Photos: YouTube
100 years ago, American racism destroyed and firebombed the prosperous African-American community of Black Wall Street killing upwards of 300 humans, destroying hundreds of businesses, thousands of homes, and negatively impacting thousands of Black lives through criminal dispossession and white terror.
Some 10,000 African-Americans were left homeless when the dust finally settled.
One hundred years later, the ancestors of that American massacre—including still living survivors—have received no justice whatsoever for the criminal actions, and economic usurpation, that were perpetrated during two days of malevolent mayhem by the racist blood-thirsty murderous mob. White America continues to resist calls for Reparations for Tulsa’s Greenwood community.
Recently, 106-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle, known as “Mother Randle” and 107-year-old Viola Fletcher, the oldest living survivor, testified before Congress about the ongoing trauma they still endure.
“I have survived 100 years of painful memories and losses,” said Randle. “I have survived to tell this story. I believe that I am still here to share it with you. Hopefully, now you all will listen to us while we are still here.”
“I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams,” Fletcher said. “I have lived through the massacre every day.”
Today, President Joe Biden will be addressing the Black residents of Tulsa about the destruction of Black Wall Street. He apparently will talk about closing the racial wealth gap. But Biden will likely not talk about the pressing need for Reparations.
In a White House press statement, the Biden Administration outlines a number of steps revolving around economic empowerment that he plans to advocate. But Reparations, a hot-button topic, was, not surprisingly, avoided in the statement.
Unfortunately, White America always avoids the issue of Reparations for African-Americans like the plague—even for a particularly blatant episode of racial murder and economic destruction like that of Black Wall Street.
Tulsa’s Republican Mayor G.T. Bynum has said he is not for Reparations at this time. If he isn’t for Reparations 100 years after this crime, when will he be for it? 100 years from now?
According to Bynum, to give Black Tulsans Reparations “would be financially penalizing this generation of Tulsans for something criminals did 100 years ago.” He also said “Direct cash payments do not solve larger issues that have been allowed to fester in Tulsa for a century.”
In other words, all of the living descendants whose families were stripped of their businesses should not be recompensed for the inheritance they lost due to racist white violence? And the white descendants who profited from the theft of these stolen Black lands and Black property should be able to keep their ill-gotten gains without having their lives disrupted in any way right?
Is that your message Mayor Bynum?
These are the kinds of disingenuous statements we get from whites, like Mayor Bynum, when it comes to securing true justice for Black Americans. Apparently, African-Americans are the only group unworthy of receiving Reparations for the egregious injustices we’ve suffered ever since we were kidnapped and brought here from Africa.
It cannot be pure coincidence that we are now observing the 100 anniversary of the white destruction of Black Wall Street after the tumultuous year we’ve had with the racial reckoning and social upheaval that is ongoing in the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd.
Many sectors of White America now claim they are trying to do the right thing to address the systemic institutional racism that has been further exposed in the wake of the masses of people who rose up in protest to police killings during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is time for them to then debate the issue of Reparations seriously and responsibly.
In America’s extremely capitalist society, the disparities that many, like Mayor Bynum, claim they want to address cannot be fixed without significant financial commitments. Lip-service alone just won’t get the job done. Reparations are needed to repair a fraction of the damage.
Today’s 100 year observance of the destruction of Black Wall Street should be a call for a renewal for the fight against American racism. After the year that we just had, the issue of Reparations, not just for Black Tulsans, but for all of Black America has become even more relevant.
The COVID-19 pandemic more fully revealed, for the world, the deep disparities that African-Americans face in a system that is anchored by institutional racism. Our people suffered and died at proportionally higher rates because of the ingrained nature of American racism.
Many of those who talked about “making America great again” seem to forget (or never knew) that African-Americans, more than any other so-called racial group made this nation a wealthy super-power. Yet, we have never fully enjoyed the fruits of our labor in America.
It’s about time America repaid us for all of the back-wages we’re owed for building this country.
A good place to start would be to pay Reparations to the African-American descendants of Black Wall Street. The time has come.
