We are elated to learn that Monroe Nichols, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s first black mayor, is planning to honor his promise to award the city $105m to address the destruction in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. The award comes with two caveats: none of the remuneration is set aside for the two surviving members of the massacre and the is not explicitly calling it reparations, but rather a “road to repair.” The announcement was made on Sunday, the city’s first official Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day.
This is a meaningful step, no matter the terminology, and it is our hope that it spurs other reparations initiatives that have long been on the agenda, most notably since the late Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, introduced HR40 in 1989, and each year thereafter. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who died last year, reintroduced the bill that was sponsored again recently by Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
Even if Lessie Benningfield “Mother” Randle, 110, will not be receiving any money, she expressed joy upon hearing the announcement. “It is our rightful inheritance that was literally taken from us,” one Tulsa resident said, standing in the shadow of the Greenwood Cultural Center, where the legendary Black Wall Street once stood.
There is no way to determine how far this measure will ramify. Other significant reparation movements in Evanston, Illinois; Asheville, North Carolina; and in California aroused hopes but are still dormant on the docket — sometimes stalled because of debates on how to proceed.
Reparations advocates are sure to pay close attention to how the money will be allocated and spent, and Mayor Nichols has said that the trust would be used to provide scholarships and housing to the descendants of those impacted by the massacre, which may not be an easy process.
Each step of the way toward remedying the past, particularly one so fraught with the loss of some 300 Black lives, is a challenging endeavor. But at least this task is a new one and perhaps a more enriching one.
Why haven’t your organization criticized the NYS reparation committee for their planned failure to submit a proposal for FBA New Yorkers to governor Kathy Hochul by the December 2025 deadline. I spoke with Dr Ron Daniel’s and the other eight members this past February in Albany at Renaissance hotel committee meeting and in this heated uncertain political climate Dr Ron Daniels personally told me they were not going to meet the deadline of this centuries awaited reparative justice deadline. I have video footage of myself making my request for FBA New Yorkers before them. This is deliberate sabotage of the Black community by its own again similar if not worse than the California fiasco.