No Time Limits on Justice
The wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly. In the case of righting the wrongs that were committed during the 1921 race riot in Tulsa, Okla., it seems those wheels are grinding to a halt. The sponsors of a bill that would extend the statute of limitations and give living survivors of the riots more time to sue the city and state of Oklahoma for the massacre.
The Tulsa riot is one most marginalized chapters of civil unrest in our nation’s history. The riot began on May 13, 1921, the manifestation of public outrage from an incident that occurred one day prior. A Black man, Dick Rowland, stepped into an elevator in the Drexel Building where Sarah Page, a White woman, was working. A scream sounded from the elevator; Rowland ran out. Subsequently, he was accused of sexually attacking Page, though there was no solid evidence of wrongdoing.
On May 13, Rowland was arrested and jailed. More than 70 Black men gathered outside the courthouse, offering protection to Rowland but the sheriff refused. A melee started when a White man attempted to disarm one of the Black men. They wrestled over the gun and it went off. This event marked the beginning of the deadly Tulsa race riot.
When everything was said and done, Greenwood —an area of Tulsa known as “Black Wall Street”—was, quite literally, reduced to ashes. Although official death toll reports stated that 10 Whites and 26 Blacks were killed, unofficial estimates counted as many as 300 deaths.
Despite the magnitude and lasting effect of the riot on Tulsa and the lives of hundreds of people, it receives scant mention in history books, as if it is a memory that historians prefer to erase from our collective minds. Now, more than eight decades later, people of color who survived the riot are taking a stand to make sure that this significant event in African-American history is not forgotten. At the time of the riot, many legal avenues were closed to Black people. To ensure that those responsible for the Tulsa riot do not go unpunished, Mayor Kathy Taylor should advocate for extending statutes of limitation and act in the interest of seeing long-overdue justice served.
The Tulsa riot is one most marginalized chapters of civil unrest in our nation’s history. The riot began on May 13, 1921, the manifestation of public outrage from an incident that occurred one day prior. A Black man, Dick Rowland, stepped into an elevator in the Drexel Building where Sarah Page, a White woman, was working. A scream sounded from the elevator; Rowland ran out. Subsequently, he was accused of sexually attacking Page, though there was no solid evidence of wrongdoing.
On May 13, Rowland was arrested and jailed. More than 70 Black men gathered outside the courthouse, offering protection to Rowland but the sheriff refused. A melee started when a White man attempted to disarm one of the Black men. They wrestled over the gun and it went off. This event marked the beginning of the deadly Tulsa race riot.
When everything was said and done, Greenwood —an area of Tulsa known as “Black Wall Street”—was, quite literally, reduced to ashes. Although official death toll reports stated that 10 Whites and 26 Blacks were killed, unofficial estimates counted as many as 300 deaths.
Despite the magnitude and lasting effect of the riot on Tulsa and the lives of hundreds of people, it receives scant mention in history books, as if it is a memory that historians prefer to erase from our collective minds. Now, more than eight decades later, people of color who survived the riot are taking a stand to make sure that this significant event in African-American history is not forgotten. At the time of the riot, many legal avenues were closed to Black people. To ensure that those responsible for the Tulsa riot do not go unpunished, Mayor Kathy Taylor should advocate for extending statutes of limitation and act in the interest of seeing long-overdue justice served.
posted by Butterfly87 | 9:29 PM
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