The Justice Department recently released its latest report on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre months after announcing that it would be conducting a new investigation.
In a 126-page report released last Friday, the DOJ provided new details about the massacre that killed over 300 Black residents and destroyed hundreds of businesses. Per the latest information, as “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa thrived, racist white residents of nearby towns carried resentment for the success of Black residents.
Under the unfounded claim spread by a local newspaper that 19-year-old Dick Rowland assaulted a white woman, the white residents called for a lynching. As the mob of racists grew outside of the courthouse, a group of Black World War I veterans were called to prevent the lynching. The interaction led to the first shot of violence, particularly as white residents were deputized by the local police.
According to the report, following the two-day massacre, city officials failed to keep their promise to help victims rebuild. Instead, they implemented strict fire codes to get residents to leave the land they claimed was best for industrial use. Insurance companies also attempted to use a “riot clause” as a loophole to prevent paying Black residents.
Although the report found that the one-week investigation conducted by the Bureau of Investigation was inconclusive and attempted to blame Black men for the massacre, the DOJ ended their report by saying that they could not take any legal action as the statute of limitations had passed and both perpetrators and witnesses are no longer living.
“The report recognizes that some may find the department’s inability to prosecute a painful or dissatisfying outcome. However, the review recognizes and documents the horrible events that occurred as well as the trauma and loss suffered by the residents of Greenwood,” said the DOJ in their report. “While legal and practical limitations prevent the perpetrators of the crimes committed in 1921 from being held criminally accountable in a court of law, the historical reckoning continues.”
Following the issuing of the report, Assistant Attorney General Clarke will reportedly meet with survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre. There are currently two living survivors- Viola Fletcher, 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109- who were both children when the massacre happened.
Both survivors are still actively seeking out justice for the burning of Tulsa, recently asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reconsider dismissing a case that would have given restitution.
“Oklahoma, and the United States of America, have failed its Black citizens,” the two women said in a statement per AP News. “With our own eyes, and burned deeply into our memories, we watched white Americans destroy, kill, and loot.”
