Viola Ford Fletcher, 108 years old & the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa ‘Black Wall Street’ massacre writes in her memoir, ‘Don’t let them bury my story.’

www.instagram.com/p/CpvQioIrkNk/

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

-fae

[radicalgraff]

"Mass Graves This Way"

Mural in Tulsa, Oklahoma, near a confirmed location of mass graves from the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921

[blackbrownfamily]

October 15 1966

Black Panther Party Of Self Defense

Oakland, California

[asexual-juliet]

japanese american paul holden lore that beamed itself into in my brain as soon as ryo made his debut

his mom: Kimi Takahashi, born in 1921, grew up on a farm in Fresno. 

his dad: Frank Horikawa, born in 1919, grew up in LA and graduated college around six months before america entered world war ii

both Kimi and Frank are the children of Japanese immigrants (part of the Nisei generation)

Frank grows up as this all-American city boy and doesn’t speak much Japanese while Kimi is a little more connected to her roots. 

they meet in 1942 after Executive Order 9066 is issued and they are forcibly relocated to the Japanese American incarceration camp in Rohwer, Arkansas

they get married in camp in early 1945 (a few months before the camps start to close down)

Frank americanizes their last name to “Holden” shortly after leaving Rohwer and Kimi starts going by “Kim” at his request

Paul is born in 1947 shortly after his parents resettle in Tulsa

Kim wanted to give paul a japanese first name (i am leaning toward Isamu) but his dad refused

Frank is very much trying to distance himself and his family from their heritage in an attempt to fit in and provide his wife and child the best life he can

Kimi was closer to her heritage growing up and has a more positive relationship with her ethnicity but reluctantly follows her husband’s example because it’s the 40s/50s/60s and she is playing the role of the devoted housewife

(this is a story about generational trauma!!)

but like. Paul is very much the all-american boy. he is a star football player and he gets good grades and his dad’s a self-made businessman and his mom’s the perfect housewife and yet he feels so different from his peers in a way he’s never quite felt able to acknowledge

in 1960 there were 749 Japanese families in the entire state of oklahoma and “the number of Asian residents [in oklahoma] did not increase dramatically until the 1970s,” so Paul is this all-american boy who grows up very isolated from people who look like him, and growing up, the very few other asian people who he is aware of (notably Two-bit’s family) are on the other side of the class divide

but like, he is very much a Soc and is definitely accepted in that group of almost entirely white kids (myth of the model minority and everything) but there is still this otherness about him that makes him feel very isolated

and i think he does find himself kind of jealous of someone like Two-bit who doesn’t seem to be trying to blend in and who is fine with existing as he is. but Paul’s dad is very much using assimilation into american society to deal with the trauma of the wwii era and paul is raised on that principle

i don’t really want to play into the stereotype of the strict Asian parent, but i do think that Paul’s dad sets these very high expectations for him as a defense mechanism/an attempt to force his family into the status of the “model minority.” As a successful and wealthy Japanese American businessman in 1960s Oklahoma, he has to be twice as perfect to be taken as seriously as a white man, and he wants his son to be successful, too, so he drills that message into Paul’s head from a pretty early age.

and i think that probably fucks Paul up a little. for years he doesn’t really get why his dad’s expectations are so high and he feels like he’s never going to be good enough and he is a teenage boy in the 60s so he doesn’t know how to like. express an emotion and his feelings of inadequacy come out as resentment and anger that is often directed towards his dad

Paul grows up not knowing about the incarceration and how/where his parents met but his mom very casually mentions something about it when he’s around 15-16 and he’s like ??? and so she explains some stuff to him and he is understandably shocked and above all pretty pissed at his dad for keeping this huge thing from him for so long

so that night he and Darry get drunk together and he starts off just being like “FUCK my dad fr” but then he kind of like actually talks about his relationship with his race and his heritage for the first time

(i wrote a fic about this you can read it here!)

his dynamic with Darry is like. they are both jealous of each other in this very abstract way because neither one of them feels like they belong anywhere but there is also something extremely homoerotic about it. they kind of allow themselves to be more soft and open with each other and it’s clear they have a bond that none of the other Soc boys share

I think after Paul finds out about his parents’ past (and after he sleeps off the ensuing hangover) he goes snooping and finds a box of old photos and stuff from their time in Arkansas and there’s this photograph from their wedding and they are clearly in this like kind of rundown recreation center/high school gym-type space and their clothes are nothing fancy but they look more in love than he’s ever seen them and it’s this really surreal experience that makes him feel a little sick so he puts the box back and pretends he never saw it

when he and Darry stop being friends he loses the only person he’s ever been able to talk to about the things that matter and he becomes pretty closed off emotionally and doesn’t really allow himself to feel anything real and tries twice as hard to assimilate 

Joining the other Soc boys in jumping greasers and wreaking general havoc is kind of a coping mechanism for the debilitating anger that he is constantly feeling but it’s also an unsuccessful attempt to fit in with these all-American boys

He tries so so hard to fit in and never really feels like he belongs, especially after he and Darry stop being friends

idk there is just something so purposeful about the choice to have a Japanese American actor portray this character and i think there’s so fucking much to explore within that choice <3

[whenweallvote]

Happy 110th birthday to Viola Fletcher, one of the last known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The Tulsa Race Massacre was a racially motivated attack on a thriving Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma known as “Black Wall Street.” The attackers killed hundreds of people, left thousands without homes, and burned the entire community to the ground.

More than 100 years later, not a single white person was imprisoned or held accountable for their part in the massacre, and no Black survivor or descendant has ever received any form of compensation or reparations for what was lost, taken, or destroyed. 

Today we honor Black history, Black resilience, and Mother Fletcher's 110 years of life.

[reasoningdaily]

Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, Race Reparations, and Reconciliation

click the title link to DOWNLOAD FREE From The BLACK TRUEBRARY

Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, Race Reparations, and Reconciliation

click the title link to DOWNLOAD FREE From The BLACK TRUEBRARY

The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot was the country's bloodiest civil disturbance of the century. Leaving perhaps 150 dead, 30 city blocks burned to the ground, and more than a thousand families homeless, the riot represented an unprecedented breakdown of the rule of law. It reduced the prosperous black community of Greenwood, Oklahoma, to rubble.

In Reconstructing the Dreamland, Alfred Brophy draws on his own extensive research into contemporary accounts and court documents to chronicle this devastating riot, showing how and why the rule of law quickly eroded. Brophy offers a gut-wrenching portrait of mob violence and racism run amok, both on the night of the riot and the morning after, when a coordinated sunrise attack, accompanied by airplanes, stormed through Greenwood, torching and looting the community.

Equally important, he shows how the city government and police not only permitted the looting, shootings, and burning of Greenwood, but actively participated in it. The police department, fearing that Greenwood was erupting into a "negro uprising" (which Brophy shows was not the case), deputized white citizens haphazardly, gave out guns and badges with little background check, or sent men to hardware stores to arm themselves. Likewise, the Tulsa-based units of the National Guard acted unconstitutionally, arresting every black resident they could find, leaving Greenwood property vulnerable to the white mob, special deputies, and police that followed behind and burned it.

Brophy's revelations and stark narrative of the events of 1921 bring to life an incidence of racial violence that until recently lay mostly forgotten. Reconstructing the Dreamland concludes with a discussion of reparations for victims of the riot. That case has implications for other reparations movements, including reparations for slavery.

click the title link to DOWNLOAD FREE From The BLACK TRUEBRARY

[black2infinity]

Viola Ford Fletcher turns 110 years old. She’s one of two remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Her case for reparations from what happened is now in the hands of the Oklahoma Supreme Court after Tulsa tried to dismiss the case 4 times.