Tulsa鈥檚 Black Wall Street burned. These artists have a new vision (audio).
As Tulsa, Oklahoma, gears up to commemorate the 1921 race massacre,听a new generation of Tulsans are finding ways to make the story of Black Wall Street their own. What can the country learn from their efforts?
Tulsa has big plans for the coming centennial of the 1921 race massacre that left the city鈥檚 Black community in ruins. But while Tulsa residents say these efforts are important,听for听members of the city鈥檚 Black community they鈥檙e just the beginning of mourning what they鈥檝e lost while also building something new.
One initiative,听the Greenwood Art Project, aims to make sure Tulsa, and the country, know the history of Black Wall Street and the massacre. Jerica Wortham, the program director, sees art as an opportunity to invite others into the story, and to capture the spirit of the city鈥檚听thriving Black community. 鈥淚鈥檓 so excited for the world to be able to come here and experience this story, to experience it in real time, and to feel the energy of the space being reignited,鈥� she says.
In the final episode of our Tulsa series, we hear about how Black Tulsans are processing this moment, and how art and innovation can be a catalyst for healing.
Episode transcript
Samantha Laine Perfas: Welcome to 鈥淩ethinking the News,鈥� a 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.听
I鈥檓 Samantha Laine Perfas, one of the producers. Today we鈥檝e got the last of three episodes we鈥檙e doing out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where in 1921, a white mob destroyed the Black neighborhood of Greenwood. At the time, Greenwood 鈥� in North Tulsa 鈥撎齱as known as Black Wall Street, a thriving community of Black-owned businesses and services. The mob set fire to the neighborhood, looting and killing, and it would take years for the Black community to rebuild 鈥� though eventually, they would.
Tulsa is now preparing for the massacre鈥檚 centennial. My colleague Jessica Mendoza and I went there at the end of summer to find out how Black Tulsans are wrestling with this history ahead of a divisive election. Our past two episodes cover the story of the race massacre and how the city is responding today. This is meant to be heard as a series, so if you haven鈥檛 yet, we encourage you to go back and check out the other two.听
Today, we鈥檙e looking forward. The commemoration is spurring a new generation of Tulsans to find ways to process, and to own, the story of Black Wall Street. What can we, as a country, learn from their efforts? Jess will take us through the episode.
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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: 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 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: 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.
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., .
Jess:听Ahmaud Arbery 鈥�
Jess:听鈥� who was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, 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 and Ku Klux Klan member. The mansion, built in 1920, 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� 鈥� which a friend of hers recently opened.听听
Jess:听But at the same time, she says 鈥�
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As the centennial of the 1921 race massacre approaches, there鈥檚 a kind of bustle about the city of Tulsa. A sense of revival and revitalization, an awareness that the country might soon look its way. And in Tulsa鈥檚 Black community, especially in the north part of the city, there鈥檚 a new consciousness 鈥� of Greenwood and Black Wall Street, and all they represented before and after the massacre 鈥撎齮hat for decades, simply didn鈥檛 exist.
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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 . 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 . 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, 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 鈥淩ethinking the News,鈥� 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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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 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 . 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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