TULSA RACE MASSACRE WAS 'MILITARY-STYLE ATTACK' - U.S. JUSTICE DEPT.

Today, we honour the memory of those who lost their lives as a mob of white people murdered hundreds of Black residents 104 years ago in the US city of Tulsa in the state of Oklahoma.

In early January 2025, the US Department of Justice released a report on what is often referred to as the ‘Tulsa Race Massacre,’ calling it a ‘coordinated, military-style attack' that involved law enforcement's support.

Kristen Clarke, who served as the US assistant attorney general for civil rights (2021-25), shared the findings of an investigation into a mob of 10,000 white people k*lling as many as 300 Black people and destroying properties along 35 city blocks in the Greenwood neighbourhood of Tulsa from 31 May to 1 June in 1921. While false allegations of a Black teenager assaulting a white woman in an elevator sparked the massacre, many have alternatively argued the prosperous Black community drew the envy of white neighbours in a society built on racial capitalism.

The US Justice Department said none of the assailants were alive.

The repercussions of this tragedy continue to resonate through generations. In June 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the last two known survivors, Lessie Benningfield Randle, 110, and Viola Ford Fletcher, 111, who seek reparations.

A paper in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology estimated that the loss of homes, businesses, churches, public buildings, personal belongings, and cash amounted to $1.8 million in 1921 dollars, or over $200 million in 2018 dollars. 

No one has ever been held accountable or prosecuted for these heinous acts, and no Black survivors received compensation for their immense losses.

Will there ever be justice for the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre?

Video credit: @TheJusticeDept (X)