The plaintiffs’ lawyers asked the judge on Monday afternoon to allow the case to proceed so that the survivors and descendants of the victims of the massacre could spend their day in court. A crowded courtroom in Tulsa erupted in applause and applause at the judge’s decision, including the three surviving survivors, all over 100, who were in the courtroom for the long-awaited hearing. “I’m trembling with emotion,” said Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas lawmaker who was present in the packed courtroom Monday. The lawsuit was filed in March 2021 and not only seems to set the record for what happened between May 31 and June 1, 1921, but also to create a special fund for the survivors and descendants of the massacre that left at least 300 blacks dead. and Greenwood’s once-prosperous neighborhood was destroyed. In addition, the plaintiffs’ lawyers are fighting against time. Three of their clients are over 100 years old – Viola Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle are both 107 and Hughes Van Ellis is the youngest at 101. This could be their last chance to get some justice . Damario Solomon-Simmons, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, told CNN that he received a text message from Van Ellis – also known as Uncle Red – which read: “The news is blinking, contacting any of the other lawyers” – speaking of the accused – “Please let them know that they are trying to wait for the three survivors. We will not go anywhere with three exclamations.” Judge Wall’s decision Monday on the 100-year-old case means America could be held accountable for a past injustice and lay the groundwork for similar cases in the future, Solomon-Simmons said. During the hearing on Monday, all three survivors sat in the front row of a crowded courtroom where there was room for standing only on all sides and back. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas was among the crowd. “We are dealing with government-approved violations and violence,” Lee said before the trial on Monday. “I live in a government that has to deal with the complaints of the people.” Solomon-Simmons entered the courtroom in front of a cheering crowd. He asked for the case to proceed with this trial. “They waited more than 300 years to spend their day in court,” Solomon-Simmons said of the three survivors. He argued that the main point of this case is to repair the damage done by the defendants, arguing that there is no time limit for something that has a lasting effect. “Injustice plus time does not equate to justice,” Simmons said.
7 defendants are named in the lawsuit
The lawsuit names 11 plaintiffs, including survivors and relatives of survivors. A total of seven defendants have been named, including the city of Tulsa, the Oklahoma Military Department and the Tulsa Development Authority. Six months after the initial filing of the lawsuit, some of the defendants in the case, including the County Council of Commissioners and the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Committee, filed for dismissal. Defendants’ objections included arguments that the case was unfounded because some plaintiffs did not prove that they had suffered specific personal injury and that their alleged injuries could not be remedied by the court. A hearing was held in September, but no decision had been made at that time. A judge gave plaintiffs until January 31 to present new arguments and gave defendants until March to respond, Solomon-Simmons said. CNN turned to the defendants for comment. “We asked for another hearing because Mother (Viola) Fletcher turns 108 on May 10, and we asked Judge Wall and we said, ‘Look, this issue needs to be resolved before this lady turns 108.’ “And that’s why he did this hearing,” he said. The lawsuit also seeks to formally declare that the actions of that day and the century that followed “created public annoyance” for the plaintiffs and their descendants, as required by Oklahoma law. The next steps after Monday’s hearing will be to find out or gather more evidence, both lawyers told CNN. “And that’s why it’s so important. There is so much we do not know about the slaughter. There is so much we do not know about the ongoing damage,” said Solomon-Simmons. John Tucker, representing the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, argued Monday that the public nuisance charge could not address the social ills and cited the November ruling in Oklahoma’s Supreme Court, which overturned a Johnson District Court ruling that & Johnson to pay $ 65 million to the state for its role in the opioid crisis. “We believe that the extension of the District Warning Act by the District Court has gone a long way,” Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice James Winchester wrote in his opinion at the time, adding that public harassment could not be extended to the state. opioid pandemic. Tucker also claimed that the massacre took place a long time ago to justify the accusation of public harassment. While the plaintiffs compared the massacre to an oil spill that has long-term consequences, Tucker disagreed. He argued that the massacre, which the plaintiffs described as energetic, could not be compared to an oil slick that is still on the ground and causing damage – in which some in the gallery made disapproving sounds. Tucker further argued that it was a matter to be dealt with by other branches of government, not the courts, and that the judge would go beyond the legislature’s mandate by allowing the case to be heard.
The effects of the slaughter of the race remain 100 years later
In recent years, efforts have been made to raise awareness about the slaughter. The news of 2018 that the bodies of the victims may have been found, along with the plots from two popular TV shows – “Lovecraft Country” and HBO’s “Watchmen” – helped spark interest in this dark period of American history. (CNN and HBO have the same parent company.) However, many of the details of what happened that spring have been lost in time. What is known is that Tulsa at that time had something that most cities did not have: The Greenwood area was a thriving commercial hub for blacks, home to many millionaires and about 300 black businesses. Commonly known as Black Wall Street. The events that led to the massacre began on May 30, 1921, when Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old black shoe polisher, ran from an elevator to a downtown building after a teenage elevator operator screamed. Rumors of a rape then circulated, Rowland was arrested and the White Tulans formed a lynching mob. The Black Tulsans went to jail to defend Rowland, clashes ensued, a gun fell and, as then-Sheriff William McCullough told the Literary Digest, “All hell is gone.” The mob destroyed about 35 square meters in 16 hours, arresting thousands of Black residents while robbing, beating and killing others. Historical photographs show entire squares bursting with flames and black people on the street. Things got worse as insurance companies denied many claims for tens of millions of dollars in property damage, including the destruction of two Black Hospitals and 1,256 homes, according to the Greenwood Cultural Center. “There is no hospital in northern Tulsa today. It’s been 101 years since this hospital was ever rebuilt,” Solfanelli said. When you think about the wealth of generations that was lost when Greenwood was lost, then I think people can take a step back and say, ‘Wait a minute, imagine if that happened to my great-grandparents.’ Solomon-Simmons told CNN what makes Greenwood special is not its destruction, black communities have endured similar events throughout history. “It’s special because of the size and scale of the disaster. It’s special because we have so many documents, we have real videos, we have hundreds of photos, we have hundreds of unpaid insurance claims and we have three survivors,” he said. “If blacks can’t win it, how can we win it?” CNN’s Sonia Moghe, Nicquel Terry Ellis and Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.
