“I want young men and young women who are not alive today…to know and see that these new privileges and opportunities did not come without somebody suffering and sacrificing for them.”–Martin Luther King Jr.
In 2020 President Donald Trump issued an executive order to outlaw federal agencies from teaching Critical Race Theory.
On April 11, 2023 federal, state and local governmental agencies introduced measures to outlaw the teaching of Critical Race Theory. Anti-CRT measures have been introduced in every state but Delaware. This is why the Tulsa massacre of 1921 is so important to remember. In 1921 Tulsa Oklahoma was plagued by white vigilantism and the lynching of black men. On the morning of May 31, 1921 , a black shoeshine boy named Dick Rowland walked onto an elevator operated by a white girl named Sara Page. Dick Rowland stepped on the young woman’s foot by accident. The woman screamed and the next day in the Tulsa Tribune newspaper it was reported the 19-year old Dick Rowland tried to rape Sara Page on the elevator. This sparked outrage among the white people of the community and soon a white mob went to the city jail to remove Dick Rowland and hang him from a tree. The mob was unsuccessful in removing Dick Rowland and so they began torching every black owned business in Tulsa.
Over 600 black owned businesses were completely destroyed by fire. The destruction of 21 churches, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores, 2 movie theaters, 4 law firms, 1 hospital, 1 bank, 1 post office, 6 airplanes, 1 bus company and 4 hotels. The incineration of Black Wall Street went on for two whole days. 800 black people were injured with no hospital to go to and no police department to protect them from the violent white mob.
Imagine waking up on a Sunday morning and the church you went to for so many years was leveled to dirt. Many of the black entrepreneurs left Tulsa after the massacre and total loss of their homes, businesses and property. Those black people who decided to stay in Tulsa, were forced to spend the winter of 1921 and 1922 in tents. The story of Black Wall Street and the Tulsa massacre is a story to be remembered by every generation because it truly helps us move forward and take nothing for granted.
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Google: Tracking the Attack on Critical Race Theory
Today, survivors–109-year old Lessie Randall and 110-year old Viola Fletcher await a decision from the Oklahoma Supreme Court on their reparations case.
Charles Micheaux
Atlanta*
MICHEAUX PUBLISHING 