A devastated Greenwood - Tulsa's Black Wall Street—following a white riot in 1921. Photo credit: Merton Houston Photo, www.tulsa-riot.com.

Week of June 21, 2001

For Now, No Reparations for Tulsa Race Riot Victims

By Karen Juanita Carrillo
SeeingBlack.com Contributing Writer

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The destruction of Black Wall Street is a secret no more.

For the last few years, the state of Oklahoma has made a very public effort to fess up to the 1921 Tulsa race riot, when local Whites were encouraged to take up arms against and destroy the very prosperous African-American neighborhood of Greenwood, known as Black Wall Street. In 1997, Oklahoma's legislature established a Tulsa Race Riot Commission to investigate the causes and results of the riot, and to determine if there were still-living survivors who could speak of the riot.

But now, with all of the findings, facts and reports in, the Oklahoma legislature has voted against a bill designed to compensate the 116 known living elders who survived the 1921 Tulsa riot, and against giving reparations to the first generation descendants of riot victims.

"They said there was a 'constitutional conflict'," declared Eddie Faye Gates, one of the six Blacks who made up the 11-member Tulsa Race Riot Commission which handed in its final report in February. "And they said they couldn't pass the bill because some of the lawmakers objected to the language of the bill - because they said it seemed to blame White people for the riot. But I say, well of course it does: were there any Asian Americans shooting, lynching and burning people? Were there any Africans shooting, lynching and burning people? No - but there were self-identified White people doing those things."

Photo credit: Merton Houston Photo, www.tulsa-riot.com.

On May 31, 1921, a 19-year-old Dick Rowland was arrested and accused of trying to rape a White female elevator operator, Sarah Page, in Tulsa's Drexel Building. The local newspaper, the Tulsa Tribune, reporting on the story, inflamed area residents by declaring that Rowland had attacked Page and torn her clothes. On the back page, the Tribune carried an editorial with the headline, "To Lynch Negro Tonight," in which it talked about the fact that "mobs of Whites were forming in order to lynch the Negro." White men soon began showing up outside the courthouse carrying guns and drinking liquor and demanding that Rowland be handed over. But local African American World War I veterans had weapons of their own, and they came to the courthouse ready to protect Rowland.

During the riot that ensued, from May 31 through June 1, 1921, thousands of Whites raided the 35-square block Greenwood district of Tulsa, looting and destroying over 1,200 homes, 35 grocery stores, eight doctors' offices and five hotels. Greenwood never recovered from the devastation, in which over 300 African Americans were killed, and property damage to the area was estimated at about $1.8 million in 1921—or over $16 million in today's dollars.

A watered-down version of the defeated bill, which simply recognizes what happened to Black Wall Street, passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives by 56-44 but in the state Senate it was only approved by a 32-13 vote. Republican senators, who voted against it, said the bill’s language still painted White people "as thugs."

The bill noted that causes for the 1921 race riot "reside deep in the history of race relations of Oklahoma and Tulsa, which included the enactment of Jim Crow (segregation) laws, acts of racial violence… and other actions that had the effect of 'putting African-Americans in their place.'" The bill also talked about a "conspiracy of silence" among area White power brokers to keep word of the riot to a minimum, because they thought it was "a public relations nightmare that was best to be forgotten." The bill now goes to Gov. Frank Keating for signing.

There were other senators who said they were afraid that the bill might lead to reparations for descendants of those killed in the riots. But so far, the bill does no such thing. The bill establishes a redevelopment authority to help restore the Greenwood District, and a scholarship program for descendants of the victims, but both the authority and the scholarship will be funded by private and public sources. Another bill appropriated $750,000 for the establishment of a memorial in the district.

Riot Commissioner Eddie Faye Gates looks at the grave marker for Eddie Lockard, a victim of the 1921 Tulsa race riot, in Oklahoma's Oaklawn Cemetery. Photo credit: www.tulsa-riot.com.

Gates, the author of the forthcoming book Riot on Greenwood: The Total Destruction of Black Wall Street, was instrumental in identifying 136 living survivors of the Tulsa race riot back in 1997. She says she isn't surprised but is extremely disappointed that her state's legislators are doing nothing to compensate the riot's victims. Today, she notes, only 116 of the riot survivors are still alive—twenty have died since 1997. Those survivors average between 80 and 98 years in age. Gates has also identified some 170 descendants of the riot survivors who might also receive compensation.

"They said they couldn't pay reparations because it would imply that they—the state—were responsible for the riot," Gates said. "But I just wish that they'd taken the high road, like those legislators did for the Rosewood, Florida victims, and just had some compassion for the survivors. Some compassion for their suffering."

Gates says that the passage of the bill does not mean an end to consideration of reparations for the 1921 riot victims. She says that there are area African American organizations who are attempting to meet with "entities who are culpable to see if they will come and voluntarily" work toward a compensation measure. But so far, those entities have not been responsive. The next step could be lawsuits, she said. "First we want to try the honey approach: you know, get them around the table and talk. But if that doesn't work, well…

"You know, they keep talking about how hearing about this riot, how it makes them feel uncomfortable. It makes all White people look bad," Gates added. "But I tell them, this is not a comfort-level issue for you. This is about justice for Black people, and we're going to make sure that happens."

Related Sites:

• http://www.tulsa-riot.com

-- June 29, 2001

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