Unlike the #USSupremeCourt - the #Oklahoma#SupremeCourt has no set schedule to respond to appeals. Supporters of the 109-year-old #Tulsa Race Massacre survivors can only hope the high court rules in their favor as soon as possible.
Hughes Van Ellis, one of the last survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, died on Monday at age 102. His great-granddaughter, Anneliese M. Bruner, spoke to The Root about why his experiences are so significant and his death, so devastating. There are now just two living survivors of the massacre — Van Ellis' sisters Viola Ford Fletcher (109) and Lessie Benningfield Randle (108).
These beautiful souls are Hughes Van Ellis, 102, Lessie Benningfield Randle, 108, and Viola Fletcher, who just turned 109. They are the oldest living survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre. They have received $0 reparations.
They sued for justice. Sadly, Tulsa County District Judge Caroline Wall just granted the City of Tulsa’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the case can’t be refiled.
Viola Ford Fletcher, oldest living #TulsaRaceMassacre victim, publishes #memoir titled Don’t Let Them Bury My Story:
In the last couple of years, Viola Ford Fletcher has been on a tireless campaign for accountability over the massacre that destroyed Tulsa, Oklahoma’s original “Black Wall Street” when she was a child in 1921.
5/31/1921 was one of this country's most horrifying episodes of racist mob violence. Hundreds of Black residents were killed in the #TulsaRaceMassacre. Survivors lost their livelihoods as a white mob set fire to 35 blocks of the #Greenwood District (aka #BlackWallStreet). 1,256 homes were destroyed. In recent years, historians & descendants of survivors have worked hard to revive memories of this all but forgotten chapter.
Today is the 102nd anniversary of a horror that took place in my hometown, the #TulsaRaceMassacre, in which several thousand White citizens and authorities attacked and murdered a still-unknown number of Black residents and destroyed 35 square blocks of "Black Wall Street." Never forget. #Tulsa#History#Race#Greenwood#BlackWallStreet