Tulsa commission will study reparations for 1921 race massacre victims and descendants
Tulsa officials announced the creation of a new commission to recommend how reparations can be made for the 1921 race massacre victims and descendants.
Officials in Tulsa, Oklahoma, announced the creation of a new commission to recommend how reparations can be made for a 1921 massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in the city.
The panel will review a 2023 report for the city and a 2001 report by a state commission on Tulsa Race Massacre in which a white mob killed as many as 300 Black residents and burned the city’s Greenwood District to the ground. Both reports called for financial reparations, which Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum has opposed.
Reparations will almost certainly include a housing equity program, as the Beyond Apology Commission’s first task under Bynum’s order announced Thursday is to create one. The program would be for survivors of the massacre as well as descendants of victims and other residents of north Tulsa, where the massacre occurred. Only two known survivors are still alive.
“One of the most challenging issues to navigate during my time as mayor has been that of reparations for the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and their families,” Bynum said in a statement.
He noted that the city’s Beyond Apology report last year found that residents “view reparations as not just cash payments.” Other recommendations included improved educational opportunities, housing and economic development, improved health care and the return of land to survivors and descendants.
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