The Department of Justice Intends to Initiate a Civil Rights Investigation Regarding the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot
A federal investigation was initiated under a cold-case program, which has resulted in prosecutions related to Civil Rights Era incidents, although Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke mentioned that they have no anticipation of discovering living individuals who can be charged due to this investigation. Nonetheless, the announcement of this first-ever federal probe into the massacre was welcomed by descendants of victims' relatives, who have consistently accused city and state officials of not doing enough to compensate those affected by the attack.
Clarke stated that the agency plans to release a public report detailing their findings by year's end.
"We recognize the pain and suffering of descendants of the victims, and they continue to bear the scars of this heinous act of racial hatred," Clarke expressed during her speech in Washington.
Damario Solomon-Simmons, a lawyer for the last living survivors of the massacre (110-year-old Viola Fletcher and 109-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle), viewed Clarke's announcement as a celebratory occasion.
"It's about time," said Solomon-Simmons, with relatives of massacre survivors present. "It took an unbelievable 103 years, but this is a joyous occasion, a significant day, and a fantastic opportunity for us to make sure that what happened in Tulsa is understood for what it truly was – the largest crime scene in the country's history."
Approximately 300 Black individuals were killed; more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools, and churches were demolished; and thousands were forced into guard-overseen internment camps when a white mob, some backed by authorities, looted and torched the Greenwood District, otherwise known as Black Wall Street.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by survivors in June, dashing hopes among racial justice advocates that the city would compensate financially for the attack.
The nine-judge court validated the district court judge's decision in Tulsa from the previous year, deciding that the plaintiff's concerns about the Greenwood district's destruction, although genuine, did not fall under the jurisdiction of the state's public nuisance statute.
Following the dismissal of the lawsuit, Solomon-Simmons requested the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the massacre under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.
Although investigations under this Act have led to successful prosecutions of Civil Rights Era incidents, the DOJ admitted in a report to Congress last year that there are substantial legal obstacles to cases before 1968.
"Even with our maximum efforts, investigations into ancient cases are unusually difficult, and obtaining justice inside a courtroom is extremely rare," the agency noted in the report.
Since the Act's enactment in 2008, the DOJ has reviewed 137 cases involving 160 recognized victims. The agency has fully investigated and resolved 125 of those cases through prosecution, referral, or closure.
The report also revealed that the Act has led to two successful federal prosecutions and three successful state prosecutions. Both federal prosecutions concerned separate murders of Black men in Mississippi by Ku Klux Klan members in the 1960s.
The first federally supported state prosecution under the initiative was against Klansmen who bombed a Birmingham, Alabama, church in 1963, killing four young girls. This prosecution in the early 2000s resulted in convictions and life sentences for two individuals involved in the bombing.
Clarke mentioned that the report will provide clarity to the public about the investigation's findings, as she stated, "We aim to provide clarity to the descendants and the nation about the extent of the US government's involvement in this tragic incident."
Solomon-Simmons expressed his gratitude to the DOJ for initiating the investigation, saying, "This investigation is a testament to the fact that justice, although delayed, will not be denied for us, the victims' descendants."
