The two remaining survivors of a racist massacre have had their decades-in-the-making lawsuit for justice in Oklahoma’s ongoing aftermath rejected by the state’s highest court.
In a recent ruling, the Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld the decision of a lower court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. This tragic event saw a white mob destroy a thriving Black neighborhood, resulting in the loss of numerous lives and leaving hundreds of individuals without homes. Despite over a century passing since this devastating incident, the survivors’ quest for justice continues to be met with obstacles.
Lessie Benningfield Randle, aged 109, and Viola Ford Fletcher, aged 110, were both small children during the attack, and their lawsuit persisted even after the passing of Fletcher’s brother, Hughes Van Ellis, who died at the age of 102 last year.
In the year 1921, on the 31st of May, a group of armed white individuals, who were deputized by the law enforcement, shot recklessly at Black Americans on the street of Greenwood, which was known as the prosperous “Black Wall Street” of Tulsa.
No charges were ever brought against anyone.
The impact of the massacre in Oklahoma is still being felt today in the form of racial disparities, economic inequalities, and trauma among survivors and their descendants. This was argued in a lawsuit that targeted the state’s public nuisance law, which aims to address issues that threaten the health, safety, and welfare of the community. The effects of the massacre have persisted for decades, highlighting the need for continued efforts to address and rectify the injustices of the past.
