$105M reparations plan for descendants of 1921 Tulsa race massacre unveiled by mayor
Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols on Sunday unveiled a $105 million reparations plan for the descendants of the Tulsa race massacre -- the deadly 1921 attack by a white mob on the Oklahoma city's Greenwood section, a thriving Black neighborhood known as "Black Wall Street."
The attack, which occurred May 31 and June 1, 1921, killed hundreds of people and left homes and businesses destroyed.
Nichols, who became Tulsa's first Black mayor in 2024, announced the Greenwood Trust -- a $105 million charitable initiative -- on the first official Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day.
The trust is part of "The Road to Repair," a multi-step plan aimed at healing generational wounds, according to the mayor's office.
"This is a critical step to help to unify Tulsans and heal the wounds that for so long prevented generations of our neighbors from being able to recover from the Race Massacre," Nichols said in a statement on Sunday.
The private trust will invest in affordable housing and homeownership, cultural and historic preservation, as well as economic development and education, according to the plan.
"While the City of Tulsa cannot undo the harm of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, it can choose a road to repair to invest in justice, opportunity, and dignity and begin to repair the harm to those who survived and were impacted by the Tulsa Race Massacre and the subsequent disinvestment of the historic Greenwood District and North Tulsa," the mayor's office said.
In September 2024, the DOJ started the first federal review of the Tulsa Race massacre -- a move that the living survivors and the descendents of the victims praised at the time.
Following a four-month probe, the DOJ released a 126-page report on Jan. 17. According to the report, the two-day raid killed 300 Black residents and destroyed their businesses was a "coordinated, military-style attack" conducted by a white mob of over 10,000 people.
In addition to the murders and property destruction, victims' money and personal property were stolen, and they were not provided with any aid, the report said.
Viola Fletcher, known as "Mother Fletcher," and Lessie Benningfield Randle, known as "Mother Randle," are the last known living survivors, according to the Department of Justice, after Hugh Van Ellis, known as "Uncle Red," died on Oct. 9, 2023, at 102.
Randle, who celebrated her 110th birthday on Nov. 10, 2024, and Fletcher, who turned 111 on May 10, were young girls when the deadly attack occurred and have been fighting for reparations for decades.
Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, executive director and founder of Justice For Greenwood who represents the victims and their descendants, celebrated the mayor's plan and said that this is a "hopeful moment" for the families in this community.
"Many of the commitments outlined today echo the very proposals our team and community have spent years fighting to bring to light," Solomon-Simmons said in a statement on Sunday. "This alignment is a testament to the power of truth-telling and organized advocacy -- and we're ready to work together to ensure these ideas become real outcomes for descendants."
