Monday, May 31 marks 100 years since a white mob's deadly attacks on African Americans in the neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Thousands were left homeless and up to 300 Black people were killed reut.rs/2Tmhfkp 1/8
No one was ever charged for the violence.
Despite the city's obstructive zoning laws and insurance companies refusing to cover the damage, the Greenwood residents managed to rebuild their neighborhood.
See photos of the damage: reut.rs/3vxmYlK 2/8
According to a Human Rights Watch report, thousands of survivors were also sent to internment camps. Now, African Americans are calling for justice and reparations at the federal and local level 3/8
Viola Fletcher, one of three centenarian survivors of the attack, testified in the U.S. Congress earlier this month.
‘I am 107 years old and I have never seen justice. I pray that one day I will,’ Fletcher said reut.rs/2RLQXb6 4/8
In 2001, Oklahoma state called for direct repayments to survivors of the massacre and their descendants, creating a scholarship fund, and establishing an enterprise zone in historic Greenwood.
None of the recommendations were implemented reut.rs/2RLQXb6 5/8
But change could be on the horizon. Lawmakers in Washington introduced a bill calling for a study of slavery and discrimination in the United States. In February, survivors and descendants filed the latest of three lawsuits seeking reparations, including a compensation fund 6/8
In May, another bill was introduced to allow victims to file court claims without contending with limitations. Reparations for the survivors remains a thorny question, says Michelle Place, executive director of the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum reut.rs/2RLQXb6 7/8
Learn more about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, 100 years later reut.rs/2Ra9XzC 8/8
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