A hundred years on, Biden honors victims of Tulsa Race Massacre

President Biden participated in remembrances of the Tulsa Massacre victims on June 1 amid a national reckoning on racial justice. In 1921 around 300 Black Tulsans were killed when a 30-block historically Black business district was destroyed by a white mob.

First Look

President Joe Biden led a remembrance Tuesday of one of the nation’s darkest – and long suppressed – moments of racial violence, marking the 100th anniversary of the destruction of a thriving Black community in Tulsa.

Mr. Biden helped commemorate the deaths of hundreds of Black people killed by a white mob a century ago, his visit coming amid a national reckoning on racial justice. The events stood in stark contrast to then-President Donald Trump’s trip a year ago, which was greeted by protests.

Mr. Biden is the first president to participate in remembrances of the destruction of what was known as “Black Wall Street.” In 1921 – on May 31 and June 1 – when a white mob, including some people hastily deputized by authorities, looted and burned the Greenwood district.

The president, joined by three top Black advisers, met privately with three surviving members of the Greenwood community who lived through the violence, the White House said. Viola “Mother” Fletcher, Hughes “Uncle Red” Van Ellis, and Lessie “Mother Randle” Benningfield Randle are all between the ages of 101 and 107.

Outside, Latasha Sanders of Tulsa, brought her five children and a nephew in hopes of spotting Mr. Biden.

“It’s been 100 years, and this is the first we’ve heard from any U.S. president,” she said. “I brought my kids here today just so they could be a part of history and not just hear about it, and so they can teach generations to come.”

As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement are about all that survive today of the more than 30-block historically Black district.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Mr. Biden will “convey his heartfelt gratitude for their bravery in sharing the stories of the trauma and violence that was wrought on them and their families,” said White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Mr. Biden also “will explain that we need to know our history from the original sin of slavery, through the Tulsa race massacre to racial discrimination and housing in order to build common ground, to truly repair and rebuild,” she said.

Several hundred people milled around Greenwood Avenue in front of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church awaiting Mr. Biden’s arrival at the nearby Greenwood Cultural Center. Some vendors were selling memorabilia, including Black Lives Matter hats, shirts, and flags under a bridge of the interstate that cuts through the district.

The names and pictures of Black men killed by police hung on a chain-link fence next to the church, including Eric Harris and Terrence Crutcher in Tulsa.

Inside the community center, Mr. Biden was joined by Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge and senior advisers Susan Rice and Cedric Richmond. Mr. Biden peered at photos of Black-owned businesses destroyed in the riot and asked questions of his tour guide, who at one moment told the president, “It was a massacre.”

America’s continuing struggle over race will continue to test Mr. Biden, whose presidency would have been impossible without overwhelming support from Black voters, both in the Democratic primaries and the general election.

Mr. Biden has pledged to help combat racism in policing and other areas of life following nationwide protests after George Floyd’s death a year ago that reignited a national conversation about race. Mr. Floyd, a Black man, was killed by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.

After Mr. Chauvin was convicted in April, Mr. Biden said the country’s work was far from finished with the verdict, declaring, “We can’t stop here.”

He called on Congress to act swiftly to address policing reform. But he has also long projected himself as an ally of police, who are struggling with criticism about long-used tactics and training methods and difficulties in recruitment.

The Tulsa massacre has only recently entered the national discourse – and the presidential visit will put an even brighter spotlight on the event.

Mr. Biden is set to announce new measures to help narrow the wealth gap between Blacks and whites and reinvest in underserved communities by expanding access to homeownership and small-business ownership.

The White House said the administration will take steps to address disparities that result in Black-owned homes being appraised at tens of thousands of dollars less than comparable homes owned by whites as well as issue new federal rules to fight housing discrimination.

The administration is also setting a goal of increasing the share of federal contracts awarded to small disadvantaged businesses by 50% by 2026, funneling an estimated additional $100 billion to such businesses over the five-year period, according to the White House.

Historians say the massacre in Tulsa began after a local newspaper drummed up a furor over a Black man accused of stepping on a white girl’s foot. When Black Tulsans showed up with guns to prevent the man’s lynching, white residents responded with overwhelming force.

Tensions persist a century later.

Organizers called off a separate commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, saying no agreement could be reached over monetary payments to three survivors of the deadly attack. It highlights broader debates over reparations for racial injustice.

Reparations for Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved and for other racial discrimination have been debated in the U.S. since slavery ended in 1865. Now they are being discussed by colleges and universities with ties to slavery and by local governments looking to make cash payments to Black residents.

Some of Tulsa’s Black residents question whether the $20 million spent to build the Greenwood Rising museum in an increasingly gentrified part of the city could have been better spent helping Black descendants of the massacre or residents of the city’s predominantly Black north side several miles away from Greenwood.

Disagreements among Black leaders in Tulsa over the handling of commemorative events and millions of dollars in donations have led to two disparate groups planning separate slates of anniversary events.

Mr. Biden, who was vice president to the nation’s first Black president and who chose a Black woman as his own vice president, backs a study of reparations, both in Tulsa and more broadly, but has not committed to supporting payments.

Mr. Trump visited Tulsa last year under vastly different circumstances.

After suspending his campaign rallies because of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump, a Republican, chose Tulsa as the place to mark his return. But his decision to schedule the rally on June 19, the holiday known as Juneteenth that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, was met with such fierce criticism that he postponed the event by a day. The rally was still marked by protests outside and empty seats inside an arena downtown.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Mr. Lemire reported from New York City. Associated Press writer Sean Murphy contributed reporting.