Tulsa Race Riot Victims Seek Reparations
By Stephanie A. Crockett, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted Feb. 25, 2003 (Tulsa, Okla.) -- Victims and descendants of a 1921 race riot have filed a lawsuit against the state and the city for reparations for their lost relatives, ruined businesses and torched homes.
According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit says that authorities did not do what they could to stop the historic riots, and in some cases, they actually participated in them. The riots destroyed the Black community of Greenwood, then a thriving Black area. The story of the riots is told in the book "Black Wall Street," by Hannibal B. Johnson.
Johnnie Cochran is one of several lawyers working for free to represent the 200 survivors and descendants of victims. "We have an obligation to fight hard and leave no stone unturned to find justice," Cochran told AP.
The lawsuit, which names Gov. Brad Henry, police chief Dave Been, the city and police department, seeks unspecified damages in federal court for about $2 million in destruction to property. The suit also alleges that police deputized the White mob and that National Guard troops were called in to use violence to put an end to the Black "uprising," AP reported.
Investigators' reports show that as many as 3,000 people, mostly Blacks, were killed during the riot, which began after a a White lynch mob and a group of Blacks exchanged gun fire. The group of Blacks were trying to protect a Black man accused of assaulting a White woman. He was never prosecuted.
http://www.bet.com/articles/0,,c1gb5596-6335,00.html
By Stephanie A. Crockett, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted Feb. 25, 2003 (Tulsa, Okla.) -- Victims and descendants of a 1921 race riot have filed a lawsuit against the state and the city for reparations for their lost relatives, ruined businesses and torched homes.
According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit says that authorities did not do what they could to stop the historic riots, and in some cases, they actually participated in them. The riots destroyed the Black community of Greenwood, then a thriving Black area. The story of the riots is told in the book "Black Wall Street," by Hannibal B. Johnson.
Johnnie Cochran is one of several lawyers working for free to represent the 200 survivors and descendants of victims. "We have an obligation to fight hard and leave no stone unturned to find justice," Cochran told AP.
The lawsuit, which names Gov. Brad Henry, police chief Dave Been, the city and police department, seeks unspecified damages in federal court for about $2 million in destruction to property. The suit also alleges that police deputized the White mob and that National Guard troops were called in to use violence to put an end to the Black "uprising," AP reported.
Investigators' reports show that as many as 3,000 people, mostly Blacks, were killed during the riot, which began after a a White lynch mob and a group of Blacks exchanged gun fire. The group of Blacks were trying to protect a Black man accused of assaulting a White woman. He was never prosecuted.
http://www.bet.com/articles/0,,c1gb5596-6335,00.html
