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Memorializing a Black Holocaust in America
Remembering the Tulsa, Okla:, Bombing
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This Memorial Day, especially in Oklahoma City, people are pausing to
recall what was wrought on that community a little over a year ago: the
most calamitous attack with bombs ever to take place on U.S. soil. But, in
spite of the fact that Timothy McVeigh is now on trial for that bombing,
we ought to pause and remember the Tulsa race riots of 1921.
Virtually no one in America was charged nor punished for what is doc
umented in "Black Wallstreet: A Lost Dream," co-authored by Ron
Wallace, a Tulsa native and Jay Jay Wilson, a Los Angeles-based writer.
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Wallace and Wilson make us remember the events in Tulsa June 1,1921,
through oral accounts and detailed library research. Then and there, 76
years to the day this weekend, occurred this almost forgotten milestone of
violence, visited upon the people of African descent, two hours northeast
of Oklahoma City.
Northern Tulsa's all-black area was fittingly called "Black Wallstreet."
At the time, it was in the top five of the most affluent black communities
in America. "Black Wallstreet,'" also known as "Little Africa," was a 36
square-block area of thriving black businesses and residences. There were
21 churches, an equal number ot restaurants, more than two dozen-grocery
stores, two movie theaters, and a hospital.
A model self-sufficient black community, "Black Wallstreet's" elites
owned half-a-dozen private airplanes, a bus service, personal care services,
a hospital, and an abundance of law and medical offices. In a period of 12
hours on the weekend of June 1, 1921, "Black Wallstreet" in Tulsa was
bombed from the air and burned to the ground.
Duke professor and Oklahoma native Dr. John Hope Franklin, in his
book, "From Slavery to Freedom," described it as no less than a full
fledged "race war," in which "nine whites were known to be killed."
Wallace and Wilson report that "the carnage left between 1,500 and 3,000
blacks dead (buried in mass unmarked graves) and over 600 successful busi
nesses destroyed."
Behind it all was a group like that to which Timothy McVeigh ? being
tried for the Oklahoma City bombing of 19% ? supposedly belongs: the
KICK. The KKK was about to avenge the alleged assault on a white
woman by a black man.
Thousands of "Black Wallstreet" residents took arms to the jail to pro
tect the accused. When the altercations heated, general rioting, looting,
and house burnings began.
Wallace and Wilsons recently released book and video on the Tulsa
event of 1921 chronicles the remembrances of blacks and whites about
what happened and why. It is instructive to us ? here and now ? to know
what happened.
For one thing, we are still numbed by the blast in Oklahoma City, which
is thought to be the worst bombing ever to take place on American soil.
Doesn't it also allow us to know now that an even bloodier event took place
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From the accounts provided by those now-aged persons who recalled
the episode, jealously and economic competition was the chief cause. The
15,000-or-so residents of "Black Wallstreet" are somewhat like what we see
in many American communities today. At that time, Oklahoma had been
"set aside" as a state for blacks and Native Americans. The state had three
dozen black townships (like in South Africa), many residents of which had
traveled from the South with Indians during the Trail of Tears between
1830 and 1842.
Blacks thrived in the black towns of Oklahoma, quite simply, up until
1921, many having settled on their "40 acres," most with a mule, but many
with lucrative oil reserves on their land. One black owned the largest cot
ton gin west of the Mississippi river. They chose a black man from Kansas
as their governor. ?'
Many survivors of the "Black Wallstreet Massacre of 1921" believe that
the "whole thing was planned." While the Post WWI era was prosperous,
many lived off the "Grapes of Wrath," a story told of dirt-farm hardships
by John Steinbeck. Rather than look for ways to get along, those envious
of blacks' success opted for destruction.
"Black Wallstreet" can be ordered from Duralon Entertainment, Box
2702, Tulsa, OK 74149. Call 1-800-682-7975.
As we find ourselves in times that are strikingly similar, it is worth
knowing about and remembering these tough times in Tulsa in *21.
Memorial Day, after all, is a time to really remember the words of George
Santyana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat
it."
(Bill Turner is a freelance columnist for the Chronicle.)
9
The Enduring Legacy of Malcolm X :
This week we celebrate the kuzaliwa, the birthday of "our Black
Shining Prince" El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm X. There is no
leader in the history of Africans in America who is more worthy to be
commemorated, celebrated and emulated than Malcolm X. As we reflect
on the tragic deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Small in the last year,
two of our brilliant young warriors who lived and rapped about the
"realness" of ghetto life, it is useful to see Malcolm's life as a metaphor
of possibilities for those locked in the prison of ghetto life today.
Malcolm rose from humble beginnings in a poor working class family.
He eventually got caught up in the dark underside of the domestic
colonies created by Amerikkka's white supremacist system. He was a
petty thief, a pimp and a lightweight gangsta who landed in
Amerikkka's criminal injustice system for his transgressions.
The remarkable thing about Malcolm, however, is that under the
tutelage of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he did not get stuck in the
"thug life." He did not simply bemoan the "realness" of ghetto existence
or wallow in and perpetuate it. Malcolm X transformed himself from an
agent of destruction within Amerikkka's dark ghettos to an agent of lib
eration committed to changing the "realness" of racial oppression and
economic exploitation afflicting Africans in America and the world.
This transformative dimension is one of the most enduring aspects of
the legacy of Malcolm X.
But there is obviously much more that this generation needs to study
and learn from the life and teachings of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. At a
time when police brutality, killings and misconduct have reached epi
demic proportions, the analysis and teachings of Malcolm continue to
be instructive: "The ... white press inflames the white public against
Negroes ... The police are able to make the white public think that 90
percent or 99 percent of the Negroes ... are criminals. And once the
white public is convinced that most of the Negro community is a crimi
nal element, then this automatically paves the way for the police to move
into the Negro community, exercising Gestapo tactics, stopping any
black man who is on the sidewalk, whether he is guilty or whether he is
innocent, whether he is well dressed or whether he is poorly dressed,
whether he is educated or whether he is dumb ... As long as he is black
and a member of the Negro community, the white public thinks that the
white policeman is justified in going in there and trampling on that
man's civil rights and ... human rights."
Malcolm X understood the racist and systemic nature of police vio
lence directed against the black community. He also knew that only col
lective and concerted action by the black masses would stop police
violence and end the oppression/exploitation of the black nation. Hence,
Malcolm taught us that we must control the politics and economics of
the black community, that politicians must come from and be account
Vantage Point
Hon Danimlt
able to the black community. Deeply steeped in the philosophy of self
help and self reliance that was/is the centerpiece of the economic pro
gram of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm consistently hammered home the
point that black people must utilize their economic resources for self
development, that the shops, stores and business enterprises in the black
community should be owned by and accountable to black people.
Malcolm's vision was not confined to Amerikkka, however. He was
an internationalist and Pan-Africanist. Malcolm was clear that the same
system of white supremacy that was oppressing Africans and people of
color in Amerikkka was oppressing and exploiting people throughout
V
the Third World and Africans everywhere including Africa. Therefore,
he was a fierce proponent of self-determination of African and Third
world people and devoted to the concept of African and Third World
unity/solidarity as a means of achieving the goal of freedom from glob
al white domination.
These were not popular ideas when Malcolm was among us and they
are hardly popular today. But Malcolm courageously stood by his con
victions, changing some precepts and concepts as his experiences
expanded his knowledge base, but always standing Firm on the basic
principles of nationalism, internationalism and Pan Africanism. It is
clear that Malcolm's life and legacy are as relevant to our circumstances
as African people today as ever before. No doubt Malcolm would be dis
appointed that "the more things change, the more they stay the same,"
that we have not made more progress since he walked among us. That
notwithstanding, our "Black Shining Prince" would not give up on this
generation. His abiding faith in the transformative power of African
people as exemplified by his life would dictate that he exhort us to con
tinue to struggle with the confidence that ultimately we will be victori
f
ous.
El Hajj Malik El Shabazz was born a victim of circumstances creat
ed by racism and white supremacy. Like so many victims of racial
oppression and economic exploitation, he was criminalized by a crimi
nal system. In effect he was sentenced to death in the genocidal condi
tions of the ghetto. But Malcolm X refused to languish in the grave. He
rose up to become one of the greatest leaders of African people of all
time, this is the enduring legacy of Malcolm X, a legacy which should be
an inspiration to this and succeeding generations. Long live Malcolm X!
(Ron Daniels is a nationally syndicated columnists.)
KEEPING
from page AW
years with the United Nations International Labor Organization
before retiring, handles clerical duties for Delaware Stand For
Children. And her only son, Leonard Jr., who retired from Dupont
after 25 years, helps out with business affairs.
"My life is frenetic, but it's interesting," says Vivian, who often
stays up until 2 or 3 a.m. preparing for her visits to policy makers.
"Sometimes I think about sitting on the porch and knitting, and then
I say, 'Nah! I'm supposed to be living at this pace.' I think it's what
keeps me young."
When state Rep. Jane Mulrooney handed Vivian the Delaware
Tomorrow Award recently, for her work with children, Mulrooney
said, "It seems as if everybody will recognize the Delaware Stand For
Children as a dominant force for children for a long time."
"She was right," Vivian says. "We will be a force that the
Legislature, the governor, and the local government will have to deal
with. And the good thing about Stand For Children is that it's not a
onetime thing. We will remain a force for children."
For information on how you can Stand For Healthy Children in
your community June 1, call 1-800-663-4032.
(Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children's Defense
Fund, which coordinates the Black Community Crusade for Children
(BCCC), whose mission is to leave no child behind and to ensure every ;?
child a healthy, head, fair, safe, and moral start in life. For more infor- ';
motion about the BCCC, call (202) 628-8787.)
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