“I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our house. I can still see black men being shot, black bodies lying in the street. I can still smell the smoke. I can still see the fire. I also see how the properties of black entrepreneurs are on fire. I hear the screams. I still experience the mass murder every day.”
That is what the 107-year-old Viola Fletcher, who was responsible for the mass murder of black Americans in Tulsa survived. That wave of violence began on May 31, 1921, and lasted all night until June 1, 100 years ago today. Probably in those hours, which came under the name Tulsa Race Massacre have gone down in history, killing about 300 men, women and children. Nearly 10,000 people were left homeless or in need of assistance.
US President Biden will visit the city today to commemorate the massacre. He commemorates – as the first American president – the dead and speaks with relatives. “Biden acknowledges the great suffering inflicted on the black residents of Tulsa,” said US correspondent Ryan Hermelijn. “He says this is not just a thing of the past. He connects the carnage of a century ago with America today and says that institutional racism is still present and must be banned from American society.”
What happened?
The massacre took place in one of the wealthiest black neighborhoods in America: Greenwood, aka Black Wall Street mentioned. That black neighborhood flourished in the 1920s and was full of hotels, expensive hairdressers, theaters, and restaurants.
“Greenwood was a place where black Americans made new beginnings after the Civil War (…). The neighborhood was home to a growing number of prominent black entrepreneurs and black working-class families committed to social and economic opportunity,” reads in a statement of the White House.
The immediate trigger for the violence was a young black man accused of assaulting a young white girl in an elevator. A gang of white men decided that the boy should be lynched. The black community tried to prevent that and resisted. But when that got out of hand, the white mob fell Black Wall Street within. The white gangs received help from the local police, who swore in numerous white deputies.
Houses were burned down and anyone who stood in the way was killed. The next morning there was nothing left of the neighborhood.
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