Tulsa reckons with its racist past. What can America learn? (audio)
Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the site of one of the worst incidents of racist violence in U.S. history. Now Tulsa is聽preparing to commemorate what happened in 1921.听In this episode of our new podcast, we ask: How does a city reckon with race and racism in America today?
On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob 鈥撀爀nraged by a rumor that a young Black man had assaulted a white woman 鈥� of Greenwood聽in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They set fire to the district, looted businesses, killed Black residents,聽and displaced thousands.听
It was one of the most devastating incidents of racist violence in U.S. history. And it stayed mostly unmentioned for decades.听聽
Today, nearly 100 years after what is now known as the Tulsa race massacre, the city is finally reckoning with its past. Tulsa is commemorating the centennial by opening a new museum dedicated to the Greenwood community, including the massacre in public school curriculum, and fast-tracking an investigation into the long-missing grave sites of those killed in the massacre. Few, if any, other U.S. cities have tried to come to terms with their racist histories.
But the process is raising difficult questions for Tulsa.听Some residents say such a horrific event needs to be brought forward and understood. Others, however, ask why the memory needs to be relived at all. Why commemorate it? Can鈥檛 the city just move on?
In this episode of 鈥淩ethinking the News,鈥澛爓e look at how聽Tulsa鈥檚 struggle echoes America鈥檚, as the country wrestles with race and racism ahead of a deeply divisive election.
Episode transcript
Samantha Laine Perfas: Welcome to 鈥淩ethinking the News,鈥澛燼 podcast by 海角大神. Here, we create space for constructive conversations across a range of perspectives, to give you the information you need to come to your own conclusions.
I鈥檓 Samantha Laine Perfas, one of the producers, and today, we鈥檙e kicking off a three-part miniseries out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1921, Tulsa was the site of one of the worst incidents of racist violence in U.S. history. White residents, enraged by a rumor that a Black shoeshiner had assaulted a white woman, attacked the Black neighborhood of Greenwood. They set fire to homes and businesses and displaced thousands of Black residents. Estimates of the number of people killed 鈥� a majority of whom were Black 鈥� .听
Tulsa is preparing for the 100-year commemoration of the massacre. I went there with my colleague Jessica Mendoza to find out how Black Tulsans are wrestling with their history even as we face a national reckoning around race and racism, and an incredibly divisive election. Over the next three episodes, we鈥檒l be asking: What can Tulsa, especially Black Tulsa, tell us about our country today? Today鈥檚 episode, hosted by Jess, will paint a picture of Tulsa as it is and as it was 鈥� in all its complexity.听
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Just a warning. This episode contains descriptions of violence, including gun violence and trauma inflicted on Black Americans. Please be advised.
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Jessica Mendoza: This is Mechelle Brown. She鈥檚 the program coordinator at the Greenwood Cultural Center, which collects and exhibits local Black history in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the end of September, Mechelle took my colleague Samantha and me on a tour of the center. It鈥檚 a brick building right on Greenwood Avenue, on the north side of the city.听聽
闯别蝉蝉:听The massacre. Here in Tulsa, that means only one thing: the 24 hours or so on May 31st and June 1st, 1921, when a white mob destroyed what was then a thriving Black business district in Greenwood 鈥� were . During our tour, Mechelle took us into a room with framed pictures of survivors on the walls. Underneath each was a short first-person account from the massacre. We asked Mechelle if there was a person that she felt most connected to among them.听
闯别蝉蝉:听聽Mechelle read what Ms. Gibbs had shared.听
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Jess:聽Ernestine Gibbs . Most of the survivors are gone now. Today, in Tulsa, bringing up the massacre calls up a lot of emotions. Some say the horrific reality needs to be brought forward. But to others, the massacre was a hundred years ago. Why, they ask, should we re-live something so horrible? Why commemorate it? Can鈥檛 we just鈥� move on?聽
These are questions we鈥檙e also asking as a country 鈥� about slavery, about racism, about parts of our history we鈥檙e not so proud to remember. They鈥檙e a big part of why we have the Black Lives Matter movement, why we鈥檙e seeing protests against police violence, and why there鈥檚 conflict on the streets, online, and at dinner tables all across America today. And in a very real way, those questions are also what鈥檚 driving some of us to see our politics the way we do, and even to vote for who we do.听聽
So we wanted to hear from Tulsans about these big questions. We wanted to know if there was anything that we, as a nation, can learn from a city that鈥檚 actually trying to answer them right now 鈥� as the 100-year commemoration of the massacre approaches.
We start with what we know about what happened in 1921.听
闯别蝉蝉:听聽This is Scott Ellsworth, native Tulsan and historian. He鈥檚 been researching and writing about this since the 1980s. Starting in the late 鈥�90s, he led a commission to gather facts about what was then called the Tulsa Race Riot.听
闯别蝉蝉:听In Tulsa, it鈥檚 never been exactly clear what happened between Dick Rowland, the shoeshiner, and Sarah Page, the elevator operator.听
闯别蝉蝉:听Dick Rowland is arrested. Angry white residents start to show up at the county courthouse, where he鈥檚 been detained. In Greenwood, Black residents 鈥� many of them World War I veterans 鈥� decide they need to go over there too, to protect Mr. Rowland. When they get there, the sheriff tells them, 鈥榃e won鈥檛 let anything happen to him. We鈥檝e got this under control.鈥櫬�
闯别蝉蝉:听The mob grows. A rumor makes its way to Greenwood that this time, the white residents would be storming the jail. So another group of Black veterans, also armed, returns to the courthouse.
闯别蝉蝉:听That鈥檚 Mechelle Brown again, from the Greenwood Cultural Center.听
闯别蝉蝉:听It鈥檚 a retreating battle 鈥� the Black veterans, outnumbered, make their way back to Greenwood. Then, according to Scott Ellsworth:
闯别蝉蝉:听These armed white residents do drive-bys across Greenwood, shooting at will. Black residents fight back, Scott says 鈥� valiantly. But it鈥檚 late. It鈥檚 dark. And by about 2 a.m., the fighting seems to have petered out. Except, white residents on the other side of town are actually organizing. They鈥檙e arming themselves, planning an assault on the Greenwood neighborhood.听
闯别蝉蝉:听Now at the time, Greenwood was a booming Black business district. People called it Black Wall Street. There were all kinds of businesses 鈥�
闯别蝉蝉:听That鈥檚 Hannibal Johnson. He鈥檚 a Tulsa-based attorney who鈥檚 also written extensively about the Greenwood District.听
闯别蝉蝉:听That wealth and success, achieved in the middle of an era of segregation and Jim Crow laws, made the massacre all the more devastating. Here鈥檚 Scott again.
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闯别蝉蝉:听When we talk about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre today, that鈥檚 usually about where the story ends. But actually, the massacre is just the beginning.听
闯别蝉蝉:听That鈥檚 Hannibal Johnson again. He says Black Tulsans managed to rebuild pretty quickly despite the devastation. At the time of the massacre, the Greenwood District was home to about 10,000 Black Americans. Many were held in internment camps for days while their homes and businesses burned. And yet 鈥�
闯别蝉蝉:听But life still was not easy for Black Tulsans. Segregation persisted for decades. Through the 1960s and 鈥�70s, so-called urban renewal projects ravaged the Greenwood community in a different way. The one we heard about the most was 鈥� later renamed the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Expressway. The city , splitting the neighborhood in half.听聽
And the race massacre, when it was talked about at all, was called a riot, blamed on Black residents.听
闯别蝉蝉:听Black Tulsans who lost everything never saw insurance or restitution of any kind. And in the years that followed, very few residents 鈥� white or Black 鈥� openly talked about the massacre. The reckoning over both the event and its consequences was delayed for years.听
But that reckoning is starting.
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厂补尘:听Hi everyone, Samantha Laine Perfas again, one of the producers on this show. Because of listeners like you, we鈥檙e able to devote time to a podcast that goes deep into today鈥檚 issues. If you enjoy Rethinking the News, the best way to make sure we produce more work like this is to subscribe to 海角大神. If you already do, thank you! But if you haven鈥檛 subscribed yet, you can do that at csmonitor.com/subscribe. We really appreciate your support. Again, that鈥檚 csmonitor.com/subscribe. Thanks for listening.
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闯别蝉蝉:听2021 marks a hundred years since the massacre, and Tulsa is busy making sure the event will be properly commemorated. There鈥檚 a Centennial Commission, chaired by a state senator and made up of other local notables 鈥� including some of our guests.听
The commission鈥檚 goal is to make sure Tulsa, and America, know the history of Black Wall Street and the massacre. They鈥檙e building a multimillion-dollar museum in the Greenwood District . They鈥檙e funding that鈥檒l feature local artists. They鈥檝e helped write a lesson plan on the massacre that .听
And all this is important聽because Tulsa was one of many cities where racist violence took place during the Jim Crow era. But very few other places have chosen to commemorate those events in such an explicit way, or attempted to find out what really happened.听
Which is why the project that鈥檚 really made headlines this year is the search for the burial sites.听
[Audio clip from CBS This Morning: 鈥淪cientists in Oklahoma are one step closer to finding possible evidence of mass graves linked to one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our country鈥︹��
[Audio clip from聽KJRH-TV Tulsa: 鈥淎rcheologists say there could be a grave site right here on Oaklawn Cemetery based on anomalies they found on the ground鈥︹�漖
For decades, historians have been trying to find out where the victims of the 1921 race massacre were buried. The Tulsa Race Riot Commission, which released an extensive report back in 2001, found three sites in Tulsa that had the potential to be mass graves: Newblock Park, , and Oaklawn Cemetery. The report drew from witness statements and surviving documents, and on anomalies in the ground that the research team found using radar.
But after the report was published 鈥� nothing. Years later, a Republican city council member named G.T. Bynum would learn about the possible mass graves at Oaklawn through a documentary. As he watches the film 鈥�
闯别蝉蝉:听Mr. Bynum was elected mayor in 2016. of possible grave sites. And in 2020, about a month before Mayor Bynum was reelected to a second term, the graves investigation team broke ground for the first time. We spoke with Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield, the lead forensic anthropologist on the graves team. She also happens to be the grandniece of massacre survivors, though she herself didn鈥檛 grow up in Tulsa.听
闯别蝉蝉:听Mainly, that means trying to identify sites where the human remains have features consistent with the kind of attacks that took place during the massacre.听
Jess:聽鈥� since the record is clear that a lot of shooting took place 鈥�
闯别蝉蝉:听鈥� people were running, there was a lot of panic 鈥�
闯别蝉蝉:听It鈥檚, in many ways, disturbing work, made more complicated by the long years between the event and today. But Dr. Stubblefield says it鈥檚 worth it.听
闯别蝉蝉:听The graves investigation is the biggest step in 20 years toward figuring out who died, and how, in the 1921 race massacre. Here鈥檚 Mayor Bynum again.
闯别蝉蝉:听If anything, the mayor, who is white, says the challenge is winning the confidence of Tulsa鈥檚 Black community.
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闯别蝉蝉:听Some Tulsans, like Mechelle Brown at the Greenwood Cultural Center, are willing to give credit where it鈥檚 due.听
闯别蝉蝉:听Still, there鈥檚 a lot of pain surrounding the search for the graves. During our tour, Mechelle read another account, by a survivor named Leroy Leon Hatcher, who was nine days old when the massacre took place. Like many others, Mr. Hatcher鈥檚 mother fled Greenwood.听
闯别蝉蝉:听The investigating team鈥檚 first excavation took place in July. The second dig 鈥� in a different part of Oaklawn Cemetery 鈥� started in mid-October. After about four days of digging, the team reported finding at the site. They haven鈥檛 been connected to the massacre yet. But it鈥檚 a huge find. And Mechelle says:聽
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闯别蝉蝉:听The search for the grave sites has been emotionally wrenching for many Black Tulsans. But it鈥檚 just one of many things that have flared up in the city over the summer 鈥� related to the Centennial, to a divisive election season, and to where America is on race in 2020.听
When George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis officer back in May, the protests that it spurred churned up a lot for Mechelle Brown.听
闯别蝉蝉:听Mechelle is talking about Greenwood at the time of the massacre. But, she says 鈥�
闯别蝉蝉:听This is something we heard a lot while we were in Tulsa. The massacre may have happened a century ago, but its legacy is very much alive in the city鈥檚 Black community. And so when the debate over the Black Lives Matter mural broke out, it drew on old resentments and fueled new hostilities.听聽
A quick sketch of what happened: The night before Juneteenth 鈥撀爐hat鈥檚 the historic commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States 鈥撀燼 group of artists and other community members painted the words, 鈥淏lack Lives Matter,鈥� in bright yellow on Greenwood Avenue. , President Trump held a campaign rally in downtown Tulsa, where he talked about civil unrest across the country.听
[Audio clip from The聽Washington Post, where President Trump talks about 鈥減eace and order鈥� at a political rally in Tulsa]
As the president pushed forward his national agenda, the mural in Tulsa quickly became a flashpoint. City officials said they had to remove it, because it didn鈥檛 have the right permits to be there permanently. If they let it stay, they鈥檇 also have to let other groups put up murals wherever they wanted 鈥� including one group that asked to paint in a similar style. Here鈥檚 Mayor Bynum.听
闯别蝉蝉:听But for many Black Tulsans and supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, it felt personal.听
闯别蝉蝉:听That鈥檚 Rev. Mareo Johnson, founder and director of Black Lives Matter Tulsa and pastor of Seeking the Kingdom Ministries.听
闯别蝉蝉:听In the end, the city council voted to remove the mural. It was paved over on October 5th, that the mayor said was already planned.
But even as the debate over the mural was taking place, there was another issue that was causing racial tensions to bubble up in Tulsa.听
[Audio clip from聽KJRH-TV Tulsa: 鈥�...descendants of the 1921 race massacre are suing the city of Tulsa鈥︹�漖
On September 1st, a group of Oklahomans from the city of Tulsa and other local government agencies. They argue that the massacre is still affecting Black Tulsans today, and that the defendants all benefited from the destruction of Greenwood.听
The plaintiffs are asking the court for a bunch of things, including: public declarations against the city鈥檚 actions during and after the massacre; an injunction against any use of the massacre that would financially benefit the city; and the creation of a victims鈥� compensation fund 鈥� though they haven鈥檛 named a specific dollar amount.听
There are , including the oldest living survivor of the massacre 鈥� Lessie Benningfield Randle, who is 105 years old.听
We tried to reach out to the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, but we didn鈥檛 hear back. Instead we spoke with the Rev. Robert Turner.
闯别蝉蝉:听Rev. Turner is the pastor of the Historic Vernon A.M.E. Chuch, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, and the the burning of Greenwood. Rev. Turner came to Tulsa in 2017 from Alabama, and has become kind of the face of the fight for reparations in Tulsa. For two years, he鈥檚 been leading a small group of Tulsans on a weekly march from the church to City Hall, calling for reparations.听
[Audio clip of Rev. Turner leading a march, he says, 鈥淚 desire nothing more than reconciliation. But there can be no reconciliation without reparations.鈥漖
闯别蝉蝉:听It鈥檚 a point that many Black Americans raise when talking about protests around racial justice, and about reparations 鈥� though the term 鈥渞eparations鈥� can mean different things to different people, even within Black communities. We鈥檒l be digging further into those nuances in our coming episodes. But for now, we wanted to know what Rev. Turner hopes this lawsuit specifically will achieve.
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闯别蝉蝉:听Needless to say, this has been a difficult summer for Tulsa, as it has been for the country. When we talked to Mechelle Brown, back at the Greenwood Cultural Center, she told us about the first time she heard the full story of the massacre. She was on the same tour that she鈥檚 been giving now for nearly 25 years. She was in her 20s at the time.听
闯别蝉蝉:听And even after having told the story so many times, Mechelle says, it can still hurt to think about it, and to see how other people respond to it.听
Jess: To Mechelle, there doesn鈥檛 seem to be a lot of room for hope. She thinks back to that first time she heard about the massacre, and compares it with how she feels now, given the state of the country today 鈥� our divisive politics, our anger, our fear.听
闯别蝉蝉:听Mechelle says there was one time that she felt like maybe, as individuals, we can overcome racial and political divisions. It was when a young playwright, a Tulsa native, organized a bunch of small group discussions in the community and got people 鈥� Black and white 鈥� to talk honestly and without malice about race.
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Jess:聽Thanks for listening. In our next episode, we鈥檒l take a close look at Black politics in Tulsa. The massacre, among many things, was a huge failure of leadership 鈥� one that still resonates today. So as the nation gears up for an incredibly divisive election, how are Black voters in Tulsa navigating a political system that often fails to meet their needs?聽
This podcast was hosted by me, Jessica Mendoza. Samantha Laine Perfas and I 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. And a special thanks to Steph Simon, for allowing us to use his song 鈥楤orn On Black Wall Street鈥� throughout this episode. Additional audio elements from CBS This Morning, KJRH-TV Tulsa, and The Washington Post. Brought to you by 海角大神, copyright 2020.
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