The Department of Justice released harrowing information and details about the 1921 Tulsa massacre, describing the two-day raid that killed 300 black residents and destroyed their businesses as a “coordinated, military-style attack” by a white mob of more than 10,000 people. .
DOJ a 126 page report A Friday after four months of research In the attacks that took place between May 31 and June 1, 1921. In addition to the murder and destruction of property, the victims’ money and personal property were stolen, and they were not given any help.
Destruction of the Greenwood District following the June 1921 Race Riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The report concluded that the week-long investigation in 1921 by an agent of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation, the forerunner of the FBI, was unfounded because it did not include key details about the violence, the victims and the perpetrators, and the black men involved. they were responsible for the massacre.
“Contrary to the agent’s 1921 report, the situation did not ‘spontaneously’ grow out of control,” the new report says. “What was at first sporadic and opportunistic violence became systematic, with much more devastating results, as a result of a coordinated effort between white residents and law enforcement entities. Furthermore, although the 1921 report states that the massacre (then called a riot) was not “racial.” “the result of feeling”, the perpetrators of the massacre openly expressed and acted according to racial bias.
The research provides a detailed timeline of the violence
During the Holocaust, Tulsa was nicknamed “Black Wall Street” for the thriving businesses and communities established by Black residents. However, white residents living in the city and surrounding towns harbored deep resentment, which had been building in the years leading up to the attack, the report said.
Investigators from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division “spoke with survivors and descendants of survivors, reviewed accounts of the massacre from people now dead, reviewed primary sources, spoke with Holocaust scholars, and reviewed legal petitions, books, books, and editorials. and scholarly articles on the massacre,” according to the DOJ.
The investigation determined that the attack was motivated by an unwarranted aversion, alleging that 19-year-old Dick Rowland assaulted a white woman who was using the elevator he was using. The department said this tactic was used to justify violence against black residents.
After a local newspaper sensationalized the story, a group of white Tulsans gathered outside the courthouse, calling for a lynching, according to the report.
When a local sheriff summoned a group of Black World War I veterans to come to the courthouse to prevent a lynching, a white mob rose up and opened fire, the investigation found.
Tulsa police escalated the conflict by deputizing hundreds of white residents, many of whom were “supporting a lynching and drinking,” the report said.
“Law enforcement officers helped organize these special deputies — as well as other white Tulsans — into a military force that destroyed Greenwood. Over the next few hours, 35 city blocks were looted, burned, and destroyed as Greenwood residents desperately tried to defend their homes. “, says the report.
A man with a camera looks at the skeletons of iron beds rising above the ashes of a burning block after the Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 1921.
Oklahoma Historical Society via Getty Images
“Some black residents were shot (or otherwise assaulted), and many were arrested or detained,” he continued. “Law enforcement actively participated in the destruction, disarming black residents, confiscating weapons, and detaining them in makeshift camps under armed guard.”
In the early hours of June 1, the violence and fires became “systematic”.
Leave it empty
Although city officials offered to rebuild and help the victims, they not only failed, but put up obstacles, the report said.
“Local white leaders rejected outside help, saying they could manage the recovery, but then provided little financial aid. Instead, claiming the area was best suited for industrial use, they imposed tough new fire codes that forced residents out of the area.” even if a court later orders those provisions,” the report says.
A historical marker dedicated to the 1921 Tulsa Massacre is seen on Greenwood Avenue on June 18, 2021 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa celebrates Juneteenth this year with activities and festivals marking the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.
Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images, FILE
Compounding the injustice, insurance companies denied compensation to black Greenwood residents because of the riot clause in their policies,” he added. “Legal attempts to hold the city accountable also failed. Black residents of Tulsa were left with no means of redress.”
There are no legal avenues left for justice
Because of the statute of limitations and the fact that the perpetrators of the attack and almost all survivors and witnesses are long dead, the Justice Department cannot take any legal action for the crimes committed, the report concluded.
“The report acknowledges that some may find the department’s inability to prosecute an outcome painful or distressing,” the DOJ said in a statement. “However, the review recognizes and documents the trauma and loss experienced by Greenwood residents.”
Family members of the survivors said they were not informed of the report
The DOJ said it would meet with Greenwood County officials, survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Tulsa’s civil rights community and other stakeholders to discuss the investigation.
DOJ members held a meeting Saturday at Historic Vernon AME Church in Tulsa to discuss the report.
Lawyers for the families of two survivors, Damario Solomon-Simmons, Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, however, expressed disappointment with the DOJ, saying they were not informed of the report.
Solomon-Simmons said in a statement that she was only made aware of the report after her office saw the news. He also said his team was not told about Saturday’s meeting at the church.
“Neither my legal team nor the massacre survivors will be able to attend due to time constraints between our ongoing review and discussions with the DOJ,” he said in a statement.
Solomon-Simmons said she and her team will have further comment after reviewing the report and speaking with the DOJ.
The DOJ did not respond to requests from ABC News about Solomon-Simmons’ claims.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
