海角大神

Samantha Laine Perfas:听Hi everyone. I鈥檓 Samantha Laine Perfas, multimedia reporter at 海角大神. And this is the third part of 鈥淭ulsa Rising,鈥� the story of a city wrestling with its past and 鈥� maybe 鈥� forging a better future. If you鈥檝e heard the rest of the series, you鈥檒l know that my colleague Jessica Mendoza and I first published this in the fall of 2020, leading up to the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. After this episode, you鈥檒l hear an update from Jerica Wortham, the program director of the Greenwood Art Project. She鈥檒l talk about the role of art in the process of reconciliation.

When we first reported this story, we wanted to know what Tulsans were thinking as they looked to the future. The massacre鈥檚 centennial is spurring a new generation to own the story of Black Wall Street. So in this episode 鈥� again hosted by Jess 鈥� we find out what we, as a country, can learn from these efforts.

This is Part 3 of 鈥淭ulsa Rising鈥�: Everything Is Us.

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This story contains descriptions of violence, including gun violence and trauma inflicted on Black Americans. Please be advised.

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Jessica Mendoza/海角大神/File

Jerica Wortham at Fulton Street Books and Coffee, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Oct. 1, 2020. Ms. Wortham, a spoken-word artist and art curator, says the spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and well in Tulsa's Black community. But she says she also wants to see that spirit translate into physical spaces in her community. "Storefront space, having brick and mortar, having a space where you can go in and say, 'Someone that looks like me created this space, and when I go into this space, I know I'm welcomed,' that is what we are looking for more of," she says.

Jessica Mendoza:听2020 is coming to a close. This long, difficult year, including the election,听will be behind us. But no matter what else happens, no matter who wins, America will still be wrestling with race and racism. Black Lives Matter, police violence and calls for reform, white supremacy 鈥� these aren鈥檛 going anywhere.听听

So when the year turns, the nation may well look to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to see what it looks like when a city confronts a racist past. At the end of May, Tulsa will be commemorating the centennial of the 1921 race massacre 鈥撎齛 violent incident of racism that left the Black community of Greenwood in ruins.听

The city has big plans for the year. They鈥檙e building a new museum dedicated to Greenwood and the community once known as Black Wall Street. They鈥檝e launched an听听of those killed in the massacre are buried. They鈥檙e inviting Tulsans to share their stories through visual art and music, and making sure Oklahoma, and America, know the story of Greenwood.听

And everyone we talked to in Tulsa agrees these efforts are important. Few, if any, other U.S. cities have tried to come to terms with their racist histories in this way.

But for many Black Tulsans, the massacre represents not just historic pain or symbolic oppression. It reflects their lived experiences today. And they told us that owning up to a racist history 鈥� to racism 鈥� takes more than programs and projects and good intentions. It takes a willingness, on the part of their leaders and fellow residents, to have difficult conversations about what the Black community has been through and is still going through.听

And it means, for Black Tulsans, mourning what they鈥檝e lost 鈥� but also reclaiming it, and building something new.听

Today, we hear from some of them about that process: the sorrow and the anger involved, but also the determination. And the hope.听

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Jess:听That鈥檚 Jerica Wortham. She鈥檚 the poet we heard at the start of the episode.

Jess:听And that鈥檚 Steph Simon, rapper and producer. We鈥檝e been playing some of his songs throughout this series.听

Jess:听We鈥檒l be hearing from Steph and Jerica throughout this story. Both are from Tulsa originally, and like lots of folks from the city, they didn鈥檛 learn anything about the 1921 race massacre until they were young adults. The knowledge changed something in them 鈥� though in different ways.听听

Steph was 23 when he first came across a documentary on the massacre, on YouTube. The story would dominate his life for the next decade.

Samantha Laine Perfas/海角大神Musician Steph Simon stands in front of a grand staircase inside Skyline Mansion in Tulsa, Okla., on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. The mansion was built and formerly owned by Tulsa founding father and avowed white supremacist W. Tate Brady.

Jess:听When we met with him, Steph had on a custom sweatshirt with Dick Rowland鈥檚 name splashed across the front. Dick Rowland was the Black shoeshiner accused of assaulting a white woman back in 1921. His arrest was the spark that ignited the massacre.听

Jess:听Steph feels a real connection with Dick Rowland, whom he sees as a kind of an avatar of the Black experience 鈥� not just a hundred years ago, but today.听听

Jess:听鈥� the 18-year-old shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Mo.,听.

Jess:听Ahmaud Arbery 鈥�

Jess:听鈥� who was听听by white residents in his South Georgia neighborhood in February. A neighbor had called 911 to report seeing a Black man inside a house under construction in the area, which had recently seen several break-ins.听

Jess:听Steph has poured all he鈥檚 felt since learning about the massacre into his most recent solo album,听听It dropped in 2019. There鈥檚 a lot of anger and sorrow in his music. But there鈥檚 also pride 鈥� at what the Greenwood community was able to achieve in the face of unimaginable hostility. That鈥檚 something Steph wants to really tap into and raise up.听听

Jess:听Even where Steph recorded his album is part of his message. The Skyline Mansion was originally known as the Brady Mansion, after W. Tate Brady 鈥撎齛 founding father of Tulsa and听听and Ku Klux Klan member. The mansion, built in 1920,听听of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee鈥檚 home in Virginia: Massive stone columns, a grand staircase in the lobby, a fountain on the lawn.听听

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Jess:听For Steph Simon, the legacy of the race massacre and Black Wall Street is primarily spiritual. Jerica Wortham agrees. But for her, it鈥檚 physical, as well. Jerica is a spoken-word artist 鈥� that was her with another excerpt from her poem, 鈥楲ove Letter to Greenwood,鈥� the same poem we started the episode with.听

But Jerica is also an art curator, and she spends a lot of time working with small businesses across Tulsa 鈥� especially those run by people of color. She actually asked to meet us in one of them 鈥撎�听鈥� which a friend of hers recently opened.听听

Jess:听But at the same time, she says 鈥�

Jessica Mendoza/海角大神Jerica Wortham, at Fulton Street Books and Coffee in Tulsa, Okla., on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, says she wants to see the spirit of Black Wall Street translate into physical spaces in her community. 鈥淸It鈥檚] having a space where you can go in and say, 鈥楽omeone that looks like me created this space,鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淚 know I鈥檓 welcomed.鈥�

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Jess:听Those were Takara Williams, Tiller Watson, Eden Burrell, and William Green. They鈥檙e all young Tulsans, high school- and college-age, who host a weekly radio program called听. The show airs on a local community radio station run by a man named Bobby Eaton.听

Jess:听Bobby is another Tulsa native, though he spent much of his life working as a musician in Los Angeles and Houston. He came back in 2015 to help care for his mother. But he quickly found himself doing something more.听

Jess:听Bobby runs about a dozen programs through his company, Eaton Media Services, including a few he hosts himself. But The Juice Radio Show is his pride. For Bobby, the show 鈥� and the young people who host it 鈥� represent what he hopes is a positive future, for Tulsa鈥檚 Black community. So he and his executive director, Ramal Brown, do all they can to make sure The Juice is more than an afternoon hobby for the young folks involved.听

Jess:听Bobby鈥檚 work predates the centennial, and he has every intention of outlasting it. But he says the commemoration is an important chance for folks to process what happened in Greenwood: the spirit that built up Black Wall Street, the hate that tore it down, and the persistence that built it back up again.听听

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Jess:听Jerica Wortham is pretty psyched to be part of that conversation. She鈥檚 the poet and art curator we heard from earlier.听

Jess:听Jerica is talking about听. She鈥檚 the program director. The project is an initiative of the Tulsa Centennial Commission, which aims to make sure Tulsa, and the country, know the history of Black Wall Street and the massacre.

Jess:听The goal of the Greenwood Art Project is to make history come alive. But much of that history is dark and painful. So the project鈥檚 organizers are building in a kind of support system, so people can process what they experience.听

Jess:听The installations for the Greenwood Art Project will start showing up in the Greenwood District at the start of 2021, all the way up to the centennial on May 31st and June 1st, and possibly beyond. But the centennial has inspired other artistic endeavors 鈥� including one that centers on the Black community reclaiming what it lost, and owning its history. It鈥檚 called 鈥�.鈥� And Jerica is a part of that, too.听

Jess:听鈥楩ire In Little Africa鈥� is a multimedia hip-hop project. The name is a knock on the derogatory term that white Tulsans used to refer to Greenwood at the time of the massacre. The project includes a compilation album, set to drop sometime in May; a documentary on how Black Wall Street inspired the artists involved; a weekly podcast; and a curriculum for schools, museums, and corporate offices, based on the project鈥檚 themes.听

But the album is the soul of 鈥楩ire In Little Africa.鈥� Back in March, just before the pandemic hit, musicians, writers, and producers 鈥� all from Oklahoma or with ties to the state 鈥� descended on Tulsa. Over a four-day weekend, they wrote, recorded, and produced the album in a frenzy of creative energy, all inside the historic Greenwood Cultural Center and the Skyline Mansion.听

Jess:听Steph Simon, the rapper we heard from earlier, was one of the first artists to have been tapped for the project.

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Sam: Hi everyone, Samantha Laine Perfas again, a reporter for 鈥淭ulsa Rising.鈥� One thing I absolutely loved about producing this episode was including works of art from Tulsa natives like Jerica Wortham and Steph Simon. There鈥檚 something so powerful about hearing directly from individuals wrestling with different challenges, and poetry and music can really communicate experiences in such a unique way. I was so moved by Jerica鈥檚 poetry, so I hope you鈥檒l stick around until after the credits to hear her poem called, 鈥淟ove Letter to Greenwood,鈥� in its entirety. If you want to listen to more podcasts like 鈥淭ulsa Rising,鈥� the best way to support our work is to subscribe to 海角大神. You can do that at csmonitor.com/subscribe. Again, that鈥檚 csmonitor.com/subscribe. Thanks for listening.

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Jess:听For all the hope and even excitement surrounding the centennial, there鈥檚 no forgetting that the history it鈥檚 commemorating is a horrific one. Pretty much everyone we talked to recognized that the centennial is really just the start of the reckoning process.听

Jess:听That鈥檚 Bobby Eaton again, he鈥檚 the radio host and musician we heard from earlier.听

Jess:听We brought that question to Tulsa鈥檚 Republican mayor, G.T. Bynum. We heard from him in previous episodes. He says the centennial is important because 鈥�

Jess:听And this is the crux of the issue, the true challenge of reckoning with racism: It鈥檚 work. Painful work, long work, that鈥檚 often complicated, and sometimes even contradictory. The mayor himself embodies that contradiction: On the one hand, he鈥檚 been a huge supporter of the investigation into where people killed in the massacre might be buried. It鈥檚 an effort that many Tulsans say is long overdue, and has received a lot of praise from the city鈥檚 Black community.听

But, on the other, the mayor is also a听听against the city and other local government agencies. The lawsuit calls for reparations for the massacre鈥檚 victims and their descendants.听

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Jess:听So when we asked the people we met with what they thought about the centennial, how it鈥檚 being framed, and whether it鈥檚 a step toward reconciliation 鈥� we got complicated answers.听

Jess:听That鈥檚 Vanessa Adams-Harris. She does outreach and alliance for the听. The center is named after a prominent local historian who was a key voice for Black history in Tulsa and nationwide.听

Jess:听That鈥檚 Steph Simon again.听

Jess:听There were also folks who said that any discussion of reconciliation couldn鈥檛 mean anything without a conversation about reparations. Dr. Tiffany Crutcher was one of them. We had her on in Episode 2. Her brother, Terence, was shot and killed by Tulsa police in 2016.听听

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Jess:听That鈥檚 Jerica Wortham again.听

Jess:听But as we鈥檝e learned, this journey is just starting for Tulsa. And for Jerica, the promise of what鈥檚 possible is wrapped up in the feelings of doubt and distrust that mark so much of the experience of being Black in Tulsa.听听

Jess:听This has been a story about hate and hope, about race and racism and struggle, in one city in Oklahoma. But it鈥檚 also a story about America. We heard it a lot in our reporting: This is the kind of reckoning that many cities, and the country, will have to go through for us to truly move forward together. And there鈥檚 no guarantee that it will happen 鈥� or even that Tulsa will succeed.

But, Jerica says, if there is anything the rest of us can take away from what her city is going through, it鈥檚 to see what this kind of reckoning looks like: the kind of courage it takes for these conversations to happen, and the possibilities when they persist.听听听

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Jess:听Thanks for joining us, everyone. After the credits, you can listen to Jerica Wortham read her poem, 鈥淟ove Letter to Greenwood,鈥� in full. And if you liked this series, share it with your friends. You can find and subscribe to this podcast at csmonitor.com/rethinkingthenews, or you can search for 鈥淩ethinking the News鈥� wherever you listen to podcasts.听听

This episode was hosted by me, Jessica Mendoza. Samantha Laine Perfas and I wrote, reported, and produced this story together. Our editors are Clay Collins and Clara Germani, with additional edits by Judy Douglass and Arielle Gray. Sound design by Morgan Anderson and Noel Flatt. With thanks, again, to Steph Simon for letting us use his music throughout this miniseries.听You also heard a sample track from 鈥楩ire In Little Africa,鈥� featuring vocals by Ausha. Brought to you by 海角大神, copyright 2020.听听

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