Last known survivors of Tulsa Race Massacre challenge Oklahoma high court decision
Attorneys for the last two survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reconsider the case they dismissed last month.
Attorneys for the last two remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday to reconsider the case they dismissed last month and called on the Biden administration to help the two women seek justice.
Viola Fletcher, 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, are the last known survivors of one of the single worst acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history. As many as 300 Black people were killed; more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches were destroyed; and thousands were forced into internment camps overseen by the National Guard when a white mob, including some deputized by authorities, looted and burned the Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street.
In a petition for rehearing, the women asked the court to reconsider its 8-1 vote upholding the decision of a district court judge in Tulsa last year to dismiss the case.
“Oklahoma, and the United States of America, have failed its Black citizens,” the two women said in a statement read by McKenzie Haynes, a member of their legal team. “With our own eyes, and burned deeply into our memories, we watched white Americans destroy, kill, and loot.”
“And despite these obvious crimes against humanity, not one indictment was issued, most insurance claims remain unpaid or were paid for only pennies on the dollar, and Black Tulsans were forced to leave their homes and live in fear.”
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