The Tragedy of the Tulsa Greenwood Massacre
Floor Speech
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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Torres for anchoring this very important Special Order hour today.
I also want to extend my deepest condolences to the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and my friend, the Honorable Joyce Beatty, who lost her dear husband a few days ago. He passed away. He was a fine public servant and a fine civil rights champion, and he will be missed. We are there in prayer and in spirit with our dear sister.
It has been said that sunlight is the best disinfectant, yet the terrible atrocity that took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 100 years ago, on May 31 and June 1 of 1921, has lived in the shadows for far too long. It is time that the truth be told. We must know our past or we are bound to repeat it.
In 1921, the Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was prospering, despite a racist system designed to marginalize and exclude it and its residents from the fruits of those citizens' labor. It was a community known as Greenwood, and it was also known as the Black Wall Street.
It was a thriving community. There were restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, theaters, banks, insurance companies, all owned by Black people. This community was self-sufficient. It was prospering, despite the fact that segregation was the norm and the lynching of Black men was as common as the white hoods of the KKK.
The simple fact is this: The Black community was succeeding in Tulsa, so White people burned it down. White supremacy and Jim Crow were the sparks that lit the fire. The massacre occurred over a 24-hour period, from May 30 to June 1 of 1921. And it all began like so many other racially motivated events: A false allegation against a Black man.
In response, a White mob of thousands shot, beat, and murdered Black residents, and they did it with impunity.
They looted Black homes and businesses and set fires in their wake, this White mob. They were aided and abetted by the National Guard and also deputized killers, looters, and arsonists.
Twenty-four hours after the violence began, 35 city blocks lay in ruins. Not a single dwelling or business or building was left standing.
Within months of the Greenwood massacre, the KKK's Tulsa chapter became one of the Nation's largest, because what better recruiting tool than plundering and killing Blacks with impunity?
No person has ever been held accountable on the State, local, or Federal level, in the criminal courts, or in the civil courts for the atrocities committed against the Black community and the Black people of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
And here we are today, 100 years later, still challenged by state- sanctioned violence against Black people. Some things have changed, but some things remain the same.
The events of January 6, when Confederate flags flew inside and out of the Capitol, and where a hangman's noose was draped over a functional gallows constructed on the Capitol Grounds to intimidate and terrorize, that proves that not much has changed.
And I stand here today to tell you that we have had enough. It is time to fix America and rid racism from its soil. We must fix our country, and that starts with examining our past and looking at how we can heal together as a Nation, and, yes, reparation. Justice delayed is justice denied, and Black Americans in this country have been denied justice for far too long. Enough is enough.
At this time, I would like to read from the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum website. It is at TulsaHistory.org. I want to read the following information that it publishes, which comes from the 2001 Tulsa Race Riot Commission report.
``On the morning of May 30, 1921, a young Black man named Dick Rowland riding in the elevator at the Drexel Building at Third and Main with a White woman named Sarah Page. The details of what followed vary from person to person. Accounts of an incident circulated among the city's White community during the day and became more exaggerated with each telling.
``Tulsa police arrested Rowland the following day and began an investigation. An inflammatory report in the May 31 edition of the Tulsa Tribune spurred a confrontation between Black and White armed mobs around the courthouse where the sheriff and his men had barricaded the top floor to protect Rowland. Shots were fired, and the outnumbered African Americans began retreating to the Greenwood district.
``In the early morning hours of June 1, 1921, Greenwood was looted and burned by White rioters,'' as they are called. ``Governor Robertson declared martial law, and National Guard troops arrived in Tulsa. Guardsmen assisted firemen in putting out fires, took African Americans out of the hands of vigilantes and imprisoned,'' locked them up, ``all Black Tulsans not already interned. Over 6,000 people were held at the convention hall and the fairgrounds, some for as long as 8 days.
``Twenty-four hours after the violence erupted, it ceased. In the wake of the violence, 35 city blocks laid in charred ruins, more than 800 people were treated for injuries, and contemporary reports of deaths began at 36. Historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died.
``In order to understand the Tulsa Race Massacre, it is important to understand the complexities of the times. Dick Rowland, Sarah Page, and an unknown gunman were the sparks that ignited a long-smoldering fire. Jim Crow, jealousy, white supremacy, and land lust all played roles in leading up to the destruction and loss of life on May 31 and June 1, 1921. . . .
``Black Tulsans had every reason to believe that Dick Rowland would be lynched after his arrest. His charges were later dismissed and highly suspect from the start. They had cause to believe that his personal safety, like the defense of themselves and their community, depended on them alone. As hostile groups gathered and their confrontation worsened, municipal and county authorities failed to take actions to calm or contain the situation.
``At the eruption of violence, civil officials selected many men, all of them White and some of them participants in that violence, and made those men their agents as deputies. In that capacity, deputies did not stem the violence but added to it, often through overt acts that were themselves illegal. Public officials provided firearms and ammunition to individuals, again, all of them White. Units of the Oklahoma National Guard participated in the mass arrests of all or nearly all of Greenwood's residents.
``They removed them to other parts of the city and detained them in holding centers. Entering the Greenwood district, people stole, damaged, or destroyed personal property left behind in homes and businesses. People, some of them agents of government, also deliberately burned or otherwise destroyed homes credibly estimated to have numbered 1,256, along with virtually every other structure-- including churches, schools, businesses, even a hospital and library-- in the Greenwood district. Despite duties to preserve order and to protect property, no government at any level offered adequate resistance, if any at all, to what amounted to the destruction of the Greenwood neighborhood. Although the exact total can never be determined, credible evidence makes it probable that many people, likely numbering between 100 to 300, were killed during the massacre.''
I am reading to you from the report of the Tulsa commission that was set up by the city of Tulsa to report on the events that happened in Greenwood 100 years ago.
``Not one of these criminal acts was then or ever has been prosecuted or punished by government at any level: municipal, county, State, or Federal. Even after the restoration of order, it was official policy to release a Black detainee only upon the application of a White person, and then only if that White person agreed to accept responsibility for that detainee's subsequent behavior. As private citizens, many Whites in Tulsa and neighboring communities did extend invaluable assistance to the massacre's victims,'' to their credit.
``Despite being numerically at a disadvantage, Black Tulsans fought valiantly to protect their homes, their businesses, and their community. But in the end, the city's African-American population was simply outnumbered by the White invaders. In the end, the restoration of Greenwood after its systematic destruction was left to the victims of that destruction. While Tulsa officials turned away some offers of outside aid, a number of individual White Tulsans provided assistance to the city's now virtually homeless Black population. . . .
``In recent years, there has been ongoing discussion about what to call the event that happened in 1921. Historically, it has been called the Tulsa Race Riot. Some say it was given that name at the time for insurance purposes. Designating it a riot prevented insurance companies from having to pay benefits to the people of Greenwood whose homes and businesses were destroyed.''
Now, this is not me talking. I am still reading from that report.
``It also was common at the time for any large-scale clash between different racial or ethnic groups to be categorized a race riot.
``What do you think?'' the report asks.
``Definition of `riot': a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled together and acting with common intent.
``Definition of `massacre': the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty.''
So, that is why I personally refer to it as the Tulsa Greenwood massacre, as opposed to a race riot.
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