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sheshe2

(88,100 posts)
Wed May 31, 2017, 04:01 PM May 2017

Not a"race riot," it was amassacre. The destruction of Black Wall Street, Greenwood, Tulsa OK 1921

Last edited Wed May 31, 2017, 05:16 PM - Edit history (1)



May 31–June 1, 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma. Greenwood was the wealthiest black community in the U.S. It was firebombed, 6000 black people arrested, 800 wounded, 300 killed.

The term “race riot” is used a lot — to mask the history of black Americans being massacred by rampaging whites. The “Tulsa race riot” as it is most often referred to is no exception. 

Ebony magazine gave a more accurate depiction in “The Destruction of Black Wall Street" written in 2013. Subtitled “The events that destroyed a thriving Black Oklahoma community 92 years ago were much more than a 'race riot’.”

Today marks ninety-two years since as many as 300 African Americans lost their lives and more than 9,000 were left homeless when the small town was attacked, looted and literally burned to the ground beginning in 1921.  It’s impossible, however, to realize what was lost in Greenwood, which was affectionately known as “Black Wall Street.”

It was pure envy, and a vow to put progressive, high achieving African Americans in their place that would cause the demise of the Black Mecca many called “Little Africa”, and its destruction began the way much terrorism, violence and dispossession against African Americans did during that era.  A young White woman accused a young Black man of attempted sexual assault, which gave local mobs and White men acting as police just cause to invade the unsuspecting community. On the malevolent and horrifying attack, Linda Christenson writes the following:

Read More: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/5/31/1667518/-Not-a-race-riot-it-was-a-massacre-The-destruction-of-Black-Wall-Street-Greenwood-Tulsa-OK-1921

96 years ago today a massacre...over 300 black men and women died because white men were envious of their success. Shame on us.

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Not a"race riot," it was amassacre. The destruction of Black Wall Street, Greenwood, Tulsa OK 1921 (Original Post) sheshe2 May 2017 OP
I don't know whether to be happy or sad about the "white-washing" of American History TheDebbieDee May 2017 #1
 

TheDebbieDee

(11,119 posts)
1. I don't know whether to be happy or sad about the "white-washing" of American History
Wed May 31, 2017, 05:45 PM
May 2017

with regard to slavery, "Jim Crow" and segregation (separate but "equal&quot .

On the one hand "white-washing" negates the sacrifices, sometimes with their very own lives, of those devoted to advancing the cause of civil rights in this nation. On the other hand "white-washing" is an indication that the washers realize that the washed events were so horrific and indefensible that they would rather deny they happened rather than try to explain/defend them. Maybe they are even ASHAMED...

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