The Justice Department published a new report on Friday correcting the official record on the race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that occurred in 1921.
The report repudiates the findings of the original investigation, indicating that the attack was a “small” and “half-hearted” effort to lynch a Black man who was accused of assaulting a White woman in an elevator.
The initial investigator claimed the attack was not motivated by “racial feeling” and put the lion’s share of the blame on Black Americans living in the Greenwood community of the city, which was also known as “Black Wall Street.”
The report details the “systematic” destruction of the community that occurred between May 31 and June 1, 1921. The massacre involved a collaboration between White mobs and local governing authorities to carry out mass killings, arson, and looting.
“The attack, which lasted into the afternoon of June 1, was so systematic and coordinated that it transcended mere mob violence,” the report reads.
Law enforcement officials “deputized hundreds of white residents, many of whom had been advocating for a lynching and had been drinking” within 30 minutes, the report noted.
The destruction of the district was total. The survivors were left with nothing. After the devastation, city officials promised to help Greenwood rebuild, but the white-led government of Tulsa not only failed to do so but put up obstacles to residential reconstruction.
Local police actively participated in the attack by not only lending an air of legitimacy to the mobs, but also by disarming Black residents, putting many in makeshift camps, and facilitating the invasion of Greenwood, according to the report. Those who were deputized were instructed to “go out and get a [Black person].
A Black individual who survived the massacre “recounted that a police captain was directly involved in distributing firearms from local hardware stores to white mobs.” Police are reported to have “ignored white arsonists, looters, or murderers, at least during the height of the massacre, while quickly arresting or detaining Black residents.”
The Black residents fiercely fought back against the mob, setting up defensive positions around Greenwood in an effort to prevent the White assailants from entering the community. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, they took up arms to defend their homes while protecting women, children, and the elderly by hiding them in attics, basements, and other spaces.
In the end, more than 1,000 homes, businesses, and churches were destroyed in the battle. The mob “set fire to practically every building in [Greenwood], including a dozen churches, five hotels, 31 restaurants, four drug stores, and the Black public library,” researchers noted.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of what took place during the massacre, those responsible were never held accountable. The racist attitudes of the day hampered the residents’ ability to seek legal recourse against members of the mob and the local government that helped them.
The Greenwood community suffered immensely from the carnage. Before, it was a thriving community with Black businesses flourishing. This is how the “Black Wall Street” moniker came about.
The city of Tulsa has been working to locate and identify the remains of the victims of the massacre. It has conducted a series of excavations in the area and have uncovered unmarked graves and remains.
Now, over a century later, the Justice Department has finally set the record straight. What happened in Greenwood is a reminder of our nation’s past struggles with racism. But it is also an indicator of how far we have come as a nation.
Racial tensions are certainly strained, mostly due to the media, politicians, and other institutions using it as a political tool to gin up division between Americans. President Joe Biden and others in 2021 used the atrocity to smear Republicans.
Yet, these folks have not managed to ramp up racial animus to the point that another such massacre could happen.
Still, the situation will become even worse as long as America keeps falling for the psyop. Many in power seek to weaponize race to pit Americans against one another, using this division to further their agenda. Unfortunately, it appears they are still succeeding.
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