[Pages H2407-H2416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

THE TRAGEDY OF THE TULSA GREENWOOD MASSACRE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Torres) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

General Leave

Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special
Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I am honored to share today's
Special Order hour on Black Wall Street on behalf of the Congressional
Black Caucus, which is chaired by our great leader, Congressmember
Joyce Beatty.
I want to extend my condolences to Congressmember Beatty and her
family for the loss of her husband.
On May 30, 1921, a single scream in an elevator became the spark that
ignited a powder keg of racial terror that set on fire Black Wall
Street. A young Black man enters an elevator, and an elevator operator,
a young White woman, screams, giving the impression that she had been
assaulted.

A local newspaper, the Tulsa Tribune, accuses the young Black man of
raping the young White woman. The headline of the article was an
incitement to racial violence: ``Nab the Negro Who Attacked the Girl in
the Elevator.''
As a result of the incitement, a White lynch mob descended on Black
Wall Street and set on fire the wealthiest Black community in the
United States, reducing it to ashes. The ashes of Black Wall Street are
a metaphor for the failure of Reconstruction.
In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, there were newly
emancipated African Americans who set out to build a better life for
themselves and their family, only to be held back by racial terror and
violence that ultimately came to be codified in the form of Jim Crow.
We, as the CBC, are not only here to recite the facts of the Tulsa
Race Massacre, but we are also here to reflect on the deeper meaning.
The massacre in Tulsa tells a larger story about false accusation as an
incitement to violence. It tells a larger story about the failure of
Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow. It tells a larger story about
domestic terrorism and white supremacist extremism as a form of
domestic terror. It tells a larger story about the systematic denial
and destruction of Black wealth. And, finally, it tells a larger story
about the legacy of discrimination and the need for restitution.
It is worth noting that here in the United States Congress there is
no greater champion of reparations than the chair of the Special Order
hour, Congressmember Jackson Lee.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE of California. Madam Speaker, first, let me thank the
gentleman from New York for organizing this very important Special
Order and for his tremendous leadership on so many issues on behalf of
his district, the Congressional Black Caucus, and on behalf of all
Americans.
Let me first send my deepest condolences to Chairwoman Joyce Beatty
and her family on the loss of her beloved husband, Otto Beatty, Jr., a
devoted partner, beloved father, grandfather, and community leader. Our
hearts are broken this evening as we think about Congresswoman Beatty
and her family, and just know we are praying for her and her community
and her family.
This is a Special Order tonight that I want to thank again
Congressman Ritchie Torres and the Congressional Black Caucus for
organizing this to mark 100 years since the horrific tragedy of the
Tulsa Greenwood massacre.
In one of the worst acts of racist violence in United States history,
a White mob ransacked a prosperous African-American neighborhood in
Tulsa, Oklahoma. From May 31 to June 1, 1921, an estimated 300 Black
men, women, and children were murdered. The mob destroyed 35 square
blocks of Greenwood and burned down over 1,000 Black-owned businesses,
churches, and homes.
During a time when lynching African Americans was commonplace, the
alleged--mind you, alleged--assault of a White woman by a Black man was
enough to incite a massacre of unimaginable proportions. A thriving
Black community became the target of animosity and racial hatred by its
neighbors.
Now, a grand jury placed the blame for the massacre entirely on the
Black

[[Page H2408]]

community. No White person was ever held accountable for these crimes.
This is an example, mind you, of the horrors and the experience of
living as a Black person in America then and now.
In 1997, the Oklahoma Legislature established a commission to study
the Tulsa race riots of 1921. It was charged with the responsibility of
developing an historical record of the massacre through identifying
witnesses and gathering testimony and records. The commission not only
corrected the record, but also recommended reparations for the
survivors and their descendants. To date, they have not received any--
mind you, any--direct compensation.
Up until recently, the silence in Tulsa, in Oklahoma, and in the
United States about this massacre was an intentional effort to
whitewash our Nation's racialized past. But we must remember these
stories. We must tell the truth about our past.
I introduced H. Con. Res. 19 to establish a National Truth, Racial
Healing, and Transformation Commission to usher in this moment of truth
to begin to examine and lift up to the public as the historical record
of the history and legacy of slavery and how it is manifested today in
systemic racism as it relates to African Americans.
But telling the truth is not enough. We must pass H.R. 40, sponsored
by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. And I am a proud cosponsor of H.R.
40, which is the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals
for African Americans to address and repair the material harm done by
instances like the Tulsa Greenwood massacre.
I am pleased to say that my home State of California is leading the
Nation in this effort, being the first State to pass a law to establish
a task force to study and develop reparation proposals.
Black Tulsans have still not recovered from the impact of the Tulsa
Greenwood massacre. Decades of discrimination following the massacre
prevented the community from rebuilding their economic vitality. Black
Tulsans are still over two times more likely to be unemployed than
their White counterparts, and their communities are the least likely to
attract businesses and large employers. Policies like redlining and
local ordinances have prevented growth.
The legacy of the massacre continues to impact Black Tulsans today.
We cannot forget and we cannot let the Nation forget about the Tulsa
Greenwood massacre.
H.R. 40 is a bill that we need to move forward to begin to repair the
damage of the historical facts of the legacy of enslaved Africans
brought to this country, who, quite frankly, in spite of our progress,
still have not achieved liberty and justice for all.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Johnson).
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.

{time} 1945

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. . . .

[[Page H2409]]

``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.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Johnson for his deep
insight and kind words earlier.
Some background on Tulsa, Oklahoma: The district of Greenwood in its
time was famously described by Booker T. Washington as ``Black Wall
Street.'' It was so named because it was the most vibrant and affluent
African-American community in the United States. It was an oasis of
opportunity in a desert of du jour discrimination.
For many African Americans in search of a better life, it was a
promised land amid the broken promise of Reconstruction. It was home to
10,000 residents. There were 30 vibrant restaurants, 45 vibrant grocers
and meat markets. There was a 54-room hotel. There was a theater and a
hospital.
Black Wall Street was a self-contained, self-sufficient community of
Black wealth, a community of Black entrepreneurship and Black
ownership.
And Black Wall Street, at the hands of racial terrorism, at the hands
of racial violence, the wealthiest Black community in the United States
became a scene of mass murder, looting, and arson. It became a scene of
death, destruction, and displacement. Nothing was spared in the Tulsa
Race Massacre.
Churches, schools, and hospitals were burned down. Twelve thousand
homes were burned down. Thirty-five blocks burned down. The Tulsa
burning had a death toll of 300 and a displacement toll of 10,000. Ten
thousand people lost their homes, their businesses, and their
livelihoods. And 6,000 of those people were relegated to internment
camps.
Then, after the internment camps, Black professionals, Black business
owners who lost everything, were forced to live in tents and shacks. It
was the worst act of racial terrorism and one of the worst acts of
domestic terrorism in the history of the United States.

{time} 2000

Now, I see a parallel between the Tulsa Race Massacre and January 6.
The insurrection against the United States Congress on January 6 was
not simply an attack on a physical structure, it was an expression of
racial rage and resentment against multiracial democracy. And the same
is true of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
We have to recognize that the domestic terrorism that we saw unfold
on January 6 did not happen in a vacuum. It has a history, and that
history includes the KKK; it includes Jim Crow, and, yes, it includes
the Tulsa Race Massacre. And it is a scandal in America that most
Americans have never heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Madam Speaker, as Congressman Johnson noted earlier, it has been
referred to as a race riot, which is an attempt to whitewash the white
supremacist, domestic terrorism at the heart of the massacre. And so we
are here to tell the truth about the Tulsa Greenwood Massacre because
we see a proper revision of history away from whitewashing as part of
our national reckoning with race in America.
It is worth noting that in 2021, Black homeownership is at historic
lows. The rate of Black homeownership is lower today than it was before
the Fair Housing Act in the 1960s. The gap between Black and White
homeownership has never been greater. According to the Federal Reserve,
White households on average have eight times more wealth than Black
households. And part of the reason is the Tulsa massacre, and the
systemic racism that it represents.
There is a racial income gap between White households and Black
households, but there is an even greater wealth gap. And the wealth gap
is not an accident, it is a product of public policy. It is a
consequence of systemic racism.
During the post-war era, we saw Black Americans systematically
excluded from programs providing homeownership and higher education,
which are the pillars of wealth-building. And if you have no home to
own, then you have no home equity to build. And if you have no home
equity to build, then you have no wealth to pass down from one
generation to the next.
And so, instead of realizing the dream of intergenerational wealth,
too many Black Americans were condemned by public policy, condemned by
systemic racism to the nightmare of intergenerational poverty. The
Tulsa Race Massacre should be understood as a microcosm of what white
supremacy has done to Black people and Black property, to Black
business and Black

[[Page H2410]]

community. And the ghosts of Jim Crow, the ghosts of the Tulsa and
Greenwood massacre hunts us till this day.
I represent a neighborhood named Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, and many
of the businesses on Arthur Avenue have been owned by the same family
for more than 100 years, but those businesses--all of them are white.
And I thought to myself, what if Black Wall Street had been left
alone, had been left to survive and thrive. It may very well be the
case that some of those businesses would have endured until 2021. We
could have had businesses owned by Black families for more than a
century had it not been for the racial terrorism that took hold in
1921. And we know that when it comes to business, longevity is often
the basis for resilience. Established businesses which tend to be
wealthier and whiter had greater resilience in the face of COVID-19;
whereas, newer businesses, which tend to be Black and Brown, were too
fragile to survive the cataclysm of COVID-19.
In the first two months of the outbreak, 44 percent of Black
businesses were wiped out, which raises the question, what if Black
Wall Street were left to thrive, and what if we could have had
businesses that would have endured for more than a century and could
have had the resilience, the longevity, to overcome even a cataclysmic
event like COVID-19.
Madam Speaker, I want to provide some more historic background, on
May 31-June 1, 1921, a White mob attacked America's Black Wall Street,
the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and what is known as the
Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre. The White mob of thousands of people
shot and murdered Black residents, looted their homes and businesses,
and burned more than 1,000 homes, churches, schools, and businesses.
Not only did local authorities and law enforcement fail to maintain
civil order and protect Tulsa's Black residents, some government agents
aided the White mob in carrying out the massacre.
Many of the residents who fled the massacre were detained in
internment camps immediately following the massacre. And local
officials later made, and ultimately failed, an attempt to block the
ability of the Black community to rebuild the Greenwood commercial
district by enacting a restrictive building ordinance.
Less than a month after the massacre, a grand jury placed the blame
entirely on the Black community and indicted 85 people--mostly African-
Americans--with massacre-related offenses. No White person was ever
held individually accountable for crimes committed during the massacre,
and the vast majority of survivors and their descendants were never
directly compensated for these harms.
So not only did a White lynch mob set the most vibrant, Black
community on fire, but then the United States proceeded to whitewash
the history of the Tulsa massacre, claiming that it was a race riot
rather than the act of domestic terrorism that it was and should always
be seen as. No White person was held to account, and no Black person
was made whole.
Despite the acute challenges of racism in the late 19th and early
20th century, Black residents have been able to create thriving
community in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, this
community was literally burned to the ground in one of the worst
incidents of racial violence in American history. And to this day, no
one has been truly held responsible. And it is worth noting, even
though Greenwood has rebuilt itself, Greenwood does have among the
highest rates of poverty and unemployment in the city of Tulsa, which
demonstrates the legacy of systemic racism, how hard it can be to
overcome that legacy.
The Tulsa Massacre resulted in property damage valued anywhere from
$25 million to $100 million when adjusted in today's dollars. As the
descendants of the white mob that looted Tulsa businesses have had the
opportunity to benefit from the wealth of their ancestors, many Black
survivors of the Tulsa Massacre and their descendants have not been
able to recoup the wealth that had been lost or destroyed during the
massacre.
Despite the Oklahoma Commission to study the race massacre of 1921
stating, ``Reparations to the historic Greenwood community in real and
tangible form would be good public policy and do much to repair the
emotional and physical scars of this terrible incident in our shared
past.'' Despite that finding, neither the State of Oklahoma nor the
city of Tulsa has provided direct compensation to survivors or their
descendants.
Discrimination against Black Tulsans did not end following the
massacre. Over the local decades, local ordinances to prevent
rebuilding, redlining, urban renewal, and slum clearance,
gentrification, highway construction, tearing apart communities.
I will offer a note of personal reflection. I represent the South
Bronx, which has been ravaged by a racist highway known as the Cross
Bronx Expressway. It was built by Robert Moses and largely funded by
Federal dollars. And the Cross Bronx Expressway has left behind decades
of displacement and environmental degradation.
There are children who are born in the Bronx who live near the Cross
Bronx Expressway, who breathe in pollutants every day that cause
respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease. And we saw those
diseases become lethal during COVID-19.
As a son of the Bronx, I was often in three places. I was at home, I
was at school, and I was in the emergency room, because I was
repeatedly hospitalized for asthma. And the asthma epidemic in the
Bronx, again, is not an accident. It is a consequence of the Cross
Bronx Expressway, which is both literally and metaphorically a
structure of racism. The South Bronx has a childhood asthma
hospitalization rate that is double to three times the national
average.
So like the South Bronx, the neighborhood of Greenwood has its own
racist highway. And one of the most exciting features of the American
Jobs Plan is a proposed $20 billion fund that would rebuild
neighborhoods that have been divided and devastated by the structural
racism of highways. And I hope neighborhoods like Greenwood and the
South Bronx will benefit from our national reckoning with race.
The impact of the massacre and the ongoing systemic discrimination is
clear when you compare North Tulsa, where many Black residents of Tulsa
now live, to other areas. North Tulsan residents are significantly
poorer than residents in other parts of the city. There are fewer
businesses and large-scale employers in North Tulsa than in other
cities.
According to a 2018 city study, North Tulsa had the fewest jobs of
any region of Tulsa. The unemployment rate is 2.37 percent times higher
for Black Tulsans than for White Tulsans. The lowest life expectancy in
Tulsa occurs in the poorest regions with the greatest concentration of
Black residents.
The United States has a responsibility to both acknowledge the harm
caused by the Tulsa Massacre and to enact legal remedies and policy
proposals to compensate survivors and their descendants. And as many of
you know, there is no greater champion of making the victims of
systemic racism whole, no greater champion of reparations than the
chair of our Special Order hour, Congress Member Jackson Lee.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson
Lee).
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York
from illustrating, elaborating on, detailing, and bringing to the 21st
century the horrors of the Tulsa race riots, calling it what it is and
not being fearful of acknowledging the riotist and violent impact of
the Tulsa race riots.
Madam Speaker, it is my honor to now continue the discussion on
behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus and my cochair of the Special
Order hour, the Honorable Congressman Torres of New York.
Let me, first of all, thank our chair, Chairwoman Beatty, for
matching her members with this process of ensuring that the history,
the unbiased history of a people in all of our variations is told
truthfully.

{time} 2015

We, too, are Americans. The Tulsan residents of that time were
Americans as well.
I am reminded of the early stages of my education. When Congressman

[[Page H2411]]

Torres' history was the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, I could
almost repeat that in my sleep, the three ships that came with
Christopher Columbus. He was the founder of America--over and over
again.
I'm not sure during the period of our early childhood and those of
recent vintage learned anything of Native American history, Korean-
American history, Japanese-American, Chinese-American, African-
American, slavery. I don't know if our children in periods of the 20th
century and now in the 21st century knew there was more history.
I do know that the past President wanted the Smithsonian, the
African-American culture, to stop teaching about African history. I
know that there was a challenge to the U.S. Department of Education by
Minority Leader McConnell, to stop teaching the 1619 Project. It
baffles me because I believe that, if a country or a people know its
history, we will not be doomed to repeat the past.
When I say ``a people,'' America is represented by many people. If we
knew each other's history, if we understood each other's history, could
we not--even if not those who are already past understanding, but could
our children grow up with empathy and understanding?
That is why we are here on the floor of the House. We are not here to
castigate and to throw untruthful hits. We are here to tell the truth.
Madam Speaker, tears come to my eyes as a series--and I only get to
look at television late in the night, after all the day's work is done,
and there is a series called ``The Underground Railroad.'' You cannot
look at that without shaking in your boots, shaking in the chair you
are sitting in, tears coming to your eyes.
That is the empathy that America can understand for all the journeys
that so many of us have taken. We have taken it, and we are here in
this place. The greatest experiment that the world watches.
Can they make it?
They were watching it from Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation, 1863, and then General Granger in 1865.
They watched us through the 1800s. We failed. Reconstruction did not
work. Even with all the Governors and Congress people that had been
elected are freed slaves. That ugly head of racism, white supremacy,
lynching, the tearing asunder of Black communities, the still tearing
apart of families, the lynching of men and women who went off to the
grocery store--when I say that, the local store, whatever it was down
the road--and never came back.
In 1921--boy, I am just so proud of this picture--this is bustling
Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the example of the excitement. I am reading
where it says the McGowan Variety Store. There are some McGowans in
Houston. They might be related. These are the prancing people with
their cowboy hats on. It looks as if students, just like we would see
in our neighborhoods today or in our high schools today, dancers, they
had a full holistic community. There is some cars on the street.
Can you imagine 1921?
Oh, I wish I could just take a trip back, just stand on the sidewalk,
and just look with pride of history I did not know. I never imagined
there were cities like Tulsa, Oklahoma, as I was growing up as a child.
I never imagined we had anything, we were worth anything, except for
what my mother and father and grandparents poured into me.
My big mother, which was my great-grandmother, owned property
obviously destroyed by the highways and freeways that came in and took
it away in St. Petersburg, Florida. I just thought that was our way of
life. Just like I thought riding in the back of a train going south to
visit her, sitting by my lonely with a bag of fried chicken--that is
right, I am not embarrassed--to carry me through to visit my
grandmother in St. Petersburg, Florida. Thank God, I got there safely.
I was just about 8 or 9 or 10, and I was sitting in the colored car,
and I wasn't supposed to move except for necessary purposes.
I didn't know--I didn't know I could come here and see this. And our
children don't know it. That is why we are on the floor today. We are
on the floor today because we have to begin to embrace each other's
story.
So I am very delighted that I am leading on H. Res. 398, embraced by
the Congressional Black Caucus. This will be on the floor of the House
this coming Wednesday. And my counterpart in the United States Senate
is a very dear friend, Senator Elizabeth Warren, who believes in this
resolution, that is the recognizing of the forthcoming centennial, the
1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. And it doesn't say ``riot.'' It says
``massacre.'' It was a massacre.
I Thank the House leadership. I thank them for their understanding
the value and importance of this as we lead into June and begin to move
on H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals.
It is nothing harmful. There is nothing that will undermine anyone. It
is to accept what happened.
So I am so grateful we have almost 100 cosponsors, and maybe more to
come into the next 24 hours, for a story that was never told.
Oh, yes, as a little Black girl, I could tell you about Columbus,
tell you about Abraham Lincoln, tell you about George Washington. And
most of them today in the 21st century, they are not hearing about the
wide diversity of our history, Madam Speaker--yours and mine and the
many people that are on this side of the aisle or that side of the
aisle.
So let me just recount very briefly again. A century ago, White
rioters, local law enforcement, and self-appointed vigilantes claim to
be acting reasonably and in self-defense against what they feared was
an upcoming Black uprising.
Same as January 6, where there are people who had the audacity to say
it looked like tourists on any normal day, when we were laying flat on
the floor in this building while banging and screams and guns drawn on
this side of that door. We didn't know whether we would live. And a
lifesaving shot for that person who did not know what was happening,
attempting to save lives. Sadly, someone lost their life.

Members in near panic--rightly so--leaving these Chambers and walking
down and seeing AK-47s in the hands of individuals laying flat on the
ground, that our brave officers had under their watch.
Yes, rioters. But in Greenwood, I want this picture to be embedded in
your DNA, because you will see economic prosperity, self-sufficiency.
Yes, it was known as the Black Wall Street. They viewed, however, black
males as fearsome, physical threats to their personal safety, and the
rivals of White women. I don't know what happened in an elevator,
allegedly. The story, you know, it is always a mystery, but some claim
of some insult that occurred.
And all of a sudden the word went out enraging leaders of the White
community, fine citizens, probably in some church over the weekend.
When I say in their church in that time, because they were always using
the Bible wrongly and incorrectly. And I will say that because I
believe in a merciful redemptive Jesus, as a Christian. There are many
other faiths, Torah and Koran and others.
But I know in the redemptive faith of Christianity, we believe in
redemption. We don't go out because we know that we have had one to
sacrifice for us on the cross so that we might be redeemed. We sing
that song in our community, ``Let the Redeemed Say So.'' But apparently
they didn't have that memory.
100,000 Black people lived in that area, sold luxury items. Twenty-
one restaurants, 30 grocery stores, a hospital, savings and loan, a
post office, three hotels, jewelry and clothing, two movie theaters, a
library, pool halls, bus and cab service, a nationally recognized
school system. A nationally recognized school system, when all of us
are fighting for our children to be educated.
Today, I left Houston. And guess what? We have a new resident of
Texas: Curtis Jackson, known as 50 Cent.
We were standing together because he was producing with Mayor Turner
and Al Kashani and the School Superintendent Grenita Lathan, and all
elected officials to announce an entrepreneurial program.
Can you imagine, to be able to build up our children?
They had two Black newspapers, six private planes. And I want to say
it again, a recognized school system.
On May 31 of that year, 35 city blocks went up in flames and 300
persons were

[[Page H2412]]

murdered and, to my knowledge, buried in an unmarked grave; 800 were
injured and 9,000 were left homeless.
Yes, one cannot ignore this history, but it has been ignored, it has
been snuffed out, it has been put under.
I never knew about it until people like Dr. Crutcher, from this great
city, and various leaders that have brought to our attention even more.
But over the years, obviously, in my study of reparations, I have seen
the insults that have happened when no one bothered to respond.
Brutality that we are now trying to correct by acknowledging in H.
Res. 398, and I hope my colleagues will come to the floor of the House
to be able to address it.
Let me show you what that massacre generated, and you will
understand.
Madam Speaker, how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman has 7 minutes remaining.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, you saw the bustling town. You saw
the bustling town. This is a charred Negro who suffered in the Tulsa
riots.
Yes, I am like Emmett Till's mother, Let the world see it. This is
what happened to an innocent Black person.
By the way, the dead included children. Tulsa Historical Society.
This is America. And this is a story that we failed to tell. This is
what happened.
We have more stories to tell. We believe that a picture is worth a
thousands words. We can never, never overcome that burned, charred
body.
I showed you what Tulsa looked like, the Black Wall Street, and the
burned-out ruins of Greenwood. Tulsa, Oklahoma library--they even got
it in the library. I don't know how many people have seen it. It is a
wasteland, a literal wasteland. Smoke is coming up. People's homes are
gone. Wealth is gone. People were never to be presented with any
relief. None. I don't even think they got a thank-you--not even a
thank-you.
So our resolution condemns violence and destruction perpetrated
against the African-American community of Greenwood. Our resolution has
a rejection and active opposition to the false ideology of white
supremacy and condemnation of all groups. Our resolution believes in
promoting tolerance and unity, and taking action to ensure governmental
policies and action to promote tolerance and unity.
Our resolution is calling for all Americans to celebrate the ethnic,
racial, and religious diversity that has made the United States great.
Our resolution encourages all persons of the United States to reflect
upon the history of the United States as an imperfect but committed
journey to establish a more perfect union. Our resolution is recognized
as a commitment of Congress to acknowledge and learn from the history
of racism and racial violence in the United States.
Our resolution lays the groundwork for moving to H.R. 40, the
Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals, because we can
see it in real life.

{time} 2030

So this is part of the Tulsa that never got acknowledged.
Madam Speaker, let me show you additional fires so you can see the
buildings going up in smoke. We are not making it up. All of these
buildings--brick buildings--were burned to the ground.
Can you imagine someone who survived the post-traumatic stress, the
horrors of their life, the willingness not to live anymore, and the
giving up of hope?
People wonder, oh, those lazy Negroes and colored people who worked
for over 250 years in bondage.
Finally, I am going to put the picture of the slaves, the
individuals. So this is the story we tell tonight. We don't even tell
it with a sense of vengeance. We tell it with a sense of dignity,
respect, and honor. The courage of those people, and the genius of
those people--they weren't even freed slaves for 100 years and look
what they created.
There is a story on CNN: ``My great-grandmother survived the 1921
Tulsa massacre. We are not heeding her history.'' For what was once the
wealthiest Black neighborhood in America became charred ash in a matter
of hours. But we have not come to a conclusion to end this kind of
White supremacy and racism.
Madam Speaker, I include this in the Record.

[From CNN, May 14, 2021]

Opinion: My Great-Grandmother Survived the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. We're
Not Heeding Her History

A century ago, my Black brothers and sisters were decimated
by one of the worst occurrences of racial violence in our
nation's history. On May 31 and June 1, 1921, White gangs
flooded into the thriving Greenwood neighborhood and murdered
up to 300 Black men, women and children. According to the
Tulsa Historical Society, 1,500 Black homes were burned,
along with over 600 businesses, and places of worship,
healing, learning and gathering.
My great-grandmother, Rebecca Brown Crutcher--a woman who
was the picture of Black excellence--lived and worked in the
Greenwood community. But in 1921, she fled in fear of her
life as White Tulsans burned her neighborhood to the ground.
What was once the wealthiest Black neighborhood in America
became charred ash in a matter of hours. 10,000 Black
residents were left homeless--and an entire generation of
Black Tulsans were robbed of their wealth and prosperity they
had built. To this day, not one person has ever been held
accountable and not a single cent of reparations has been
paid to the survivors or the victims' descendants.
Without this necessary reckoning with the past, we're
already repeating it. As Oklahoma and many around the world
are preparing to mark the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race
Massacre, last month, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a
law criminalizing peaceful protesters and giving immunity to
drivers who ``unintentionally'' kill or injure protesters.
This law is, according to the count kept by the International
Center for Not-For-Profit Law, just one of 81 anti-protest
bills introduced in 34 states during the 2021 legislative
session alone--most of them framed as a response to last
summer's Black Lives Matter protests. But instead of tackling
the root causes of these nationwide protests against police
brutality, racism and anti-Blackness, many lawmakers are
attempting to intimidate, malign and criminalize peaceful
protesters.
Laws like this one will undoubtedly have painful and long-
lasting consequences in Oklahoma and the rest of the nation.
Black, brown and Indigenous people will surely be locked up,
ripped apart from their families, and may lose their jobs for
exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble
in a protest. They will surely receive harsher punishments
for protesting police brutality and racial injustice than,
for instance, White protesters demonstrating for gun rights
or for their desire to control a woman's body.
This isn't the only bill introduced in Oklahoma this
session that's followed the Tulsa Race Massacre's sinister
legacy of suppression and erasure of Black Oklahomans. Half a
dozen bills have already been introduced to restrict absentee
voting and require identification to vote, echoing the
growing trend of voting restrictions around the country.
Historically in our state as elsewhere, these tactics have
been used to disenfranchise Black and brown, poor and older
communities and people with disabilities, with the precedent
being set in one state and spreading like wildfire to the
rest of the country.
On May 7, Governor Stitt signed HB 1775 into law, which
will prohibit Oklahoma schools from teaching critical race
theory--or in other words important lessons about systemic
racism and diversity. The measure is meant to essentially
stifle important discussions about, among other things, the
1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the Trail of Tears and the Osage
murders in classrooms and beyond. Erasing our history, yet
again, will have devastating consequences. And Oklahoma isn't
alone--bills banning or restricting the teaching of critical
race theory have been drafted in Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri,
New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and West Virginia and
already passed in Utah, Arkansas, Idaho and Tennessee.
Bills like HB 1775 attempt to obscure the fact that heinous
instances of racial violence, from slavery to Jim Crow laws
to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, are not blemishes on our
history but consequences of discriminatory systems that
continue to harm Black people today.
Such laws are designed to prevent a full and honest
accounting of how systemic racism works. The bill says it
will prohibit the teaching that ``an individual, by virtue of
his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions
committed in the past by other members of the same race or
sex,'' thereby upholding White supremacy and helping absolve
the city of Tulsa and the state of the moral obligation of
paying reparations to the survivors and descendants of the
Tulsa Race Massacre. HB 1775 also flies in the face of
reality--as if the wealth and security stripped from Black
Tulsans a century ago doesn't have a direct relationship to
the widening gaps in home ownership, education, life
expectancy and arrest rates today.
Each of us should learn the hard lessons of the 1921 Tulsa
Race Massacre and the continued harm shouldered by the
survivors, the descendants and the neighborhood of Greenwood.
We should learn that race, racism and discrimination have
very real, concrete effects on our history, our culture, our
politics and our current lives. But we can't learn the truth
or grow from it if it's hidden from us--and that's precisely
what HB 1775 attempts

[[Page H2413]]

to do. In so doing, this measure continues the harm of the
1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, because a century later, Stitt and
our elected officials are still trying to bury the lessons
that our ancestors would want us to carry forward.
As a descendant of a Tulsa Race Massacre survivor, it's
painful to see Oklahoma's governor refuse to learn from our
history and acknowledge its continuing impact today. Instead,
he's chosen to saddle our teachers and educators with even
more baggage, and potentially penalize them for doing what's
right.
My hope is that our teachers will look this evil in the eye
and refuse to give in or back down. I hope they will continue
teaching the truth about topics like the 1921 Tulsa Race
Massacre--including that it was borne from White supremacy, a
mortal threat to our democracy that remains with us today.
Our students deserve the unbridled truth, not a polished
facade that makes us feel good about ourselves.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I include the KJRH article in the
Record.

[From KJRH]

Gov. Stitt Responds to Letter From Tulsa Race Massacre Commission

Tulsa, OK, May 14, 2021.--Gov. Kevin Stitt has officially
been removed from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial
Commission.
This comes after Stitt signed a bill limiting race and
gender curriculums in Oklahoma schools earlier in May. House
Bill 1775 prohibits state public schools, colleges, and
universities from incorporating certain messages about sex
and race into any course instruction.
This also comes on the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa
race massacre, where a white mob attacked Black residents and
businesses in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, also known as
Black Wall Street.
The governor's office released the following statement
Friday afternoon:
``Governor Stitt's role as a member of the 1921 Tulsa Race
Massacre Centennial Commission has been purely ceremonial and
he had not been invited to attend a meeting until this week.
It is disappointing to see an organization of such importance
spend so much effort to sow division based on falsehoods and
political rhetoric two weeks before the centennial and a
month before the commission is scheduled to sunset. The
governor and first lady will continue to support the
revitalization of the Greenwood District, honest
conversations about racial reconciliation and pathways of
hope in Oklahoma.''
The commission sent 2 News the following statement:
``The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commissioners met
Tuesday and agreed through consensus to part ways with
Governor Stitt. No elected officials, nor representatives of
elected officials, were involved in this decision. While the
Commission is disheartened to part ways with Governor Stitt,
we are thankful for the things accomplished together. The
Commission remains focused on lifting up the story of Black
Wall Street and commemorating the Centennial. With just weeks
before the Centennial of one of the worst Race massacres in
the history of the U.S., Commissioners stand united in
focusing time, energy and efforts on descendants, survivors,
education, economic development and progress this year and
beyond. We hope to see many of you in person or virtually at
some of our events that we hope will drive change for years
to come.''
The commission previously issued Stitt a letter after he
did not join a special meeting Monday night to discuss the
signing of HB 1775 into law.
Phil Armstrong, the project director of the 1921 Tulsa Race
Massacre Centennial Commission, said HB 1775 ``chills the
ability of educators to teach students, of any age, and will
only serve to intimidate educators who seek to reveal and
process our hidden history. You know that. We delivered this
message to you before you signed the measure. We were joined
by educators, school boards, universities, faith, and
community leaders, all of whom vigorously objected to HB
1775. You seemingly disregarded and dismissed this chorus of
voices aligned against HB 1775.''
The governor responded by saying, in part, ``it is
disappointing that some commission members feel that a
common-sense law preventing students from being taught that
one race or sex is superior to another is contrary to the
mission of reconciliation and restoration.''
C.J. Webber-Neal, president of the Greenwood Arts &
Cultural Society, INC., also called for the governor's
resignation as a commission member. In a statement, Webber-
Neal said he was satisfied with having Stitt removed from the
commission.
``The Greenwood Arts & Cultural Society, INC. is very
pleased that the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial
Commission has with one concise voice taken action to remove
Kevin Stitt, Governor of Oklahoma, from it body.
Based upon the stated mission of this body, we stand in
solidarity with their action regarding Governor Stitt's role
as a member of this Commission, based upon his signing of HB
1775 into law. The truth of the horrific story of 1921's Race
Massacre (as well as other history of the experiences of
minorities in America) must be taught honestly and
unequivocally, so that future generations will learn of the
demons of our past so we as a society will not be doomed to
repeat this evil act.
At this time, we also encourage this body to add in the
Governor's place survivors and descendants of the massacre,
so that representation of this painful period in our history
can be reflected thru the experiences of those who were
directly impacted by this tragic event.
Furthermore, we encourage any available monetary relief be
given by this organization to the three survivors of the 1921
Tulsa Race Massacre. This should be done as both a sign of
reconciliation and the rising of the eternal spirit of
Greenwood. This we believe is long overdue.''

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I include a detailed account of the
Tulsa Race Massacre in the Congressional Record.

Detailed Account of Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921

ACCOUNT BASED ON FACTS AND DOCUMENTS REPORTED IN ``FINAL REPORT OF THE
OKLAHOMA COMMISSSION TO STUDY THE TULSA RACE RIOT OF 1921''

Starting late on the evening on May 31 and continuing into
the day of June 1, 1921, a White mob attacked the Greenwood
district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, razing it to the ground. The
attackers looted and intentionally burned an estimated 1,256
homes in Greenwood--known as America's ``Black Wall
Street''--along with nearly all the district's churches,
schools, and businesses.
The number of persons killed in the riot may never be
known, but a 2001 report by African Americans during this era
lived under the ever-present threat of mass racial violence--
which often took the form of White mobs invading Black
communities. It was also during this period that thousands of
African Americans accused of crimes against White people--but
particularly Black men accused of sexual assaulting White
women--were summarily executed by White lynch mobs. Local
authorities at the time often condoned or even participated
in these extrajudicial killings or otherwise did little to
nothing to stop them.
Yet despite this national atmosphere, Tulsa's Greenwood
district thrived. Black workers were mostly shut out of the
booming oil industry driving Tulsa's meteoric turn-of-the-
century growth, so many working-class residents had to find
work doing menial or domestic labor. Greenwood's vibrant
economy instead was driven mainly by residents'
entrepreneurial skills previously developed in the many all-
Black towns that dotted the Oklahoma landscape. The range of
Black-owned businesses located in Greenwood included grand
hotels, restaurants, theaters, pharmacies, diners,
barbershops, and small mom-and-pop shops. Greenwood was also
home to hundreds of professionals, including doctors,
lawyers, and real estate agents. Many residents lived under
conditions typical of the working-class in that era and
subsisted without running water or electricity. The
district's more prosperous residents lived in modern houses
befitting their middle and upper-class economic status.
Simply put, by the time of the Massacre, the residents of
Greenwood had created a thriving, and, in many ways
economically self-sufficient, Black enclave.
No African American had been lynched in Tulsa at the time
of the Massacre. The threat of racially motivated violence,
however, cast an everpresent shadow over the Greenwood
district. Incidents of lynching occurring across the country
were heavily reported in the local Black press. Editorials in
local Black-owned newspapers in Tulsa published the year or
so leading up to the Massacre decried instances of ``mob
law'' and prominent Greenwood residents advocated for armed
African Americans to protect Black prisoners from White lynch
mobs. Most saliently, the lynching of a White man in Tulsa
and of a young African American man in Oklahoma City within
the same week in the year proceeding the Massacre convinced
many Black Tulsans that local authorities could not be
counted on to protect a Black person accused of a serious
crime against a White person.
Notably--but unsurprisingly in segregated Tulsa--none of
these Black viewpoints on lynching were reflected in the
local White press, and likely few, if any White Tulsans
regularly read Black-owned newspapers. Instead, the White-
owned press focused at that time on crime and allegations of
local corruption. An oil boomtown at the beginning of the
Prohibition Era, Tulsa's crime rate in the early 1920's
appeared to residents to be increasing. In particular, the
city had gained a seedy reputation for illegal liquor and
prostitution.
For the most part during the period leading up to the
Massacre, White-owned papers had not blamed African Americans
for the apparent rise in crime, and crimes in Greenwood did
not receive a disproportionate amount of coverage. But only
10 days prior to the Massacre, a story focused White Tulsans'
attention on the then-racially inflammatory subject of
relations between Black men and White women. On May 21, 1921,
a local story regarding a police investigation into the
city's prostitution quoted a former local judge blaming the
problem on the hotels and ``Negro pimps,'' and recounted the
testimony of a local clergyman that led a group of White men
undercover who claimed that African American porters
routinely offered them the services of White

[[Page H2414]]

prostitutes, and to have witnessed carousing between Black
men and White women at a roadhouse just outside the city
limits.
To be clear, as this contemporary newspaper story implies,
the racism and prejudices of many White Tulsans tainted their
perceptions of the Black community and the later events that
set off the Massacre. Despite the fact that racial
segregation laws were gaining ground statewide in
Oklahoma, many White Tulsans appeared to fear that the
color line was blurring and grew angry at instances where
Black Tulsans challenged or ignored segregationist laws
and practices. Further contributing to some White Tulsans'
racial grievances was resentment of Greenwood's most
prosperous residents, a feeling that appears to have been
exacerbated by a drop in oil prices and subsequent oil
field layoffs that preceded the Massacre. In a deeply
segregated city where Black residents could not work, live
near, or socialize with their fellow residents as equals,
many White Tulsans filled the vacuum created by the lack
of racial equality and understanding with racism and
prejudice.
This local newspaper story, and another on a breakout at
the jail printed a few days later (though containing no
racial overtones) appeared to provide White Tulsans fed up
with crime--and inflamed by racial prejudice--a convenient
racial scapegoat for their frustrations, and contributed to
longstanding local conditions that had turned Tulsa into a
powder keg waiting for a spark to ignite.
The night of May 31, 1921, the spark was struck as Black
Tulsans' fear of a lynching appeared on the cusp of
realization. That day police took into custody nineteen-year-
old Dick Rowland, a Black man accused of sexually assaulting
Sarah Page, a seventeen-year-old White elevator operator.
After word of the allegations spread through Tulsa's
newspapers. One White-owned Tulsa paper ran an article
entitled ``Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator'' and a
number of eyewitnesses recall seeing a newspaper editorial
entitled ``To Lynch Negro--that evening a large White crowd
began to gather around the courthouse jail where Rowland was
being held. At the same time, several groups of Black
Tulsans--many of whom were World War I veterans--resolved to
protect the Black prisoner threatened by the mob.
As the mob jeered the handful of deputy sheriffs guarding
the courthouse, a group of 25 Black Tulsans approached the
beleaguered officers to offer their assistance. The local
authorities quickly declined their offer, but the sight of
armed Black men insistent on protecting Rowland from ``mob
law'' proved too much for the thousand-strong White crowd. As
the Black Tulsans returned to Greenwood assured of Rowland's
safety for the moment, some members of the White crowd left
to obtain firearms from their homes.
The Massacre began after a second group of around 75 armed
Black Tulsans returned to the courthouse later that evening
following reports that the White mob continued to grow even
larger (later estimated at 2,000 individuals) and more
agitated. They again offered their assistance to local
authorities guarding Rowland and were again rebuffed. This
time, however, as they departed, elements of the White crowd
accosted a Black World War I veteran with a racial slur and a
demand for his weapon. When the veteran refused, a scuffle
broke out over the gun and shots were fired.
While these shots could have been unintentional, members of
the White mob--and possibly some members of law enforcement
present at the courthouse--immediately opened fire on all the
Black men present. The Black Tulsans returned fire. While the
initial shooting at the courthouse lasted only a few seconds,
several street battles erupted among groups of Black and
White Tulsans. The Black Tulsans--significantly outnumbered
by the mob and fighting now for their own lives--engaged in a
fighting retreated, exchanging gunfire with their White
pursuers as they sought to return to the relative safety of
the Greenwood district.
In the immediate aftermath of the events at the courthouse, some
Whites began making brief armed forays into Greenwood by car or
committing indiscriminate acts of looting, murder, and mayhem. Around
1:00 a.m. on June 1 there began the first reports of fires being set.
When the fire brigade answered the call, armed Whites prevented them
from putting out the fires. By 4:00 a.m. more than two dozen Black-
owned businesses had been destroyed by flames. The worst destruction,
however, had yet to come.
As many of these events were occurring simultaneous and
across a relative wide area of the city, confusion reigned as
the night of May 31 became the early morning hours of June 1,
1921. Some Black residents resolved to defend their homes and
businesses, taking up armed positions to defend Greenwood.
Skirmishes broke out between armed Blacks and Whites at
various points in the district in the early overnight hours.
Other Black residents, rightly fearing the worst had yet to
occur, began to leave the city--many escaped but some were
killed.
Still other Black residents thought the worst had already
happened; that as far as they knew Dick Rowland had not been
lynched, and--with the most intense skirmishing having abated
by 2:00 a.m. according to one Black eyewitness--some of
Greenwood's defenders even concluded that they had
successfully fended off the attackers.
Whites engaged in the attack also committed numerous other
atrocities. According to one Black eyewitness, White looters
murdered a Black elderly disabled man who, despite having
expressed a willingness to do so, could not comply with their
order to leave his home. According to one White eyewitness,
prominent Black surgeon Dr. A.C. Jackson was gunned down on
his front lawn with his hands up after attempting to comply
with the White rioters. Another Black eyewitness recounted
how he and 30 or 40 other men who had surrendered to the
rioters were lined up and forced to run with hands over their
heads to an interment center located at Convention Hall, all
while some of their White captors shot at their heels with
guns. A group of White men even ran a car into the group,
knocking over two or three of their number. In another
horrifying display of brutality, a Black disabled homeless
man was tied by his leg to a car and dragged by ``white
thugs'' through the streets of the downtown business district
where he panhandled.
Many Black residents--including women with children or
elderly family members in tow--were shot at in the streets as
they attempted to flee. Despite the ferocity of the
attackers, many Black residents continued their armed
resistance. Eventually, however, these defenders were
overwhelmed by the sheer force of numbers and firepower of
the White invaders.
Of course, not all Tulsans shared the racism of the White
rioters. There are several accounts of Whites hiding Black
Tulsans fleeing the violence at farms or homes outside the
city or standing up to White rioters who threatened them for
sheltering Black acquaintances at their workplace. According
to one account, a recent young Mexican immigrant named Maria
Morales Gutierrez saved two Black children from being strafed
by an airplane. She then later refused White rioters' demands
to hand the children over to them. She and the children
survived.
The assault and destruction of Greenwood lasted roughly
until midday June 1, 1921, when martial law was declared.
Around 9:00 a.m., a National Guard unit based in Oklahoma
City--which was entirely White--finally arrived by train
after having been requested hours earlier by local
authorities. By the time these ``State Troops''--as both
Blacks and Whites later referred to them to differentiate
them from the local ``Home Guard'' unit discussed further
below--arrived in Tulsa, the violence had been occurring for
nearly 11 hours. Many Blacks and Whites were dead, and while
some looting continued, the Greenwood district was mostly in
fiery ruin. Most of the city's Black residents had either
fled or had been interned against their will at several
locations, including at the Convention Hall, a fairground,
and a baseball park.
Local authorities later claimed that this was for the
protection of Black lives, but without a doubt they were also
motivated by lingering fear of a supposed ``Negro uprising.''
A number of these ``Special Deputies''--identified by
ribbons and other ``badges of office'' supplied to them--were
witnessed engaging in arson, likely engaged in other acts of
violence and mayhem during the Massacre and aided in rounding
up Black residents for internment.
Immediately following the shooting near the courthouse,
Whites had begun breaking into sporting good stores,
pawnshops, and hardware stores to steal firearms with which
to arm themselves--some later claiming that they were
``borrowing'' the weapons.
One business owner--whose sporting goods store was
literally across the street from police headquarters--later
testified that a police officer helped distribute the guns
that were taken from his store.
The local guard unit also worked with the Tulsa Police
Department to round up, disarm, and take into custody Black
residents, with guardsmen offering the promise that if they
came peacefully their homes and businesses would be
protected.
This action, however, effectively left Black lives and
property defenseless to a White Mob aided by local police
officers and their ``Special Deputies'', leading to further
destruction of property and helping contribute to the near
total internment of the Black population in the days
immediately following the riot.
In the eyes of the grand jury, a group of armed Black
residents standing up for equal rights understandably
provoked the White crowd, and therefore, the entire Black
community in Greenwood essentially deserved what happened.
Adding to this injustice, the grand jury indicted 85 people--
the majority of whom were African Americans--with Massacre-
related offenses.
While most of these charges were ultimately dismissed or
not pursued no Whites were ever sent to prison for any of the
murders or arson committed on May 31 and June 1, 1921.
Due to their decades-long efforts, the story of the
Massacre slowly resurfaced in the national consciousness,
leading to greater demands for the justice long denied to
aging survivors and their next of kin.
At the state and local level, in 1997 the Oklahoma State
Legislature created the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Race
Riot of 1921. In 2001, the commission issued a final report
and recommendations. In a letter to officials for the State
of Oklahoma

[[Page H2415]]

and the City of Tulsa accompanying the report, the commission
noted that in February 2000, the commission had already
declared:
that reparations to the historic Greenwood community in
real and tangible form would be good public policy and do
much to repair the emotional and physical scars of this
terrible incident in our shared past. We listed several
recommended courses of action including direct payments to
riot survivors and descendants; a scholarship fund available
to students affected by the riot; establishment of an
economic development enterprise zone in the historic
Greenwood district; a memorial for the riot victims.
The commission reiterated its support for reparations and
emphasized that these recommendations were a starting point
and not exhaustive. Twenty years later, however, neither the
State of Oklahoma nor the City of Tulsa has provided direct
compensation to survivors and their descendants.
In recent years, the City of Tulsa has made some token
gestures to acknowledge the Massacre. In 2010, the City of
Tulsa dedicated the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park to
commemorate the Massacre's victims. In 2018, the City of
Tulsa finally announced that it would reexamine the potential
mass graves noted in the 2001 commission report. In October
2020, archeologists discovered a mass grave at Oaklawn
Cemetery, one of the possible mass grave sites identified in
the 2001 report, and the City plans to exhume the bodies for
further identification in June 2021. While the City of Tulsa
has, in effect, capitalized on its public campaign to
acknowledge the Massacre, pointedly, it appears to have made
no plan to use the resources generated to directly compensate
survivors and their descendants nor address the racial and
economic disparities that can be traced back to the Massacre.
In May 2020, Human Rights Watch issued a report recommending
several actions to be taken at the federal, state, and local
level to address the Massacre, including providing
compensation directly to survivors and their descendants, and
reparations to the Black community in Tulsa for racial
discrimination exacerbated by the Massacre. According to the
report, Greenwood had begun to thrive again by the 1940s. Yet
rather than preserve what it once allowed to be destroyed,
the State of Oklahoma and the City of Tulsa took several
subsequent actions that disproportionately burdened Black
residents--including the building of several highways through
Greenwood starting in the 1960s and through the 1970s--that
ultimately led to Greenwood's long term decline.
These actions also forced the majority of residents to move
out of historic Greenwood into North Tulsa, which to this day
is significantly poorer compared to other areas of the city.
Additionally, survivors and their descendants have filed
legal claims against the City of Tulsa and the State of
Oklahoma seeking compensation for Massacre-related harms.
Unfortunately, time and distance from the events have in the
past worked to thwart these claims. In 2004, the Tenth
Circuit, upholding the lower court's decision to grant the
State and City's motion for summary judgment, held that the
plaintiffs' claims were barred by the applicable statute of
limitations, and that no equitable tolling to the statute of
limitations period applied. The Supreme Court denied the
plaintiff's petition for writ of certiorari in 2005. Despite
these adverse legal rulings, a lawsuit for Massacre-related
claims was filed in state court last year alleging that the
Massacre is an ongoing injustice to the residents of
Greenwood because contemporary racial and economic
disparities existing in Tulsa can be traced back to the
attack.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Then I want to salute those who will be honoring 100
years in the next couple of weeks. I want to very quickly say that
remember what I said, I knew the history of Christopher Columbus. I
didn't know the history of my Native American brothers. I didn't know
the history of my own self, slavery. I know Big Mother, which is what
we called her. She owned land, and then I knew it disappeared. I knew I
rode in the back of a train to visit her as a little girl.
Guess what, Madam Speaker?
Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma was on the commission on the Tulsa
race massacre, but he signed the bill limiting race and gender
curriculums in Oklahoma schools earlier in May.
Madam Speaker, can you believe it?
It was House bill 1775. As well, he goes on to not stand for what
this commission is all about: truth.
So tonight we come to the floor. Remember what I said: I am not in
any way throwing darts or stones at anyone. I am here to raise up the
dignity of this man, this person, this body, burned because he was
Black, prosperous, and ready to serve America.
No one can tell me how many in that 1921 massacre had been in World
War I, had worn the uniform and come home and made a new life.
How many can tell us out of those who would have lived, would have
been ready to go serve in World War II and then on, and their progeny
continue to build this wonderful economic engine?
Today those who remain are three living descendants of those who were
there. They tell me as I will go to Tulsa, there is one door left.
It is a crying shame. So I lift this story up, and I let you know,
Madam Speaker, that the Congressional Black Caucus, yes, the conscience
of this Nation, has a vital purpose to be able to tell the story.
Someone I hope is listening. Someone I hope is listening. Someone I
hope heard Brother Torres. I hope they heard Hank Johnson and Barbara
Lee. I hope they have heard all of us. Because if we do not know our
history, we are doomed to repeat it. We must take the reins, lift up
the dignity, honor these courageous saints, and we must fight on.
Pass this resolution on the centennial. Pass H.R. 40 to establish a
commission to study reparations. Pass the American Jobs Plan, pass the
American Rescue Plan, and lift all boats. For as we do so, God will be
the witness for what we have done and the journey we have made.
Madam Speaker, I am honored to have been here today. I am honored to
be part of the Congressional Black Caucus. I am honored to be part of
this House of Representatives. I am honored to be an American, and I
will not have my history denied or my children failing to know that
history. That is why we are here today. Let us march on until victory
is won.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Congressional Black
Caucus, I rise to anchor this most important Special Order remembering
one of the darkest moments in American history, the Tulsa-Greenwood
Race Massacre, that occurred in the African American Greenwood
community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 31-June 1, 1921.
I am pleased to be joined by Congressman Torres of New York, who will
co-anchor this Special Order and my several members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, which under the leadership of our Chair,
Congresswoman Beatty of Ohio, was unified and determined that the reign
of racial terror, carried out under color of law, that was visited on
the black citizens of Greenwood not be forgotten and that the injuries
they suffered be redressed.
Madam Speaker, earlier this year, I introduced a resolution (H. Res.
215 later modified as H. Res. 398), joined by 84 cosponsors,
recognizing the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
As the great southern writer William Faulkner reminded us: ``The past
is never dead. It's not even past.''
Madam Speaker, as I and other Members will elucidate this evening,
the hatreds, prejudices, resentments, and white supremacy that Black
Americans witnessed and suffered in Greenwood a century ago are not
dead; they are not even past.
A century ago, White rioters, local law enforcement, and self-
appointed vigilantes claimed to be acting reasonably and in self-
defense against what they feared was an upcoming Black uprising.
They resented the economic prosperity and self-sufficiency of the
Greenwood community, which was known nationally as ``Black Wall
Street.''
They viewed Black males as fearsome physical threats to their
personal safety and as rivals to white women.
These baseless, irrational concerns are not a relic of the past, they
are with us today and are what resulted in the deaths of George Floyd,
Tamir Rice, Deonte Wright, Stephon Clark, Amidou Diallo, and hundreds
of others too numerous to list.
In 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood District, known as ``Black Wall
Street,'' was one of the most documented prosperous African American
communities in the United States.
The Greenwood community with a population of over 100,000 Black
people had stores that sold luxury items, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery
stores, a hospital, a savings and loan bank, a post office, three
hotels, jewelry and clothing stores, two movie theaters, a library,
pool halls, a bus and cab service, a nationally recognized school
system, six private airplanes, and two black newspapers.
On May 31st of that year, the 35 city blocks of Greenwood went up in
flames, at least 300 Black persons were murdered and more than 800 were
injured; it is estimated that not less than 9,000 were left homeless
and destitute.
These rioters reenacted the brutality of the mob from a hundred years
ago in the hallowed halls of the Citadel of Democracy.
It should not be overlooked that the source of their irrational
anger, hatred, and violent reaction was that Black Americans voted in
overwhelming numbers in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Detroit
to oust the most negative, divisive, racially hostile, and incompetent
president's history, the 45th President,

[[Page H2416]]

who presided over the deaths of more than 500,000 Americans,
disproportionately Black and Brown.
The legacy of white mob violence inflicted upon the Black community
of Greenwood has scarred the descendants of the victims of this
American pogrom.
Madam Speaker, the events of January 6th have given us insight into
what the people of Greenwood, Oklahoma, faced when they were attacked
by a similar murderous mob.
H.R. 398 is a reminder to the nation of the ultimate cruelty
inflicted upon a people for dare believing that the promise of America
was attainable by them and their achievements would be respected and
protected by law.
But it does more than that, it puts the House of Representatives on
record that the United States can achieve a more perfect union:
1. by condemning the violence and destruction perpetrated against the
African-American community of Greenwood, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the scene
of the then-largest single instance of domestic terror against American
citizens;
2. through the rejection and active opposition to the false ideology
of White supremacy and condemnation of all groups and organizations
that ascribe to this false system of belief and seek to perpetuate
their views through violence and unlawful conduct;
3. by promoting tolerance and unity and taking actions to ensure that
governmental policies and actions do not foster division, disharmony,
or intolerance;
4. by calling upon all Americans to celebrate the ethnic, racial, and
religious diversity that has made the United States the leader of the
community of nations and the beacon of hope and inspiration to
oppressed persons everywhere;
5. encouraging all persons in the United States to reflect upon the
history of the United States as an imperfect but committed journey to
establish a more perfect union and to cherish and exercise the rights,
privileges, and responsibilities guaranteed by the Constitution; and
6. recognizing the commitment of Congress to acknowledge and learn
from the history of racism and racial violence in the United States,
including the Tulsa Race Massacre, to reverse the legacy of White
supremacy and fight for racial justice.
Madam Speaker, I will now briefly recount the horrific events cited
in H. Res. 398 that were experienced by the law-abiding Black community
of Greenwood on those terrible days.
In 1921, White supremacy and racist violence were common throughout
the United States and went largely unchecked by the justice system.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, reports of an alleged and disputed incident on
the morning of May 30, 1921, between two teenagers, a Black man and a
White woman, caused the White community of Tulsa, including the Tulsa
Tribune, to call for a lynching amidst a climate of White racial
hostility and White resentment over Black economic success.
On May 31, 1921, a mob of armed White men descended upon Tulsa's
Greenwood District and launched what is now known as the ``Tulsa Race
Massacre.''
Tulsa municipal and county authorities failed to take actions to calm
or contain the violence, and civil and law enforcement officials
deputized many White men who were participants in the violence as their
agents, directly contributing to the violence through overt and often
illegal acts.
Over a period of 24 hours, the White mob's violence led to the death
of an estimated 300 Black residents, as well as over 800 reports of
injuries.
The White mob looted, damaged, burned, or otherwise destroyed
approximately 40 square blocks of the Greenwood district, including an
estimated 1,256 homes of Black residents, as well as virtually every
other structure, including churches, schools, businesses, a hospital,
and a library, leaving nearly 9,000 Black residents of the Greenwood
community homeless and effectively wiping out tens of millions of
dollars in Black prosperity and wealth.
In the wake of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Governor of Oklahoma
declared martial law, and units of the Oklahoma National Guard
participated in the mass arrests of all or nearly all of Greenwood's
surviving residents, removing them from Greenwood to other parts of
Tulsa and unlawfully detaining them in holding centers.
Oklahoma local and state governments dismissed claims arising from
the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre for decades, and the event was effectively
erased from collective memory and history until, in 1997, the Oklahoma
State Legislature finally created a commission to study the event.
On February 28, 2001, the commission issued a report that detailed,
for the first time, the extent of the Massacre and decades-long efforts
to suppress its recollection.
None of the law enforcement officials nor any of the hundreds of
other White mob members who participated in the violence were ever
prosecuted or held accountable for the hundreds of lives lost and tens
of millions of dollars of Black wealth destroyed, despite the Tulsa
Race Massacre Commission confirming their roles in the Massacre, nor
was any compensation ever provided to the Massacre's victims or their
descendants.
Government and city officials not only abdicated their responsibility
to rebuild and repair the Greenwood community in the wake of the
violence, but actively blocked efforts to do so, contributing to
continued racial disparities in Tulsa akin to those that Black people
still face today across the United States.
Madam Speaker, the pattern of violence against Black people in the
United States, often at the hands of law enforcement, shows that the
fight to end State-sanctioned violence against Black people continues.
As the American Historical Association stated, ``What happened in
Tulsa was extreme, but not unusual. It is part of our nation's
heritage. We must acknowledge that heritage, learn from it, and do
whatever each of us can do to ensure that it is just that--heritage,
rather than a continuing practice.''
Madam Speaker, I will include in the Record a more detailed account
of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that is based on the ``Final Report of
the Oklahoma Commission to Study The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921,'' issued
February 28, 2001.
Madam Speaker, I also ask the House to observe a moment of silence in
memory of the victims and survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, and
their descendants to carry the terrible memories of that horrific day
and still grieve over the loss of so many loved ones and of faith in
the American system of justice.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, the Tulsa-Greenwood Massacre was
a mass killing targeting Black Americans in one of the prosperous Black
communities in the country. As we approach its 100th anniversary, we
must reflect on the events and beliefs that led to those fateful days
in late May of 1921, its place in our nation's history, and its lasting
impacts on the Black community.
Founded and built by former slaves, freed by the ratification of the
13th amendment, the Greenwood District was a true testament to the
American Dream. The district was defined by its entrepreneurial spirit
and success and offered newly-freed men and women the chance to make a
name for themselves and their families.
But their success was being followed closely by those who wished
otherwise--those who were looking for any opportunity to materialize
their resent. And in the face of baseless allegations of a crime
committed by a Black man, that hatred resulted in what is now known as
the Tulsa Race Massacre. The massacre resulted in the deaths of over
300 Black men, women, and children and left around 9,000 more without
homes or a source of income--not to mention the immeasurable impact
left on generations of Black Americans.
As Members of Congress, we stand here in the Capitol of the United
States, itself built by slaves who are largely forgotten, with a unique
opportunity to take action. That is why I am proud to be a cosponsor of
Congresswoman Jackson Lee and Senator Warren's resolution to recognize
the forthcoming centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and
condemning past and present efforts to downplay its significance. It is
critical that Congress take this step not only to honor the lives and
legacies of those lost but also to encourage education about the
massacre and the role white supremacy played in its inception.
Madam Speaker, today we recommit ourselves to fight the ever-present
racism and unjust violence against Black Americans. We do so on the
shoulders of those that came, fought, and suffered before us in the
hope that one day the American Dream is accessible to all--regardless
of race.

____________________