Tulsa Revisited, A PBS NewsHour Weekend Special

[lively music] - Tonight, a PBS "NewsHour Weekend" special, "Tulsa Revisited".

- This is a story of death and destruction but it's also a story of great determination and resilience.

- [Narrator] "PBS NewsHour Weekend" is made possible by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Anderson Family Fund, Bernard and Denise Schwartz, the Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, Barbara Hope Zuckerberg, the Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation, the Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney Fund, the Estate of Worthington Mayo-Smith.

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- Good evening and thank you for joining us for this special edition of "PBS NewsHour Weekend", "Tulsa Revisited".

I'm Michael Hill, special correspondent for "NewsHour Weekend" and host of WNYC's "Morning Edition" for New York Public Radio.

Tonight, we want to dig deeper into the issue surrounding the 1921 Race Massacre in the Greenwood District of Tulsa.

In the next half hour, our conversations will explore the centennial events, the search for answers to this newly explored moment in US history, and how recent media portrayals of the Tulsa Massacre are changing perceptions, and a reexamination of reparations and responsibility.

When a white mob destroyed approximately 35 square blocks of Tulsa's African American community over the course of 18 hours, beginning on the evening of May 31st, 1921, virtually every structure in the Greenwood District, from houses and businesses to churches, and even a hospital were destroyed.

Nearly 40 deaths were confirmed but there are estimates that put the number killed into the hundreds.

Survivors and witnesses passed the story down through the decades, but few outside of the community ever heard of death and destruction in Tulsa.

But through personal accounts, photo documentation this country's reexamination of racial violence in history, the story of what happened in Tulsa 100 years ago is again, front page news.

Commemorating the 1921 Race Massacre was something many in Tulsa never imagined.

Not only was the massacre and destruction of the successful Greenwood District covered up, Oklahoma only began to officially acknowledge the incident in 1997, when the state legislature appointed a commission to study what was still being called The Tulsa Race Riot.

In 2015, Oklahoma State Senator, Kevin Matthews who represents Tulsa, founded the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission to commemorate the anniversary of the rise and fall of Black Wall Street.

Senator Matthews, a Tulsa native who also served with the city's Fire Department for 25 years, is chair of the Centennial Commission.

Senator, would you tell us please how does this commemoration acknowledge the past?

What happened in 1921.

- It was never taught in most schools.

It was Tulsa's dirty secret.

And this commission that we have created in building Greenwood Rising is gonna tell that story before, during, and after the great heyday of what was once called Black Wall Street on Greenwood and Tulsa that was destroyed, because of race.

- How do you explain that 100 years later, that over the last hundred years that so little of this has been taught in schools throughout this land?

- Well, it's a shame.

Not only is it a shame that it hadn't been talked about, it wasn't taught very many places at all, but we just, you know, the controversy we're having right now, House Bill 1775 that just was signed into law here in Oklahoma states that we don't want to teach things that are stressful to young kids.

And some things around equity and diversity and although when we talk about things that are tough, that includes women's suffrage, that includes things about sexuality, that even includes the Civil War.

So it appears almost, that some people don't want to talk even today.

- How do you explain that in 2021, as America has seen over the last year, this great quest for justice.

You have Black people, white people, brown people, all kinds of people marching across America and really across the globe, demanding justice and demanding accountability and transparency, and reform and so forth.

And how do you reconcile those kinds of sentiments, those kinds of emotions now with no one being brought to justice in 1921 for the massacre?

- There is no way to reconcile that.

It was wrong then, it's wrong now.

And it's still, no one has been held accountable.

The fact that they called it a riot itself, causes the issue of not, claims not to be paid.

And we've had legislation here in the state of Oklahoma that causes people to believe that two to three people in the street protesting can be called a riot, which is another slap in the face to the history that we're trying to bring forward and to address.

- You mentioned Greenwood Rising, what does the area look like now?

- Greenwood is all but a memory.

That's why we built Greenwood Rising, the history center that will tell that story in a vivid way, where you can come and see, actually walk in and step across the tracks which is symbolic of where Black people lived just across the tracks.

And to see and hear the history before, during, and after this tragic event.

- Senator Matthews, thank you very much for joining us and for sharing your thoughts on this commemoration, 100 years after the Tulsa Massacre in 1921.

- Thank you for having me.

[gentle ambient music] - The search for answers about what happened on May 31st, and June 1st, 1921 is starting to become clear.

Historians no longer debate the attempt to call the event a, "Riot".

It is clear that white mobs attacked Tulsa's Greenwood District and that Black Americans were killed.

Professor Karlos Hill is an associate professor and chair of the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma.

And he has worked with the Centennial Commission for the past five years.

He is also the author of, "The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: a Photographic History", which documents first person accounts of the massacre.

Professor, thank you so much for talking to us.

What does justice really look like in a case like this?

100 years later.

- So when I talk about the race massacre I talk about it as the deadliest, or one of the deadliest attacks on a Black community in American history.

But what really occurred was a liquidation of Black wealth, right?

You had one of the wealthiest Black communities in the country, and some might even say the wealthiest community per capita destroyed in less than 24 hours.

And so we know that survivors filed between $1.8 and $2.5 million in damage claims in the aftermath of the massacre.

And so this is not just the deadliest attack on a Black community, it represents the liquidation of Black wealth and perhaps, the liquidation of intergenerational Black wealth.

And so the story of the massacre is a story of destruction, is a story of horrific violence and just viscousness.

But it's also, I mean, what I try to focus you know, my students on, and certainly individuals that come in contact with me, is the story of the rebuilding.

How, as vicious as the violence was there was a deep, deep reservoir of resilience in Black residents, and specifically Black survivors.

And so this is a story of death and destruction but it's also a story of grit, determination, and resilience and it's a story that helps us to understand why Greenwood was a symbol, and remains a symbol of Black Excellence.

- Your book includes a lot of photographs of what happened.

Describe those photographs and why you lean so heavily on those photographs for your book.

- The two things that I just kept thinking about is sharing as vividly as I can, survivor accounts and pairing those with the photographs.

And so there's a way in which, for me, those photographs and the oral testimony work together and help to really create a picture, a vivid picture of what occurred from the vantage point of victims, survivors, and their descendants.

I used those photographs cautiously because I know that the photographs were intended to tell the story of a suppression, of a, "negro rebellion".

Those photographs were testaments to the white supremacy that propelled the race massacre.

And so my challenge in the book, and my theory of change, as it relates to the book was that perhaps those survivor accounts would disrupt that narrative, that white supremacist narrative, that the race massacre was a negro rebellion that whites successfully repressed.

And so what I tried to do in the book is to try to leverage the vivid accounts to sort of disrupt that narrative and replace it with the narrative that was authentic to what actually occurred.

And so to the extent that the narratives of survivors overtake the white supremacist narratives that the photographs were meant to portray, the book is a success.

And I hope that it, that for many, that it does because what I wanted to do is to bring to life, right, as vividly as I could, why I, as an historian of lynching and racial violence will call what occurred in Tulsa the deadliest attack on a Black community and not just the deadliest attack on a Black community, I would even go as far as to say it was a community lynching.

- When you think of one photograph that comes to mind, that really stands out and captures what you're talking about in terms of what these photos show, and has an account of what took place that day?

- The photograph that I would point to has a really vivid caption.

Scribbled on top of the photograph is a caption that states, "Runing the negro out of Tulsa".

And for me, it captures the narrative, right, of what occurred, what actually occurred.

What was actually in the hearts and minds of whites as they invaded, looted, and then ultimately burned down Greenwood.

What was in the hearts and minds of whites, or at least some whites was running, "the negro out of Tulsa".

And so this wasn't just about destruction, this was about expelling Black people from Tulsa.

I haven't come across a quote from whites that made so explicit what the goal was, what the intention was in the violence and the destruction of Greenwood.

And so for me, trying to situate and understand this history, the photographs, particularly the photograph that I referenced, became crucial to me to really wrap my mind around and try to share with the world as well, what actually occurred.

- Professor, thank you very much for your time.

This has been, this has been very enlightening.

- Thank you for having me.

- If you missed the documentary, "Tulsa the Fire and the Forgotten", you can watch it at pbs.org/tulsamassacre.

[gentle ambient music] For many Americans, the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 is still missing from their knowledge of history.

Documentaries, including the PBS program "The Fire and the Forgotten" are drawing new attention to Tulsa.

But in the past few years, the fictional TV series on HBO "Watchmen" and "Lovecraft Country" made the 1921 Massacre a central part of their storyline.

[crowd screaming] I spoke with Fordham University Assistant Professor of Communications and Media Studies, Brandy Mont-Payton about these programs and how media portrayals are influencing future generations.

- As you said, many people had never heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre before the premiere of the limited series, "Watchmen" on HBO in 2019.

And there was so much conversation about the first few minutes of the episode that really graphically depicted the events, and specifically you know, the reason why we had not heard of this moment, that sort of transpired on American soil that was so tragic, and I think it just goes to show you that there are so many archives that we have not uncovered yet in terms of America's history regarding race relations.

- And we had two series that did that.

We had "The Watchmen", then we also had "Lovecraft Country".

- Yes, and it's fascinating that both of these shows came out within the span of a year of each other and both are again, in the same genre of speculative fiction.

And are thinking about issues around blackness and the Black experience and are presenting this historical reference as a part of the story, and really integral to how these programs understand African American life.

- There's a reckoning right now, racial reckoning, as some people are calling it right now in America.

Is it a sense that perhaps creators in Hollywood, creators elsewhere, the television networks, the streaming services are trying to meet a moment in history perhaps?

- I certainly think so.

And I think specifically, after the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020, it really galvanized audiences, it galvanized the public, it galvanized actors, various people who work in the entertainment industry to really sort of strive for change.

And not just change that is about optics, just putting out a statement, but what does it mean to integrate these stories?

What does it mean to think about Black story telling and its possibilities for presenting, sort of the Black experience in a different way.

And so I certainly think there has been a reckoning.

- As your students watch these two shows, was this their first learning of what happened in Tulsa in 1921?

- Indeed, it was their first time.

And I think that, you know, I teach a TV Race and Civil Rights class and so we go all the way, you know, back to the 50's and 60's and then we watch "Roots" and we end on this new emerging, you know, forms of story telling that are using speculative fiction to talk about race relations.

And so they've also told me that they were shocked that this was an event that actually occurred in American history, and I think again, it's prompted them to want to learn more about the massacre and the ways in which the Black Tulsans now are fighting for rights and their own form of reparations.

- Professor Brandy Mont-Payton of Media Studies at Fordham University, thank you professor.

- Thank you so much for having me.

[gentle ambient music] - When the state commission tasked to study the 1921 Massacre issued its final report in 2001, it recommended a course of action for making reparations for Tulsa's historic Greenwood community.

The suggestions included a scholarship fund, a memorial for the victims, establishment of an economic development enterprise zone in the district, and direct payments to survivors and descendants.

While the concept of monetary reparations is not new, policy makers, politicians, and others say that there is a case for giving reparations to all Black Americans to help close the economic wealth gap and address racial disparities.

I spoke with Professor Darrick Hamilton, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and the founding director of the Institute for the Study of Race Stratification, and Political Economy at the New School in New York City, about reparations.

- Restorative justice or restitution in the context of Tulsa would require acknowledgement and atonement.

So a full throated account for what took place and then some redress to go along with that.

- Would it come from Tulsa?

Would it come from the state of Oklahoma?

What do you envision?

- Well there are various ways in which it could be financed.

But at the very least, some government entity has to have that full throated accountability that what they did, in terms of supporting and being complicit, and that terrorist act of not only loss of life, but destruction of property, that that has to be atoned for.

- Do you think that's related?

A lineage that you can draw back to what happened in 1921 to a certain extent?

- You know, certainly the ways in which wealth is generated is wealth that begets more wealth.

So if you literally strip a population down to zero assets, especially after they had built up a good foundation of economic security, then it's no question that's gonna have ramifications today.

I mean, in Tulsa, we can't even account for in financial terms, given the massacre took so many lives, displaced so many individuals, and what's more, terrorized the population, allowed them to live in fear, not only from that incident, but in perpetuity that that threat could reemerge and make them both economically and politically vulnerable at any point.

- People of course, throughout the century have described this as Black Wall Street.

What made this Black Wall Street?

- What was particular about Tulsa is that it was a vibrant community in multiple aspects.

From finance, to merchandise, to, I mean, basically you had a self sufficient Black area that engaged in all forms of business.

- Evanston, Illinois, I believe earlier this year became the first place in America in terms of a government to establish reparations for Black folks for, let me see what the term is here, for past discrimination.

- Well, I think Evanston is one example of an emerging movement that might ultimately get us to reparations.

So I applaud what took place in Evanston.

But the reality is, the capacity, the financial capacities of a local entity like Evanston is limited to really atone for, frankly, America's biggest sin, from its origins, which is slavery.

And the political institutions that have devalued Black Americans.

- Professor, you mentioned slavery and it leads me to believe then, is the onus then, not on a Tulsa?

Not on an Oklahoma?

But on the federal government when you start talking about reparations?

- That is the ultimate onus.

The ultimate onus is that the federal government, if we're ever to achieve racial justice, and this is not sufficient, but it's necessary.

So the answer is ultimately, the federal government has responsibility, if our nation is really gonna be a more perfect union and achieve racial justice.

But that's not to say that localities like Tulsa can and should take account for what they did and their culpability, and specific instances that have lead to the immoral, not only devaluation of Black lives but the large inequities that we see today particularly in the form of wealth and equality.

- Can you ever have economic justice for what happened in 1921?

- Yes, you can absolutely have economic justice for what took place in 1921.

And that would require restitution.

One, the atonement and two, the accompanying redress to go along with it.

You can never account for those lost lives, so I don't want to diminish that but in an economic sense, we have in the past, and we can in modern day make a population whole.

Although Tulsa was extremely dramatic this type of terror was going on throughout the United States.

That when Black people were able to amass resources it was always vulnerable to state facilitated confiscation, in that we had a policy infrastructure that did not facilitate Black people to acquire resources.

You couple those things together and you can see why we have all these inequalities that exist today.

- Professor Darrick Hamilton, New School of Economics and Urban Policy Professor, thank you sir.

- Thank you.

[gentle ambient music] - Tonight marks what many in America hope is a turning point, not an end in the reexamination of the events of 1921 in Tulsa's Greenwood District.

A century later, this country is still reckoning with its racial history and one year after the murder of George Floyd, now is not a moment to put this behind us.

As Centennial Chair, Oklahoma Senator Kevin Matthews said, and I quote, "There is no way to reconcile that it was wrong then, it's wrong now and still, no one has been held accountable."

We hope you will read and learn more about these issues.

For more about the Tulsa Race Massacre, visit pbs.org/tulsamassacre.

That's all for this special edition of "PBS NewsHour Weekend: Tulsa Revisited".

I'm Michael Hill, thank you for watching.

[lively music] - [Narrator] "PBS NewsHour Weekend" is made possible by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Anderson Family Fund, Bernard and Denise Schwartz, the Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, Barbara Hope Zuckerberg, the Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation, the Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney Fund, the Estate of Worthington Mayo-Smith.

We try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us.

At Mutual of America, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today.

Mutual of America Financial Group, retirement services and investments.

Additional support has been provided by Consumer Cellular.

And by.

And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.

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