U.S. News
Legal Battle for Reparations Continues as Tulsa Massacre Survivors Vow to “Fight On”
Knowledge Nuggets:
- A lawsuit seeking reparations for the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was dismissed by an Oklahoma judge last week.
- Despite this setback, the three remaining survivors, all aged over 100 years old, have vowed to continue their fight for restitution.
- The lawsuit’s dismissal is viewed as a blow to reparation efforts, renewing the push for national reparations.
Last week, a lawsuit seeking reparations for the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was dismissed by an Oklahoma judge.
Despite this setback, the three remaining survivors, all aged over 100 years old, have vowed to continue their fight for restitution.
They released a joint statement stating, “We will not go quietly. We will continue to fight until our last breaths.”
The lawsuit had sought reparations for the destruction of their once-prosperous majority Black community a century ago. Lawyers for the plaintiffs assert the law was not applied justly, promising to appeal the ruling.
Sara Solfanelli of Schulte Roth & Zabel, an attorney with the plaintiffs’ legal team, stated, “This isn’t over, we’re not done. This should not have been dismissed at this stage.”
The case was filed in 2020 under Oklahoma’s public nuisance law, arguing that the destruction caused by a mob over 100 years ago continues to affect the Greenwood community today.
The lawsuit requested the city of Tulsa and six other local entities acknowledge the massacre and establish a fund for the survivors and descendants.
The dismissal of the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled, has been seen as a significant blow to reparation efforts.
The dismissal occurred without notice on Friday evening, a move Damario Solomon-Simmons, a civil rights attorney for the survivors, called “disrespectful.”
Despite this setback, advocates say the fight for national reparations is more critical than ever.
Dr. Ron Daniels, the president of the National Reparations Commission, stated, “It demonstrates the utter necessity to continue to fight and the need for federal reparations.”
However, despite this renewed push for reparations, federal legislation in Congress remains stalled.
Experts offered varying perspectives on the Tulsa lawsuit dismissal and its implications for the national fight for reparations.
Some argue that reparations must be a federal project, while others suggest the decision has little consequence for the broader movement, which is focused on legislative rather than judicial action.
America Weighs In
According to a 2023 poll, 7 in 10 Americans believe that reparations are not owed to descendants of those enslaved in the U.S.
The Rebel
July 15, 2023 at 7:14 am
MY distant relatives where slaves of the Romans——they stomped straw into the mud to make bricks.
Where do I apply for reparations?
Fay Butler
July 15, 2023 at 7:15 am
Let us. look at reparations in other ways. Many of those left behind – if you want to put it that way – in Africa when slaves were captured by English slave traders and brought to America are far worse off that free black Americans today. One was even elected president.
How many left behind Africans own and drive cars, eat well and are free to choose their life paths?t
No living person today bought slaves brought here by the English. No person living today was a slave and – guess what! All slaves were not black.
SAMSON
July 16, 2023 at 2:44 pm
The Secret Service is probably corrupt just like the rest of the Democrats. Those guys that protect Biden have no honor or Integrity anyway who on Earth would want to protect such an evil man?
Doreen Igoe
July 15, 2023 at 7:32 am
I’m Native American where is the reparations for my people? We’d even settle for our land to be vacated and returned to us instead of cash. Having said that NO ONE from the people alive today took part in any of these events. As to the slaves brought here well just remember those from Africa were SOLD by their own people to the slave traders so maybe you should start your lawsuits for reparations with the ancestors of them first.
Hopiter
July 15, 2023 at 8:25 am
As long as people argue and whine they are owed in the present for something 200 years in the last what is going on that is being ignored? If there is reparations then let’s bring it to what is happening or happened in present day. Have BLM and all Associated thugs who brined and murdered billions of dollars of businesses of both black and white be held
Accountable to those Families! Talk of reparations for any others for any reason amounts to the idea that theft from all Americans to scratch the itch of jealousy amounts to Robbery which would
be Compounding actual real time crime.
Pindragon
July 15, 2023 at 9:02 am
African slaves were sold to the slave traders by their own tribes. So, start there. What would really help your case would be to find a former slave and let them tell their story first hand.
Lyn Uzelac
July 15, 2023 at 10:21 am
What about the Irish who were shipped to the US by the British Government. Are they excluded because they are white and therefore invisible?
Sean Richman
July 15, 2023 at 2:39 pm
GIVE IT UP,nobody deserves reparations.
bozo mctavish
July 16, 2023 at 8:59 am
i want reperations for being overtaxed by the federal guv !!!
ovid Priffer
July 16, 2023 at 3:26 pm
I’m Jewish. Many of my family were persecuted. Once more, 6 million were killed 70 years ago. What restitution did I get?