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TURNER: I am coming to the gates
of this city

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to remind Tulsa
of the greatest race massacre

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that has ever occurred
on American soil.

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This was done when a white mob

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descended upon
law-abiding citizens,

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a generation out of slavery.

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They wanted to live out
the American dream.

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And, Tulsa,
how did you repay them?

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You went down to Greenwood
and you burned, looted,

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and killed innocent people.

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NARRATOR:
On most Wednesday afternoons,

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the Reverend Robert Turner

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conducts a one-man protest
outside Tulsa's City Hall.

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He is determined
to obtain justice

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for an act of racial terrorism
against the Black community

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100 years ago known as
the Tulsa Race Massacre.

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We will not wait
for another moment to go by.

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I have been led by God to help
call the city to repentance.

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You have folks who had
their houses destroyed,

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businesses destroyed,
churches destroyed,

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and that's why I go out
to City Hall every Wednesday

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that the Lord allows
and I plead for justice.

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We demand...

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for there to be...

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reparations now!

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The blood of the martyr
upon your head.

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NARRATOR:
Four miles south,

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the scene along Tulsa's
Arkansas River is more tranquil,

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but for some,
it is no less disturbing.

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In December 2019,
an archaeological survey team

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reported that a section of this
riverbank known as The Canes

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may be linked
to the 1921 massacre.

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That crime has defined
race relations in Tulsa

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for a hundred years.

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The phrase "water is life"
is not an absolute.

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The Arkansas River for many
generations sustained life

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for First Nations people,
settlers, pioneers,

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and Black people.

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But the river bank
may also conceal bodies

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of Black people
who were murdered

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nearly a hundred years ago

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in a two-day frenzy
of racial terror.

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[ Beeping ]

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Forensic scientists
and archeologists in 2019

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scanned this area
with ground-penetrating radar

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and found subterranean areas

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that may be consistent
with mass graves.

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So the city of Tulsa

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began physically searching
for bodies of Black people.

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The search for the mass graves

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is a powerful moment
in the city's history.

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What happened in 1921
was a horrible atrocity,

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and for nearly 100 years,
it was covered up.

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It was left out of textbooks.

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Many survivors
did not talk about it.

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Many survivors
only whispered about it.

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My family is from Oklahoma.

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My father lives in Tulsa.

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And so there is...

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For generations, I believe,

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there's been a desire
for this story to be told.

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NARRATOR: The latest chapter
in that story begins here.

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Oaklawn is Tulsa's
oldest public cemetery,

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the final resting place
for pioneers,

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Civil War veterans,
and prominent families.

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The indigent and the unknown
are buried here, as well,

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in a potter's field in
the cemetery's southwest corner.

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Just two known victims of the
1921 massacre are buried here.

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Survivors of that massacre,

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along with descendants
and community activists,

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have long claimed
that other victims

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were also buried at Oaklawn
in unmarked graves.

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Their claim was bolstered
two decades ago

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by forensic scientists

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who identified
underground patterns

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during a preliminary radar scan.

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You don't know for sure
if you've got a good anomaly.

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You don't know until
you get under the dirt.

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It could be the man who's listed
in the ledger or mass graves.

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Let me show you where we're at.

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NARRATOR: On this afternoon
in early October 2019,

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independent investigator
Betsy Warner shared her findings

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with Washington Post
reporter DeNeen Brown

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and human rights investigator
Eric Stover.

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This map, what's interesting is
it shows, quite clearly marked,

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the Jim Crow Line,
and it's from about 1935-36.

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If you'll notice on here,
there's a whole lot of stuff

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going on in the white section,
and there's not very much

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going on down here
in the black section.

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NARRATOR: In her three decades
at The Washington Post,

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DeNeen Brown has tried
to break the silence

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imposed on
the African-American community.

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Stories have power,
and if they're told,

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they can change the future

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and they can provide
some healing.

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Where do you think
the bodies went, though?

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I think there's a lot of them
in this Sexton side right here.

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DeNEEN: My goal here would be
to finally find answers

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for some of the descendants
of the victims

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and, if they do find bodies,
put those souls to rest.

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20 years ago, they searched
quite a large area,

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and the anomaly
was right in here, okay?

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So this time around,
this is where we're going,

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and it's the only place
in the entire cemetery

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where there's not a marker
or a notation

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that there's even
anything there.

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This has been ignored
for 100 years,

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and it's important now that,
as best we can, we investigate

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and, when we do it,
that we engage the community

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and the community
is there to see

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that a proper investigation
is taking place.

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So the area runs along here.

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NARRATOR:
Eric Stover is an authority

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on international
humanitarian law.

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He has probed conflict,

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genocide, and mass murder
for four decades.

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The reason I've worked with
forensic teams around the world

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to investigate war crimes
and human rights abuses

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is to set the historical record,

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so that those who may have
perpetrated the crimes

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or supported those
who perpetrated the crimes

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do not have a false history
out there of what took place.

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This is a haunting site.

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This is where people
were killed.

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And this was one of
the worst incidents

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of racial violence
in U.S. history.

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So I talked to Black people
on the ground

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and I listened to their stories,
and what they pointed out

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was these anomalies
in the ground

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had been discovered in 1999,

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but nothing had
been done about it.

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When I wrote the story
in The Washington Post,

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it went on the front page.

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The next day, there's a minister
at a local community meeting.

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He holds up the paper
and he's talking to the mayor

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and he demands some answers.

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And the mayor decides
to reopen the investigation.

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NARRATOR:
The city of Tulsa's decision

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to reopen the investigation

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was as surprising
as it was uncommon.

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American communities rarely
examine, much less atone for,

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their records
of racial violence.

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Beginning in
the Reconstruction era,

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Black people throughout
the country

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were terrorized by white mobs
acting with impunity.

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In the post-Civil War era,

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you tend to see surges
of anti-Black violence

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at moments when Blacks
are asserting themselves,

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are achieving some level
of political power,

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social power, economic power.

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And then you see this during
the latter stages of World War I

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in its immediate aftermath.

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First of all,
400,000 African-American men

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served in the armed forces,
half of them in combat units,

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and many of them go to Europe,
they go to France.

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They have the experience
of being given a gun and told,

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"Shoot the enemies
of the United States."

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They come back
to the United States

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and they're just not willing
to go back

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to the subordinate status they
had before, and whites sense it.

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So that's a huge disruption.

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The second disruption is
a kind of demographic shift,

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which is a shift
of African-Americans

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out of the rural South

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to cities in the North
and in the Midwest,

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accelerated by the demand
for workers during World War I.

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And these kinds of sudden surges
of African-Americans

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into communities, into jobs

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creates all kinds
of new tensions,

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and many whites in these
communities feel competition,

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they feel a threat
to their positions.

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NARRATOR: Following World War I,
the epidemic of racial violence

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was given a name -- Red Summer.

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JOHNSON: Red Summer,
summer and fall of 1919.

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It was dubbed Red Summer by
James Weldon Johnson of NAACP.

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Red is metaphorical.

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Red is a reference to the blood
that flowed in the streets

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from civil unrest
and these so-called riots

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in places like New York
and Philadelphia,

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Washington, D.C.,
Omaha, Chicago,

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Elaine, Arkansas,
Longview, Texas,

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and on and on and on.

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It had long been the case
in much of the United States,

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not just the South,
that acts of violence

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against people of color
were rarely punished.

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So they felt that they were free

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to engage
in these acts of violence.

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There were very few restraints.

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There were some.

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The most important one was
Black people fighting back.

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NARRATOR: Despite persistent
racial violence,

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Oklahoma's Black communities
thrived.

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Oklahoma had the most
independently run Black towns

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of any state in the country.

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Just days, weeks,
years out of slavery,

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Black people came here
and they established towns.

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They created
their own governments.

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They created their own postal
systems, their own communities.

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They were just living
in a Black world,

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for lack of a better word.

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NARRATOR: When Oklahoma
became a state in 1907,

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many Black families and freedmen

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settled in Tulsa's
Greenwood district,

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which became the hub of a larger
Black population in the region.

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People always ask,
why was Greenwood so successful?

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It wasn't just because
there were barbershops,

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there were businesses.

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It was land ownership.

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There were a lot of Black people
who came here

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through the Trail of Tears,
but they didn't come willingly.

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They were slaves of
the Five Civilized Tribes.

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And in 1866,
with the Indian Treaty,

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they released those slaves,
but they gave those slaves,

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based on the treaty,
160 acres of land.

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Black people owned so much land
here in Oklahoma,

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and all those townships
would come to Greenwood

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and spend their dollars.

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ROBINSON: You not only had
what was going on in Tulsa,

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on Greenwood, happening, but you
had many, many Black towns

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rising up and supporting
that growth around it.

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And so when you think about,

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how was there
such tremendous wealth

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built in 19-teens and 1920s,

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we have to understand that
it was not just one boulevard,

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it was not just 40 blocks.

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It was a network
of African-Americans,

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freedmen in Oklahoma

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living together,
supporting each other.

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The community of Greenwood

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was one of the wealthiest
communities in the country.

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They say it was one of the
wealthiest Black communities.

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Booker T. Washington called it
"Black Wall Street"

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because of the wealth
that flowed here.

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There were people
who had oil wells.

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There were two hotels.

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There was a bank,

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two Black newspapers,
movie theaters.

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It was a thriving,
bustling community.

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NARRATOR: On Tuesday morning,
May 31, 1921,

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Greenwood was a beacon
of Black prosperity.

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Two days later,
Greenwood was rubble and ash.

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Kristi Williams
has spent decades

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researching the atrocities
of those days,

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which her great-aunt escaped.

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The massacre began
when a young Black man

248
00:13:30.026 --> 00:13:33.073
was in an elevator
with a young white woman.

249
00:13:33.116 --> 00:13:37.207
He bumped into the young
white woman, and she screamed,

250
00:13:37.251 --> 00:13:40.210
and then they said
that this young Black man

251
00:13:40.254 --> 00:13:43.170
assaulted
this young white woman.

252
00:13:43.213 --> 00:13:46.129
The young Black man
was put in jail.

253
00:13:46.173 --> 00:13:47.565
When he was put in jail,

254
00:13:47.609 --> 00:13:50.394
all the men in Greenwood
got together.

255
00:13:50.438 --> 00:13:54.224
They went down to City Hall,
to the jail where he was,

256
00:13:54.268 --> 00:13:56.313
to protect him
from being lynched.

257
00:13:56.357 --> 00:13:58.663
And they had guns with them,

258
00:13:58.707 --> 00:14:02.754
and there were tons of white men
and police around the jail.

259
00:14:02.798 --> 00:14:06.106
And there was one Black man
who had a gun.

260
00:14:06.149 --> 00:14:08.064
One of the white men said,

261
00:14:08.108 --> 00:14:11.024
"[Bleep] what are you going to
do with that gun?"

262
00:14:11.067 --> 00:14:13.504
And he said,
"I'll use it if I have to."

263
00:14:13.548 --> 00:14:16.159
And they struggled for the gun.

264
00:14:16.203 --> 00:14:18.161
It just started a big fight.

265
00:14:18.205 --> 00:14:19.859
They were shooting
at each other,

266
00:14:19.902 --> 00:14:21.904
running, trying to get away.

267
00:14:21.948 --> 00:14:25.952
And they ran through downtown
back into Greenwood.

268
00:14:25.995 --> 00:14:30.782
Then the looting started
and then the fires to the homes.

269
00:14:32.219 --> 00:14:33.742
GOODWIN:
My grandfather,

270
00:14:33.785 --> 00:14:34.874
being that he was a senior
in high school,

271
00:14:34.917 --> 00:14:37.441
and my great-aunt at the time,

272
00:14:37.485 --> 00:14:39.704
they were both at
Booker T. Washington High School

273
00:14:39.748 --> 00:14:42.316
and seniors in that class.

274
00:14:42.359 --> 00:14:44.840
And typically,
when we would be going through

275
00:14:44.884 --> 00:14:47.060
what we know as prom
and getting ready to graduate,

276
00:14:47.103 --> 00:14:49.932
it was my grandfather, they were
down there decorating the hotel

277
00:14:49.976 --> 00:14:52.935
where they were prepared
to celebrate.

278
00:14:52.979 --> 00:14:56.591
And they got word that trouble
was coming, right.

279
00:14:56.634 --> 00:14:58.941
On May the 31st,
trouble was coming.

280
00:14:58.985 --> 00:15:00.029
They had no idea.

281
00:15:00.073 --> 00:15:02.640
NARRATOR:
75 years later,

282
00:15:02.684 --> 00:15:05.469
survivors like Veneice Simms
and George Monroe

283
00:15:05.513 --> 00:15:09.821
still remember the horrors
they saw as children.

284
00:15:09.865 --> 00:15:12.694
We could hear the bullets
were falling in our yard,

285
00:15:12.737 --> 00:15:16.002
and that's when my father
told us that we got to go.

286
00:15:17.438 --> 00:15:19.701
We didn't know whether
to fall down, run, or what.

287
00:15:19.744 --> 00:15:22.878
Hide, you didn't have nowhere
to hide but go in the house.

288
00:15:22.922 --> 00:15:25.968
And we sat there and could see
the blaze, the fire, you know,

289
00:15:26.012 --> 00:15:28.405
where they were burning
and things like that,

290
00:15:28.449 --> 00:15:31.060
over on this side of Tulsa.

291
00:15:31.104 --> 00:15:36.805
What I remember mostly is when,

292
00:15:36.848 --> 00:15:40.374
all of a sudden,
my mother was excited,

293
00:15:40.417 --> 00:15:43.464
is because that...

294
00:15:43.507 --> 00:15:49.209
she saw four men
coming toward our house,

295
00:15:49.252 --> 00:15:53.996
and all of them had torches,
lighted torches, on their side,

296
00:15:54.040 --> 00:15:55.824
coming straight to our house.

297
00:15:57.652 --> 00:15:59.480
SIMMS:
We could hear planes

298
00:15:59.523 --> 00:16:01.873
and knew the fighting
was going on here

299
00:16:01.917 --> 00:16:05.007
and the shooting things,
'cause you could --

300
00:16:05.051 --> 00:16:08.358
It was just like a boom, boom,
boom, boom.

301
00:16:08.402 --> 00:16:10.970
That's all you could hear
was boom, boom, boom.

302
00:16:13.233 --> 00:16:15.278
NARRATOR: Police were unable,
or unwilling,

303
00:16:15.322 --> 00:16:16.976
to stop the violence,

304
00:16:17.019 --> 00:16:18.847
possibly because
the police chief

305
00:16:18.890 --> 00:16:22.503
had sworn in hundreds of white
mob members as special deputies.

306
00:16:22.546 --> 00:16:24.505
The National Guard
was called in.

307
00:16:24.548 --> 00:16:26.811
Firemen were unable,
or unwilling,

308
00:16:26.855 --> 00:16:28.988
to stop the conflagration.

309
00:16:29.031 --> 00:16:31.555
They were taking the wounded.

310
00:16:31.599 --> 00:16:33.949
They set up a place where
they would take the wounded.

311
00:16:35.472 --> 00:16:39.346
They had cots, these army cots.
That's what the wounded was on.

312
00:16:39.389 --> 00:16:42.697
They were there with legs
all shot up

313
00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:45.439
and just all types
of wounded men.

314
00:16:45.482 --> 00:16:52.315
When these people came in,
these four men came in,

315
00:16:52.359 --> 00:16:55.405
they walked right past the bed,

316
00:16:55.449 --> 00:17:01.063
right straight to the curtains
in the house,

317
00:17:01.107 --> 00:17:04.675
and they set fire
to the curtains,

318
00:17:04.719 --> 00:17:10.594
and as a result, everything
in and around was burning.

319
00:17:13.162 --> 00:17:18.602
And that's what I remember
more than anything else,

320
00:17:18.646 --> 00:17:21.953
and that eventually,
they left after then,

321
00:17:21.997 --> 00:17:25.087
and eventually,
this fire caused our house

322
00:17:25.131 --> 00:17:28.351
to burn down completely
to the ground.

323
00:17:29.526 --> 00:17:31.789
GOODWIN: I learned what was
destroyed in our family.

324
00:17:31.833 --> 00:17:34.531
I know the terror
that they experienced

325
00:17:34.575 --> 00:17:36.316
when they were in their home

326
00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:41.234
and, you know,
they were hiding in the bathtub.

327
00:17:41.277 --> 00:17:43.540
And had a neighbor come by

328
00:17:43.584 --> 00:17:46.848
that made my relatives
get out of their own bathtub

329
00:17:46.891 --> 00:17:49.851
so that they could have
some kind of safety.

330
00:17:49.894 --> 00:17:52.767
I know the stories of people
going down the train tracks

331
00:17:52.810 --> 00:17:56.640
and having only
their suit of clothes,

332
00:17:56.684 --> 00:17:58.077
and they would put on
another pair of pants

333
00:17:58.120 --> 00:17:59.426
on top of that pair of pants,

334
00:17:59.469 --> 00:18:01.341
another jacket
on top of that jacket,

335
00:18:01.384 --> 00:18:04.257
because that's all they had,
and they would take off, right,

336
00:18:04.300 --> 00:18:06.955
trying to go to
some kind of safety.

337
00:18:06.998 --> 00:18:10.872
The fact that the house,
their very house,

338
00:18:10.915 --> 00:18:16.573
was saved because there's
a story that says J.H. Goodwin,

339
00:18:16.617 --> 00:18:18.488
who was very fair complected,

340
00:18:18.532 --> 00:18:20.316
he looked like a white man,
right,

341
00:18:20.360 --> 00:18:22.231
was very fair complected,
but he was Black.

342
00:18:24.059 --> 00:18:26.540
When the white racist mob
was coming,

343
00:18:26.583 --> 00:18:29.064
he directed them away
from the house, right,

344
00:18:29.108 --> 00:18:30.413
and they kept going.

345
00:18:30.457 --> 00:18:32.154
So that house was saved,

346
00:18:32.198 --> 00:18:35.026
but many of the other properties
were destroyed.

347
00:18:35.070 --> 00:18:40.510
And again, never, ever,
nobody was ever charged,

348
00:18:40.554 --> 00:18:42.686
nobody ever convicted,
in terms of the murder,

349
00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:44.688
in terms of the looting,
in terms of the burning,

350
00:18:44.732 --> 00:18:46.603
in terms of the terroristic acts
that took place.

351
00:18:48.605 --> 00:18:51.347
NARRATOR: During the rampage,
a number of families took refuge

352
00:18:51.391 --> 00:18:54.437
at the Vernon AME Church
on Greenwood Avenue.

353
00:18:54.481 --> 00:18:56.309
They hid in the church basement

354
00:18:56.352 --> 00:18:59.225
until mobs set fire
to the structure.

355
00:18:59.268 --> 00:19:03.272
In 1921, we were building
our superstructure,

356
00:19:03.316 --> 00:19:08.234
and they destroyed that, the
superstructure, in the massacre.

357
00:19:08.277 --> 00:19:12.716
But thanks be to God,
our basement survived.

358
00:19:12.760 --> 00:19:16.764
And the Sunday immediately
following the massacre,

359
00:19:16.807 --> 00:19:18.157
we came to church.

360
00:19:19.723 --> 00:19:21.595
NARRATOR: Throughout the mayhem,
thousands of Black Tulsans

361
00:19:21.638 --> 00:19:25.381
were rounded up and confined
to fairgrounds and ball fields.

362
00:19:25.425 --> 00:19:28.950
The National Guard imposed
martial law on June 1st.

363
00:19:28.993 --> 00:19:31.170
Thereafter, Black citizens
were required

364
00:19:31.213 --> 00:19:34.042
to carry identity cards.

365
00:19:34.085 --> 00:19:37.698
The rampage lasted
an estimated 16 hours.

366
00:19:37.741 --> 00:19:40.266
It ended on the evening
of June 1st

367
00:19:40.309 --> 00:19:44.139
with more than 35 square blocks
of the district destroyed.

368
00:19:44.183 --> 00:19:47.969
10,000 Black people were left
homeless and destitute.

369
00:19:48.012 --> 00:19:49.536
Hundreds were injured.

370
00:19:49.579 --> 00:19:52.669
The precise number of dead
is unknown.

371
00:19:52.713 --> 00:19:57.239
Estimates range from 39 to 300.

372
00:19:57.283 --> 00:19:59.285
STOVER:
After the massacre,

373
00:19:59.328 --> 00:20:04.594
hundreds fled to towns around
Tulsa or to other states.

374
00:20:04.638 --> 00:20:08.511
We also know that there were
those who were murdered

375
00:20:08.555 --> 00:20:11.384
and buried in mass graves.

376
00:20:11.427 --> 00:20:13.516
The third group were those
who were taken

377
00:20:13.560 --> 00:20:16.127
and put into internment camps.

378
00:20:16.171 --> 00:20:18.956
So this is what happened
to the Black community.

379
00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.917
And one has to stop
and think what that means.

380
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:25.354
The devastation
of losing your home,

381
00:20:25.398 --> 00:20:28.618
your business, family members,

382
00:20:28.662 --> 00:20:31.665
and then to walk out
of these internment camps

383
00:20:31.708 --> 00:20:33.449
and have to rebuild.

384
00:20:33.493 --> 00:20:35.973
It's unclear as to whether
or not we'll ever know

385
00:20:36.017 --> 00:20:38.889
the identities
of the perpetrators,

386
00:20:38.933 --> 00:20:42.589
but let's remember when we talk
about the direct perpetrators,

387
00:20:42.632 --> 00:20:45.461
we're talking about
thousands of folks,

388
00:20:45.505 --> 00:20:47.507
a large segment
of the white male population

389
00:20:47.550 --> 00:20:49.596
in the community.

390
00:20:49.639 --> 00:20:51.989
We know through
ancillary evidence

391
00:20:52.033 --> 00:20:55.123
that parts of the leadership
of the community

392
00:20:55.166 --> 00:20:59.649
were at least complicit
in what happened.

393
00:20:59.693 --> 00:21:02.435
We know, for example,
that the Tulsa Tribune,

394
00:21:02.478 --> 00:21:04.263
the daily afternoon newspaper,

395
00:21:04.306 --> 00:21:07.222
published a series of incendiary
articles and editorials

396
00:21:07.266 --> 00:21:09.398
that really fomented hostility
in the white community

397
00:21:09.442 --> 00:21:11.226
against the Black community.

398
00:21:11.270 --> 00:21:13.359
NARRATOR: Despite
the unprecedented horrors

399
00:21:13.402 --> 00:21:15.622
of May 31st and June 1st,

400
00:21:15.665 --> 00:21:18.189
no perpetrators
were charged or tried.

401
00:21:18.233 --> 00:21:21.845
Indeed the victimized community
was blamed.

402
00:21:22.846 --> 00:21:25.893
STOVER: After the massacre, a
grand jury made of 12 white men

403
00:21:25.936 --> 00:21:28.243
appointed by the governor

404
00:21:28.287 --> 00:21:32.508
indicted a number of Black
citizens for the massacre,

405
00:21:32.552 --> 00:21:36.904
the riot, they called it,
and some whites, as well.

406
00:21:36.947 --> 00:21:41.169
But in the end, the grand jury
effectively blamed it

407
00:21:41.212 --> 00:21:44.738
on the Black community
of Greenwood.

408
00:21:45.391 --> 00:21:47.044
NARRATOR:
The Tulsa City Commission

409
00:21:47.088 --> 00:21:49.917
issued a report two weeks
after the massacre.

410
00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:53.181
In it, Mayor T.D. Evans
was unequivocal --

411
00:21:53.224 --> 00:21:55.444
"Let the blame
for this negro uprising

412
00:21:55.488 --> 00:21:57.272
lie right where it belongs,

413
00:21:57.316 --> 00:21:59.709
on those armed negroes
and their followers

414
00:21:59.753 --> 00:22:03.278
who started this trouble
and who instigated it."

415
00:22:03.322 --> 00:22:06.890
We've since unearthed the
City Commission meeting minutes

416
00:22:06.934 --> 00:22:09.371
from that era,
as well as the meeting minutes

417
00:22:09.415 --> 00:22:11.765
from the Chamber of Commerce
from that era.

418
00:22:11.808 --> 00:22:16.073
What you see in both
is almost immediate recognition

419
00:22:16.117 --> 00:22:19.207
after the event happened
of shame and embarrassment

420
00:22:19.250 --> 00:22:23.472
and a desire to try
and cover it up,

421
00:22:23.516 --> 00:22:25.518
believing, I think accurately,

422
00:22:25.561 --> 00:22:27.650
that it did not
reflect well on Tulsa.

423
00:22:29.478 --> 00:22:32.481
MAN: This is Tulsa, one of the
richest cities in the country

424
00:22:32.525 --> 00:22:35.571
and oil capital of the world.

425
00:22:35.615 --> 00:22:37.573
NARRATOR: Tulsa's civic
and business leaders

426
00:22:37.617 --> 00:22:40.402
succeeded in suppressing
the truth of the carnage,

427
00:22:40.446 --> 00:22:43.100
and the city resumed
business as usual.

428
00:22:43.144 --> 00:22:45.712
The white community
continued to prosper.

429
00:22:45.755 --> 00:22:48.192
The Black community did not.

430
00:22:48.236 --> 00:22:50.934
For decades, massacre survivors
and their descendants

431
00:22:50.978 --> 00:22:53.241
sought compensation
for their losses

432
00:22:53.284 --> 00:22:55.417
from city government
and insurance companies,

433
00:22:55.461 --> 00:22:57.419
to no avail.

434
00:22:57.463 --> 00:23:00.030
FREEMAN: I think of all
the Red Summer events,

435
00:23:00.074 --> 00:23:01.554
Tulsa was probably the one

436
00:23:01.597 --> 00:23:03.730
that disappeared
from American memory.

437
00:23:03.773 --> 00:23:06.428
Many African-Americans
correctly sensed

438
00:23:06.472 --> 00:23:08.256
that it was
a damn dangerous thing

439
00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:10.954
to talk about this,
you know, in the years

440
00:23:10.998 --> 00:23:13.696
and even the decades
after the events in Tulsa.

441
00:23:13.740 --> 00:23:18.179
After all, they had witnessed
the most horrendous, murderous,

442
00:23:18.222 --> 00:23:21.791
sadistic kind of attack
on their community.

443
00:23:21.835 --> 00:23:25.099
And I think many of them
had a visceral feeling

444
00:23:25.142 --> 00:23:27.406
that if this was brought up,

445
00:23:27.449 --> 00:23:32.715
it would provoke violence
and repression against them.

446
00:23:34.021 --> 00:23:35.588
NARRATOR: The Washington Post's,
DeNeen Brown

447
00:23:35.631 --> 00:23:37.459
has her own personal experience

448
00:23:37.503 --> 00:23:39.026
of how Blacks
have been victimized

449
00:23:39.069 --> 00:23:41.463
and their voices silenced.

450
00:23:41.507 --> 00:23:43.639
DeNEEN:
Racial violence can be physical,

451
00:23:43.683 --> 00:23:46.468
but it can also be emotional
and be mental.

452
00:23:46.512 --> 00:23:49.340
So you see Black people
walking through the world

453
00:23:49.384 --> 00:23:52.953
with this kind of emotional pain
inside of them

454
00:23:52.996 --> 00:23:55.738
because somewhere
in their family's story,

455
00:23:55.782 --> 00:23:57.653
there was some kind of violence

456
00:23:57.697 --> 00:24:00.874
perpetrated against
one of their family members.

457
00:24:03.224 --> 00:24:05.792
For example, my grandmother,
who is from Mississippi,

458
00:24:05.835 --> 00:24:07.315
in the Great Migration,

459
00:24:07.358 --> 00:24:10.623
she travels from Mississippi
to Chicago,

460
00:24:10.666 --> 00:24:14.888
escaping the violence
of Mississippi.

461
00:24:14.931 --> 00:24:17.020
Many people did that
in the Great Migration.

462
00:24:17.064 --> 00:24:19.588
They left many towns
in the South,

463
00:24:19.632 --> 00:24:22.156
going to cities in the North,

464
00:24:22.199 --> 00:24:26.508
escaping massacres,
escaping lynchings,

465
00:24:26.552 --> 00:24:28.728
escaping threats of violence,
right.

466
00:24:30.164 --> 00:24:32.514
When I was growing up,
I would go to my grandmother

467
00:24:32.558 --> 00:24:34.734
and say,
"Tell me about what it was like

468
00:24:34.777 --> 00:24:37.824
to grow up in Mississippi,"
and she would just say to me,

469
00:24:37.867 --> 00:24:39.782
"Oh, I don't want
to talk about that.

470
00:24:39.826 --> 00:24:41.088
I don't want to discuss it."

471
00:24:41.131 --> 00:24:42.959
It was so painful --

472
00:24:43.003 --> 00:24:45.005
Whatever it was was so painful,

473
00:24:45.048 --> 00:24:47.921
she didn't want
to talk about it.

474
00:24:47.964 --> 00:24:52.142
I was helping her dress one day,
you know, zipping up her dress,

475
00:24:52.186 --> 00:24:58.279
and I see that she has marks
on her back like wounds,

476
00:24:58.322 --> 00:25:00.542
one here, one here,
one here, another here,

477
00:25:00.586 --> 00:25:03.023
as though someone
had whipped her back,

478
00:25:03.066 --> 00:25:04.938
and she wouldn't talk about it.

479
00:25:04.981 --> 00:25:07.810
She would just say, "I don't
want to talk about that, honey."

480
00:25:07.854 --> 00:25:11.118
So it was a way of surviving.

481
00:25:11.161 --> 00:25:14.774
It was a way of, like, pushing
forward, despite the pain.

482
00:25:16.210 --> 00:25:22.825
FLOYD:
♪ A-A-Ama...

483
00:25:22.869 --> 00:25:28.483
♪ ...zing grace

484
00:25:28.527 --> 00:25:33.880
♪ How sweet

485
00:25:35.011 --> 00:25:36.839
NARRATOR: So effectively
was the massacre

486
00:25:36.883 --> 00:25:38.580
deleted from public memory

487
00:25:38.624 --> 00:25:40.451
that the next generation
of Tulsans

488
00:25:40.495 --> 00:25:43.063
was largely unaware
of the crime.

489
00:25:43.977 --> 00:25:46.501
DeNeen Brown's father,
the Reverend Floyd Brown,

490
00:25:46.545 --> 00:25:49.983
didn't learn about the massacre
until the mid-1990s.

491
00:25:54.770 --> 00:25:57.251
-Hi, Daddy.
-Hello. God bless you.

492
00:25:57.294 --> 00:25:58.469
-Good to see you.
-Glad to see you.

493
00:25:58.513 --> 00:26:00.123
Thank you.

494
00:26:00.167 --> 00:26:05.433
It's amazing because,
attending high school,

495
00:26:05.476 --> 00:26:10.569
we had to take
Oklahoma history and...

496
00:26:12.005 --> 00:26:13.963
...geography,

497
00:26:14.007 --> 00:26:16.836
but none of those things
were ever mentioned

498
00:26:16.879 --> 00:26:19.708
in any of those classes.

499
00:26:19.752 --> 00:26:23.799
I think the...

500
00:26:23.843 --> 00:26:25.714
ingrained...

501
00:26:27.934 --> 00:26:31.111
...despair, if you will,

502
00:26:31.154 --> 00:26:35.637
caused people to not
really discuss,

503
00:26:35.681 --> 00:26:39.380
you know, what actually
took place during that riot

504
00:26:39.423 --> 00:26:43.384
and the hurt that was --
that they felt in the aftermath.

505
00:26:45.560 --> 00:26:47.518
NARRATOR: Reverend Brown,
like many Tulsans,

506
00:26:47.562 --> 00:26:50.347
learned the truth
about the massacre in 2001,

507
00:26:50.391 --> 00:26:52.001
when an Oklahoma State
commission

508
00:26:52.045 --> 00:26:54.787
released the first
comprehensive official account

509
00:26:54.830 --> 00:26:57.441
of the so-called
Tulsa Race Riot.

510
00:26:57.485 --> 00:27:00.749
That report, issued seven
decades after the massacre,

511
00:27:00.793 --> 00:27:02.664
provided an hour-by-hour

512
00:27:02.708 --> 00:27:06.015
and block-by-block
account of events.

513
00:27:06.059 --> 00:27:08.496
JOHNSON:
That report talks specifically

514
00:27:08.539 --> 00:27:11.934
about facts
surrounding the massacre.

515
00:27:11.978 --> 00:27:13.501
So there are some unknowns.

516
00:27:13.544 --> 00:27:15.285
The exact number
of people who died,

517
00:27:15.329 --> 00:27:17.548
we'll probably never know that.

518
00:27:17.592 --> 00:27:21.683
But there are a lot more
things that are known.

519
00:27:21.727 --> 00:27:25.644
We know that
the massacre occurred.

520
00:27:25.687 --> 00:27:28.734
We know that an unruly white mob

521
00:27:28.777 --> 00:27:33.303
destroyed part of this city
which was the Black community.

522
00:27:33.347 --> 00:27:36.002
We know that no white person
was ever held accountable

523
00:27:36.045 --> 00:27:38.091
for any offense
relative to that.

524
00:27:38.134 --> 00:27:39.570
We know that Black people

525
00:27:39.614 --> 00:27:43.009
have not received
monetary reparations.

526
00:27:43.052 --> 00:27:46.186
So there's so much more
that we know

527
00:27:46.229 --> 00:27:48.405
as opposed to that
that we do not know.

528
00:27:50.364 --> 00:27:52.061
NARRATOR:
The 2001 Riot Commission

529
00:27:52.105 --> 00:27:55.717
not only presented facts
in unprecedented detail,

530
00:27:55.761 --> 00:27:57.850
it recommended
the government of Oklahoma

531
00:27:57.893 --> 00:28:00.287
enact a number
of restorative measures,

532
00:28:00.330 --> 00:28:01.680
emphasizing that...

533
00:28:12.125 --> 00:28:14.301
When the state of Oklahoma
and the city of Tulsa

534
00:28:14.344 --> 00:28:18.087
ignored that recommendation,
scores of massacre survivors

535
00:28:18.131 --> 00:28:21.743
and descendants, in 2003,
sued the state, city,

536
00:28:21.787 --> 00:28:24.877
and government agencies
for reparations.

537
00:28:24.920 --> 00:28:27.706
The commission report
paved the way

538
00:28:27.749 --> 00:28:30.665
for legal action to take place,

539
00:28:30.709 --> 00:28:35.104
so in 2003, they filed
their lawsuit in federal court.

540
00:28:36.323 --> 00:28:38.238
NARRATOR: At the heart
of the reparations lawsuit

541
00:28:38.281 --> 00:28:40.196
was the Riot Commission's
finding

542
00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.070
that Tulsa failed to take action
to protect against the riot.

543
00:28:44.113 --> 00:28:46.463
Some deputies,
probably in conjunction

544
00:28:46.507 --> 00:28:48.509
with some uniformed
police officers,

545
00:28:48.552 --> 00:28:51.730
were responsible for some
of the burning of Greenwood.

546
00:28:51.773 --> 00:28:54.907
That complicity amounted
to state-sanctioned violence,

547
00:28:54.950 --> 00:28:57.561
according to Eric Stover.

548
00:28:57.605 --> 00:29:01.957
STOVER: The morning of June 1st,
city police gave weapons

549
00:29:02.001 --> 00:29:05.831
and deputized many members
of the white mob.

550
00:29:05.874 --> 00:29:09.922
And at that point, for those
of us who work in human rights,

551
00:29:09.965 --> 00:29:12.533
that's where it became
state-sanctioned.

552
00:29:12.576 --> 00:29:14.665
And that means the city,

553
00:29:14.709 --> 00:29:18.278
the state took on
a responsibility,

554
00:29:18.321 --> 00:29:21.542
one, to stop the violence,
which it didn't,

555
00:29:21.585 --> 00:29:25.720
and secondly, to carry out
a thorough investigation

556
00:29:25.764 --> 00:29:28.070
after the massacre.

557
00:29:28.114 --> 00:29:29.855
But none of that took place.

558
00:29:31.944 --> 00:29:34.947
NARRATOR: Restorative justice
is a rarity in the U.S.

559
00:29:34.990 --> 00:29:36.731
To date, reparations
have been made

560
00:29:36.775 --> 00:29:39.647
for only one episode
of racial terrorism,

561
00:29:39.690 --> 00:29:43.172
the 1923 Rosewood, Florida,
massacre.

562
00:29:43.216 --> 00:29:45.827
In the 1994 bill,
compensating survivors

563
00:29:45.871 --> 00:29:49.135
and descendants 70 years
after that massacre,

564
00:29:49.178 --> 00:29:50.832
the Florida legislature
acknowledged

565
00:29:50.876 --> 00:29:53.008
that government officials
had opportunity

566
00:29:53.052 --> 00:29:55.837
to prevent the tragedy
and failed to act.

567
00:29:56.795 --> 00:30:00.233
For Black Tulsans, restorative
justice remains a rarity.

568
00:30:00.276 --> 00:30:02.713
In 2004, federal courts

569
00:30:02.757 --> 00:30:05.760
ruled against massacre survivors
and descendants,

570
00:30:05.804 --> 00:30:07.849
concluding that
plaintiffs' claims were barred

571
00:30:07.893 --> 00:30:10.809
by the two-year
statute of limitations

572
00:30:10.852 --> 00:30:13.202
and that there was no exception.

573
00:30:13.246 --> 00:30:15.683
The decision was plainly
difficult for the judges,

574
00:30:15.726 --> 00:30:18.120
who noted that,
"There is no comfort

575
00:30:18.164 --> 00:30:19.861
or satisfaction in this result

576
00:30:19.905 --> 00:30:22.211
and there should be none
to defendants.

577
00:30:22.255 --> 00:30:24.170
That plaintiffs' claims
are barred

578
00:30:24.213 --> 00:30:27.738
by the statute of limitations
is strictly a legal conclusion

579
00:30:27.782 --> 00:30:30.350
and does not speak
to the tragedy of the riot

580
00:30:30.393 --> 00:30:33.527
or the terrible devastation
it caused."

581
00:30:33.570 --> 00:30:35.921
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court

582
00:30:35.964 --> 00:30:38.488
declined, without comment,
to take the case.

583
00:30:39.707 --> 00:30:41.578
Yet activists, historians,

584
00:30:41.622 --> 00:30:44.407
and researchers
keep the tragedy in focus

585
00:30:44.451 --> 00:30:47.758
and are still uncovering
new details.

586
00:30:47.802 --> 00:30:51.414
In October 2019,
the University of Tulsa Library

587
00:30:51.458 --> 00:30:54.765
exhibited its 1921 massacre
holdings,

588
00:30:54.809 --> 00:30:57.551
among the most comprehensive
in the country.

589
00:30:57.594 --> 00:31:00.249
The photographs, postcards,
newspapers,

590
00:31:00.293 --> 00:31:03.252
and survivor accounts
amount to a repudiation

591
00:31:03.296 --> 00:31:05.689
of the silence
that followed the massacre.

592
00:31:05.733 --> 00:31:07.996
Marc Carlson
curated the exhibit.

593
00:31:09.389 --> 00:31:12.653
CARLSON: This research is really
some of the best way we have

594
00:31:12.696 --> 00:31:16.135
to try and figure out
what was going on at the time.

595
00:31:16.178 --> 00:31:21.314
The photographs are
even more uniquely important

596
00:31:21.357 --> 00:31:26.188
because, okay, yes,
you can fake up a photograph.

597
00:31:26.232 --> 00:31:28.234
You can't fake up
hundreds of them

598
00:31:28.277 --> 00:31:31.280
showing roughly the same things
and the amount of devastation,

599
00:31:31.324 --> 00:31:37.939
and so it brings it in
a little more personally

600
00:31:37.983 --> 00:31:39.767
that this is really
what did happen.

601
00:31:39.810 --> 00:31:41.160
It's not just something
we can blow off

602
00:31:41.203 --> 00:31:42.683
because it just happened.

603
00:31:42.726 --> 00:31:44.163
"It was a hundred years ago.
Who cares?"

604
00:31:45.512 --> 00:31:47.818
So keeping these records,
keeping them alive,

605
00:31:47.862 --> 00:31:51.300
keeping them out there
is of vital importance.

606
00:31:51.344 --> 00:31:54.695
MAN: Words talking about
"investigate this area."

607
00:31:54.738 --> 00:31:58.655
They went through, including all
the markers that had names...

608
00:31:58.699 --> 00:32:01.006
CARLSON: For me, it is
an extremely emotional topic

609
00:32:01.049 --> 00:32:03.138
because one of the things

610
00:32:03.182 --> 00:32:06.663
that I find personally
objectionable about history

611
00:32:06.707 --> 00:32:10.232
is people who
have disappeared into history.

612
00:32:10.276 --> 00:32:12.060
There's no record of them,

613
00:32:12.104 --> 00:32:13.932
and every one of those people...

614
00:32:16.064 --> 00:32:17.457
...is a real person.

615
00:32:18.762 --> 00:32:21.330
And we need to know
who these people are

616
00:32:21.374 --> 00:32:23.289
and we need to understand
their experience,

617
00:32:23.332 --> 00:32:25.552
not simply from
what they endured,

618
00:32:25.595 --> 00:32:27.771
but the fact the ones
who came back and rebuilt.

619
00:32:30.557 --> 00:32:32.994
GOODWIN: With the hundred years
approaching,

620
00:32:33.038 --> 00:32:36.519
I think that there's been
a renewed interest.

621
00:32:36.563 --> 00:32:39.174
For some of us,
the interest has never waned.

622
00:32:39.218 --> 00:32:40.828
It's been a part
of our growing up.

623
00:32:40.871 --> 00:32:43.048
It's been a part of our lives.

624
00:32:43.091 --> 00:32:44.701
And we got to share it

625
00:32:44.745 --> 00:32:46.225
and we got to make sure
that it's told properly.

626
00:32:46.268 --> 00:32:47.835
It's very difficult.

627
00:32:47.878 --> 00:32:50.055
Again, when you're moving
through that space

628
00:32:50.098 --> 00:32:56.844
and you're seeing pictures
of people that were terrorized,

629
00:32:56.887 --> 00:33:00.021
they're dead,
their charred bodies,

630
00:33:00.065 --> 00:33:03.720
it's very brutal
but it's very real.

631
00:33:03.764 --> 00:33:06.985
And I don't know
how anybody can look at that.

632
00:33:09.248 --> 00:33:11.206
NARRATOR: A number
of the more graphic photographs

633
00:33:11.250 --> 00:33:14.731
were printed after
the massacre as postcards.

634
00:33:14.775 --> 00:33:16.995
Members of white supremacist
organizations

635
00:33:17.038 --> 00:33:19.084
displayed them as trophies

636
00:33:19.127 --> 00:33:22.391
and mailed them to sympathizers
around the country.

637
00:33:22.435 --> 00:33:25.612
White supremacy flourished
after the massacre.

638
00:33:25.655 --> 00:33:29.659
In 1922, some 1,700
Ku Klux Klan members

639
00:33:29.703 --> 00:33:34.838
paraded through downtown Tulsa,
cheered on by 15,000 spectators.

640
00:33:34.882 --> 00:33:39.104
In 1923, a Tulsa Klan holding
company erected a meeting hall,

641
00:33:39.147 --> 00:33:41.106
a fortress of racism.

642
00:33:41.149 --> 00:33:44.848
It was painted white and towered
over the ruins of Greenwood.

643
00:33:44.892 --> 00:33:47.068
It was nicknamed "Be No Hall"

644
00:33:47.112 --> 00:33:49.070
for its restrictive
admissions policy...

645
00:33:57.078 --> 00:34:00.777
Despite the expansion of white
supremacy and official neglect,

646
00:34:00.821 --> 00:34:04.694
the Black community of Greenwood
was gradually rebuilt.

647
00:34:06.131 --> 00:34:09.743
The 1921 Tulsa race massacre
decimated the community.

648
00:34:09.786 --> 00:34:11.875
The community struggled
to rebound

649
00:34:11.919 --> 00:34:13.616
but actually began rebuilding

650
00:34:13.660 --> 00:34:16.924
even as the embers still
smoldered from the massacre,

651
00:34:16.967 --> 00:34:18.795
receiving funding
from organizations

652
00:34:18.839 --> 00:34:22.016
like the NAACP headquarters
in New York City,

653
00:34:22.060 --> 00:34:24.497
relatives of people
who lived in the community,

654
00:34:24.540 --> 00:34:26.412
and so on and so forth.

655
00:34:26.455 --> 00:34:28.196
The community actually
reached its peak

656
00:34:28.240 --> 00:34:30.938
as a business community
in the early to mid 1940s,

657
00:34:30.981 --> 00:34:33.158
when there were
well over 200 documented

658
00:34:33.201 --> 00:34:36.335
Black-owned-and-operated
enterprises in the community.

659
00:34:36.378 --> 00:34:39.294
It's important to understand
that the Greenwood community,

660
00:34:39.338 --> 00:34:42.471
Black Wall Street,
was a community of necessity.

661
00:34:42.515 --> 00:34:45.648
It would not have existed
absent segregation.

662
00:34:45.692 --> 00:34:48.347
The reason it existed
was an economic detour.

663
00:34:48.390 --> 00:34:51.306
Black people were prevented
from engaging with the larger,

664
00:34:51.350 --> 00:34:55.354
dominant economy managed,
run by white folks.

665
00:34:57.486 --> 00:34:58.748
NARRATOR:
The rebirth of Greenwood

666
00:34:58.792 --> 00:35:01.011
that began in the mid-1920s

667
00:35:01.055 --> 00:35:03.710
continued through
the early 1950s.

668
00:35:03.753 --> 00:35:05.538
These years of prosperity

669
00:35:05.581 --> 00:35:08.323
were in part the result
of intense racial segregation.

670
00:35:08.367 --> 00:35:11.848
The national integration
movement of the 1950s

671
00:35:11.892 --> 00:35:14.895
ultimately contributed
to Greenwood's second decline,

672
00:35:14.938 --> 00:35:17.332
according to attorney
and historian Hannibal Johnson.

673
00:35:19.029 --> 00:35:20.553
JOHNSON:
During the segregated period,

674
00:35:20.596 --> 00:35:22.598
you can see dollars circulating
and recirculating

675
00:35:22.642 --> 00:35:25.775
within the confines
of this 35-square-block area.

676
00:35:25.819 --> 00:35:28.126
When integration comes along,

677
00:35:28.169 --> 00:35:30.432
something that happened at
the behest of the very citizens

678
00:35:30.476 --> 00:35:32.304
of the Greenwood community,

679
00:35:32.347 --> 00:35:33.653
residents of
the Greenwood community

680
00:35:33.696 --> 00:35:36.264
are able to shop
outside the community.

681
00:35:36.308 --> 00:35:37.918
Because of economies of scale,

682
00:35:37.961 --> 00:35:41.356
they're able to purchase goods
at a lower cost.

683
00:35:41.400 --> 00:35:43.402
There's a greater variety
of goods and services

684
00:35:43.445 --> 00:35:46.056
available for their use.

685
00:35:46.100 --> 00:35:49.495
Black professionals,
doctors, lawyers, et cetera,

686
00:35:49.538 --> 00:35:51.845
can ply their trades
outside the community,

687
00:35:51.888 --> 00:35:55.544
reach a larger,
more wealthy audience.

688
00:35:55.588 --> 00:35:58.634
So again, it undermines
the financial foundation

689
00:35:58.678 --> 00:36:00.723
of the Black community.

690
00:36:00.767 --> 00:36:03.857
It's a supreme irony
that integration,

691
00:36:03.900 --> 00:36:07.208
something Black folks
longed for,

692
00:36:07.252 --> 00:36:10.385
has this sort of
deleterious economic impact.

693
00:36:11.865 --> 00:36:13.997
NARRATOR: According to Johnson,
another challenge was posed

694
00:36:14.041 --> 00:36:15.738
by urban renewal

695
00:36:15.782 --> 00:36:17.958
and the new roadways
and housing projects

696
00:36:18.001 --> 00:36:21.875
that undermined Greenwood
and Black communities elsewhere.

697
00:36:21.918 --> 00:36:23.398
JOHNSON:
In addition to integration,

698
00:36:23.442 --> 00:36:25.922
urban renewal projects
of the '60s and '70s

699
00:36:25.966 --> 00:36:30.710
really had deleterious impacts
on communities of color.

700
00:36:30.753 --> 00:36:33.278
I surmise that is because
those communities

701
00:36:33.321 --> 00:36:37.282
tended to be largely politically
powerless and voiceless

702
00:36:37.325 --> 00:36:42.548
and so could not resist
the onslaught of urban renewal.

703
00:36:42.591 --> 00:36:46.073
NARRATOR: Greenwood's continuing
decline in the 1970s and '80s

704
00:36:46.116 --> 00:36:47.988
was accelerated
by the construction

705
00:36:48.031 --> 00:36:51.165
of an interstate highway
through the district's center.

706
00:36:51.209 --> 00:36:55.082
The highway project erased
hundreds of homes and businesses

707
00:36:55.125 --> 00:36:59.652
and created a physical barrier
between North and South Tulsa.

708
00:36:59.695 --> 00:37:01.436
JOHNSON: If you go into
the Greenwood community today

709
00:37:01.480 --> 00:37:04.047
you see the damage
inflicted by urban renewal

710
00:37:04.091 --> 00:37:07.181
because I-244, Interstate 244,

711
00:37:07.225 --> 00:37:09.879
bisects what was the heart
of the business community.

712
00:37:11.925 --> 00:37:14.449
Communities across the U.S.

713
00:37:14.493 --> 00:37:18.714
are segregated deliberately
by government choices

714
00:37:18.758 --> 00:37:20.934
that have separated communities

715
00:37:20.977 --> 00:37:23.502
along the lines
of class and race.

716
00:37:23.545 --> 00:37:25.460
The same goes for Tulsa

717
00:37:25.504 --> 00:37:29.159
and the dividing line
of the Interstate 244

718
00:37:29.203 --> 00:37:32.685
that has high populations
of Black people to the north

719
00:37:32.728 --> 00:37:33.947
living in poverty.

720
00:37:33.990 --> 00:37:36.950
And then south
of the interstate,

721
00:37:36.993 --> 00:37:39.213
you have, you know,
more affluent,

722
00:37:39.257 --> 00:37:41.128
higher medians of wealth,

723
00:37:41.171 --> 00:37:43.130
and higher populations
of white people.

724
00:37:44.610 --> 00:37:47.003
NARRATOR: The Greenwood
community erected a memorial

725
00:37:47.047 --> 00:37:50.833
to the 1921 massacre victims
in the mid-1990s.

726
00:37:50.877 --> 00:37:54.446
It stands in the shadow
of the highway overpass.

727
00:37:54.489 --> 00:37:57.797
With roughly 20%
of the city's population,

728
00:37:57.840 --> 00:38:00.103
North Tulsa is home
to nearly half

729
00:38:00.147 --> 00:38:01.975
of the city's Black residents.

730
00:38:02.018 --> 00:38:04.456
The median income here
is half that

731
00:38:04.499 --> 00:38:07.067
of predominantly white
communities.

732
00:38:07.110 --> 00:38:11.245
Tulsa remains one of America's
most segregated cities.

733
00:38:11.289 --> 00:38:14.683
Today only a handful of
businesses on Greenwood Avenue

734
00:38:14.727 --> 00:38:16.859
are Black-owned.

735
00:38:16.903 --> 00:38:19.384
Residents of North Tulsa
routinely contend

736
00:38:19.427 --> 00:38:22.822
with poverty, unemployment,
and food insecurity.

737
00:38:22.865 --> 00:38:24.606
The sidewalks
of Greenwood Avenue

738
00:38:24.650 --> 00:38:26.173
are embedded with plaques

739
00:38:26.216 --> 00:38:28.088
commemorating
the Black-owned businesses

740
00:38:28.131 --> 00:38:32.135
that once thrived here
and were destroyed or failed.

741
00:38:32.179 --> 00:38:33.702
ROBINSON:
It's quite simple.

742
00:38:33.746 --> 00:38:35.791
Every time you go
to a burger shop,

743
00:38:35.835 --> 00:38:38.185
every time you go
to a coney shop

744
00:38:38.228 --> 00:38:40.579
and you look up at their banner

745
00:38:40.622 --> 00:38:45.671
and it says "since something,"
"since 19-something,"

746
00:38:45.714 --> 00:38:47.890
African-Americans
in Tulsa, Oklahoma,

747
00:38:47.934 --> 00:38:51.416
should have those same banners
above their hotels,

748
00:38:51.459 --> 00:38:56.116
above their barbershops,
above their grocery stores,

749
00:38:56.159 --> 00:39:00.294
above their restaurants
that say "since the 19-teens,"

750
00:39:00.338 --> 00:39:06.082
and yet they don't because
those were destroyed in 1921.

751
00:39:06.126 --> 00:39:07.867
African-Americans
show resilience

752
00:39:07.910 --> 00:39:09.782
and try to rebuild
the community,

753
00:39:09.825 --> 00:39:13.960
and then it was destroyed again
in Tulsa by urban removal,

754
00:39:14.003 --> 00:39:16.615
just like in a lot
of other urban centers

755
00:39:16.658 --> 00:39:18.138
across this country.

756
00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:21.881
Where would families be
if they could look back

757
00:39:21.924 --> 00:39:25.450
on 100 years
of financial success?

758
00:39:25.493 --> 00:39:27.147
Where would they be?

759
00:39:27.190 --> 00:39:30.324
And so that's a truth
that we can't just ignore.

760
00:39:30.368 --> 00:39:34.067
We keep asking Black people
to come from nothingness

761
00:39:34.110 --> 00:39:36.635
and then we point to them
and say,

762
00:39:36.678 --> 00:39:38.854
"It must be something wrong
with you," when they can't.

763
00:39:41.204 --> 00:39:43.381
NARRATOR: Residents
of North Tulsa also contend

764
00:39:43.424 --> 00:39:45.513
with elevated levels of crime

765
00:39:45.557 --> 00:39:49.474
and disproportionately high
levels of police violence.

766
00:39:49.517 --> 00:39:53.173
In September 2016, a Black man
named Terence Crutcher

767
00:39:53.216 --> 00:39:54.957
abandoned his SUV

768
00:39:55.001 --> 00:39:57.264
in the middle of a major street
in North Tulsa.

769
00:39:57.307 --> 00:39:58.483
MAN: That looks like
a bad dude, too.

770
00:39:58.526 --> 00:39:59.919
Might be on something.

771
00:39:59.962 --> 00:40:02.095
MAN #2:
Which way are they facing?

772
00:40:02.138 --> 00:40:04.140
MAN #3: Police 1,
they're facing westbound.

773
00:40:04.184 --> 00:40:06.099
NARRATOR:
He was unarmed and alone.

774
00:40:07.448 --> 00:40:09.276
WOMAN:
Shots fired!

775
00:40:09.319 --> 00:40:11.496
MAN: Adam-321,
we have shots fired.

776
00:40:11.539 --> 00:40:13.411
We have one suspect down.

777
00:40:13.454 --> 00:40:16.849
NARRATOR: Still a police officer
shot him, and he later died.

778
00:40:16.892 --> 00:40:18.851
[ Siren wailing ]

779
00:40:18.894 --> 00:40:21.027
Protests were legion

780
00:40:21.070 --> 00:40:24.465
in the aftermath of the Crutcher
killing and again a year later

781
00:40:24.509 --> 00:40:26.380
when the officer
who shot Terence Crutcher

782
00:40:26.424 --> 00:40:29.557
was acquitted of
first-degree manslaughter.

783
00:40:29.601 --> 00:40:32.865
We have a long way to go
as a city

784
00:40:32.908 --> 00:40:38.784
when one part of our city is
synonymous with an entire race.

785
00:40:38.827 --> 00:40:41.613
We have a long way
to go as a city

786
00:40:41.656 --> 00:40:45.268
when people keep
expecting lawlessness

787
00:40:45.312 --> 00:40:46.966
from African-Americans

788
00:40:47.009 --> 00:40:50.622
in response to an incident
or a verdict.

789
00:40:50.665 --> 00:40:53.799
I would remind Tulsans
that our history

790
00:40:53.842 --> 00:40:57.542
shows us
African-Americans in Tulsa

791
00:40:57.585 --> 00:41:01.807
have not been the instigators
of lawlessness and riots.

792
00:41:01.850 --> 00:41:04.374
They have been the victims
of them,

793
00:41:04.418 --> 00:41:09.336
so I would ask that we not
keep assuming the worst

794
00:41:09.379 --> 00:41:13.558
for a part of our community
or from a part of our community

795
00:41:13.601 --> 00:41:17.953
that has been exposed to the
worst in this city's history.

796
00:41:17.997 --> 00:41:19.433
-Hands up!
-Don't shoot!

797
00:41:19.477 --> 00:41:21.261
Hands up!

798
00:41:21.304 --> 00:41:22.741
NARRATOR: Mounting allegations
of racial injustice

799
00:41:22.784 --> 00:41:24.569
and aggressive policing

800
00:41:24.612 --> 00:41:28.529
led Human Rights Watch
investigators to Tulsa in 2018.

801
00:41:28.573 --> 00:41:31.445
Nicole Austin-Hillery
sees Tulsa's history

802
00:41:31.489 --> 00:41:34.622
and its present linked
by unresolved racial violence.

803
00:41:34.666 --> 00:41:36.537
-Don't shoot!
-Hands up!

804
00:41:36.581 --> 00:41:39.714
Tulsa is a microcosm
of what we see happening

805
00:41:39.758 --> 00:41:43.326
in other major cities
across the United States,

806
00:41:43.370 --> 00:41:45.546
particularly those jurisdictions

807
00:41:45.590 --> 00:41:48.984
where there has been a history
of racial injustice.

808
00:41:49.028 --> 00:41:51.726
Tulsa is a place where there was

809
00:41:51.770 --> 00:41:55.600
government-sanctioned torture
and terrorism.

810
00:41:55.643 --> 00:42:00.213
That's the history of Tulsa
going back to the 1921 massacre.

811
00:42:00.256 --> 00:42:02.998
And Tulsa and the state
of Oklahoma

812
00:42:03.042 --> 00:42:06.436
have never made amends for that,

813
00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:08.830
have never really
come to the point

814
00:42:08.874 --> 00:42:10.615
where they've been able to say,

815
00:42:10.658 --> 00:42:14.662
"This has been a cancer
on our community,

816
00:42:14.706 --> 00:42:16.577
on our city, and on our state,

817
00:42:16.621 --> 00:42:19.580
and it has impacted
the livelihoods

818
00:42:19.624 --> 00:42:21.974
of the African-American
community."

819
00:42:22.017 --> 00:42:26.326
So that means that that history
colors all of the systems,

820
00:42:26.369 --> 00:42:29.372
colors all of the interactions
that African-Americans have

821
00:42:29.416 --> 00:42:31.636
with leaders, with government.

822
00:42:33.246 --> 00:42:36.379
NARRATOR: Some community leaders
do recognize troubled history.

823
00:42:36.423 --> 00:42:39.339
Drew Diamond is the former
chief of the Tulsa Police.

824
00:42:39.382 --> 00:42:43.648
He is now an authority
of racial bias in policing.

825
00:42:43.691 --> 00:42:48.653
Racism is a persistent problem
in the Tulsa Police Department,

826
00:42:48.696 --> 00:42:55.094
and it was a problem when
I joined the department in 1969,

827
00:42:55.137 --> 00:42:59.141
and sadly,
it is still an issue today.

828
00:42:59.185 --> 00:43:02.231
Young officers and even
not-so-young officers,

829
00:43:02.275 --> 00:43:03.755
if you sit down with them,

830
00:43:03.798 --> 00:43:05.626
they'll describe
their neighborhoods,

831
00:43:05.670 --> 00:43:08.107
Black neighborhoods,
as war zones.

832
00:43:08.150 --> 00:43:10.196
You know, they're in
the warrior mode,

833
00:43:10.239 --> 00:43:12.372
the minute they drive
into the neighborhood.

834
00:43:12.415 --> 00:43:14.287
[ Siren wailing ]

835
00:43:16.419 --> 00:43:18.421
That's not policing.

836
00:43:18.465 --> 00:43:19.988
When you hire and train people

837
00:43:20.032 --> 00:43:22.295
with the idea
that they're warriors,

838
00:43:22.338 --> 00:43:23.862
they're going to look
for the war.

839
00:43:23.905 --> 00:43:24.950
[ Siren wailing ]

840
00:43:24.993 --> 00:43:26.647
NARRATOR:
Human Rights Watch

841
00:43:26.691 --> 00:43:29.519
titled its Tulsa policing report
"Get on the Ground!"

842
00:43:29.563 --> 00:43:32.784
Released in September 2019,
it was presented as

843
00:43:32.827 --> 00:43:34.655
"a case study of abusive,

844
00:43:34.699 --> 00:43:37.658
overly aggressive
policing in the U.S."

845
00:43:37.702 --> 00:43:40.835
Based on extensive interviews
and data analysis,

846
00:43:40.879 --> 00:43:43.577
the report found that,
during police encounters,

847
00:43:43.621 --> 00:43:46.232
Black people were subjected
to physical force

848
00:43:46.275 --> 00:43:49.670
at a rate nearly three times
that of white suspects.

849
00:43:49.714 --> 00:43:51.803
John Raphling
authored the report.

850
00:43:53.239 --> 00:43:55.023
RAPHLING: Policing throughout
the United States,

851
00:43:55.067 --> 00:43:58.374
and by example in North Tulsa
comes across

852
00:43:58.418 --> 00:44:02.640
and is experienced as almost
a military occupation.

853
00:44:04.206 --> 00:44:06.295
There are neighborhoods
where police

854
00:44:06.339 --> 00:44:08.210
are racing through constantly,

855
00:44:08.254 --> 00:44:12.040
and it's not about crime,
so to speak.

856
00:44:12.084 --> 00:44:15.130
It's about stopping people,
pulling them over.

857
00:44:15.174 --> 00:44:19.221
A group of young men are
standing on a corner hanging out

858
00:44:19.265 --> 00:44:21.136
and they're all ordered
up against the wall

859
00:44:21.180 --> 00:44:23.356
and searched and questioned.

860
00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:28.970
It's experienced in the same way
a military occupation might be,

861
00:44:29.014 --> 00:44:34.846
particularly when punctuated
with high levels of violence.

862
00:44:34.889 --> 00:44:37.370
MAN: All he was doing
was jaywalking.

863
00:44:37.413 --> 00:44:38.850
We just want to talk with him.

864
00:44:38.893 --> 00:44:42.027
That breeds a fear
and a lack of freedom.

865
00:44:43.724 --> 00:44:45.639
Let me see your hands.

866
00:44:45.683 --> 00:44:48.511
NARRATOR: Aggressive policing
transfixed the country yet again

867
00:44:48.555 --> 00:44:52.646
on May 25, 2020, when
a Black man named George Floyd

868
00:44:52.690 --> 00:44:55.257
was killed during an arrest
in Minneapolis.

869
00:44:55.301 --> 00:44:57.129
I can't breathe!

870
00:44:57.172 --> 00:44:59.087
NARRATOR: The killing
was recorded on video

871
00:44:59.131 --> 00:45:01.699
by police body cams
and by bystanders.

872
00:45:03.613 --> 00:45:06.442
CROWD: I can't breathe!
I can't breathe!

873
00:45:06.486 --> 00:45:08.793
NARRATOR: Local protests
in Minneapolis-Saint Paul

874
00:45:08.836 --> 00:45:12.057
against racial injustice
spread to more than 2,000 towns

875
00:45:12.100 --> 00:45:14.146
in more than 60 countries.

876
00:45:14.189 --> 00:45:15.887
[ Indistinct shouting ]

877
00:45:19.238 --> 00:45:21.631
[ Indistinct conversations ]

878
00:45:21.675 --> 00:45:24.417
Protesting systemic racism
was at the center

879
00:45:24.460 --> 00:45:27.507
of Tulsa's 2020
Juneteenth festivities.

880
00:45:27.550 --> 00:45:31.424
The June 19th holiday celebrates
the 1865 proclamations

881
00:45:31.467 --> 00:45:33.252
of slavery's end in Texas.

882
00:45:33.295 --> 00:45:36.385
That date is now
celebrated nationwide.

883
00:45:39.301 --> 00:45:41.216
TURNER:
Good evening.

884
00:45:41.260 --> 00:45:43.653
I'd like to welcome you all

885
00:45:43.697 --> 00:45:49.747
to what I refer to
as the crime scene of Greenwood.

886
00:45:49.790 --> 00:45:55.143
The very place where you
are standing is sacred ground.

887
00:45:56.362 --> 00:45:58.538
NARRATOR:
Community activist Greg Robinson

888
00:45:58.581 --> 00:46:02.629
saw a direct connection
from the Tulsa massacre of 1921

889
00:46:02.672 --> 00:46:04.892
to recent police killings.

890
00:46:04.936 --> 00:46:06.589
ROBINSON:
I had a choice.

891
00:46:07.634 --> 00:46:11.638
Was I okay with chancing
my freedom?

892
00:46:11.681 --> 00:46:15.468
Was I okay
with chancing my safety?

893
00:46:15.511 --> 00:46:19.341
Was I okay
with chancing justice?

894
00:46:20.734 --> 00:46:24.042
Was I okay with being
a willful participant

895
00:46:24.085 --> 00:46:26.305
in my own degradation?

896
00:46:27.915 --> 00:46:30.396
I, too, am America.

897
00:46:30.439 --> 00:46:33.573
We, too, are Oklahoma.

898
00:46:33.616 --> 00:46:36.228
We, too, are Tulsa.

899
00:46:36.271 --> 00:46:39.187
We, too, are Greenwood.

900
00:46:39.231 --> 00:46:43.670
And I'm sick and tired
of being sick and tired,

901
00:46:43.713 --> 00:46:46.107
and that's why
I'm running for mayor.

902
00:46:46.151 --> 00:46:48.631
We can do better!

903
00:46:48.675 --> 00:46:50.677
[ Cheers and applause ]

904
00:46:53.071 --> 00:46:55.464
We didn't just take
to the streets

905
00:46:55.508 --> 00:47:01.383
in the days and weeks
after George Floyd's murder

906
00:47:01.427 --> 00:47:05.779
solely out of recognition
of that injustice.

907
00:47:05.823 --> 00:47:09.870
We took to the streets because
the injustice that was done here

908
00:47:09.914 --> 00:47:12.917
in the city of Tulsa
to Terence Crutcher

909
00:47:12.960 --> 00:47:15.658
and, frankly, to the victims
of the race massacre

910
00:47:15.702 --> 00:47:19.184
still had not been paid for.

911
00:47:19.227 --> 00:47:22.056
And we were coming together
saying,

912
00:47:22.100 --> 00:47:27.235
"If you think that George Floyd
is the only person

913
00:47:27.279 --> 00:47:29.716
that has received injustice
in this country,

914
00:47:29.759 --> 00:47:31.674
you're way out of touch."

915
00:47:31.718 --> 00:47:33.633
Right here in the city of Tulsa,

916
00:47:33.676 --> 00:47:37.898
we have not been doing
justice by citizens.

917
00:47:37.942 --> 00:47:41.684
We seek those who believe
in justice,

918
00:47:41.728 --> 00:47:44.122
those who believe in equity.

919
00:47:44.165 --> 00:47:46.472
NARRATOR: Increasingly,
the demands of Black Tulsans

920
00:47:46.515 --> 00:47:50.171
for justice include reparations
for the 1921 massacre

921
00:47:50.215 --> 00:47:52.913
and its enduring
economic impact.

922
00:47:52.957 --> 00:47:55.263
In summer 2020,
Human Rights Watch

923
00:47:55.307 --> 00:47:58.223
took up the case
for Tulsa massacre reparations.

924
00:48:00.094 --> 00:48:04.098
Our investigation
really had people

925
00:48:04.142 --> 00:48:07.058
and their experiences
at the heart

926
00:48:07.101 --> 00:48:10.104
of what determines the outcomes

927
00:48:10.148 --> 00:48:13.673
and the recommendations
of reparation

928
00:48:13.716 --> 00:48:18.983
because they determine what is
necessary to restore them whole.

929
00:48:19.026 --> 00:48:20.941
So you have survivors

930
00:48:20.985 --> 00:48:23.552
that have been denied justice
in their lifetime

931
00:48:23.596 --> 00:48:25.467
and you have descendants

932
00:48:25.511 --> 00:48:28.557
who have also felt
the effects of the massacre

933
00:48:28.601 --> 00:48:31.125
still not receiving justice.

934
00:48:32.126 --> 00:48:34.172
NARRATOR:
In early September 2020,

935
00:48:34.215 --> 00:48:37.827
survivors of the 1921 massacre
and their descendants

936
00:48:37.871 --> 00:48:40.656
filed a new lawsuit
in Oklahoma State Court

937
00:48:40.700 --> 00:48:43.703
against the city of Tulsa
and other defendants.

938
00:48:43.746 --> 00:48:46.749
This lawsuit seeks to remedy
the ongoing nuisance

939
00:48:46.793 --> 00:48:49.274
caused by the 1921 massacre

940
00:48:49.317 --> 00:48:53.495
and to obtain benefits unjustly
received by the defendants.

941
00:48:54.670 --> 00:48:56.977
DeNEEN:
It wasn't just the white mob

942
00:48:57.021 --> 00:48:59.240
that went through
Black Wall Street.

943
00:48:59.284 --> 00:49:03.201
There were city police officers

944
00:49:03.244 --> 00:49:07.248
who stood aside as Black people
were killed in cold blood.

945
00:49:07.292 --> 00:49:09.642
So the government itself here

946
00:49:09.685 --> 00:49:11.513
is complicit
in what happened there.

947
00:49:11.557 --> 00:49:13.994
So the government
canpay reparations

948
00:49:14.038 --> 00:49:16.431
to now descendants
of the survivors

949
00:49:16.475 --> 00:49:19.652
of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

950
00:49:19.695 --> 00:49:22.742
because the government
played a role

951
00:49:22.785 --> 00:49:27.268
in stepping aside and allowing
Black people to be killed.

952
00:49:27.312 --> 00:49:29.401
We are focused on making sure

953
00:49:29.444 --> 00:49:33.013
there is not only just financial
compensation and accountability,

954
00:49:33.057 --> 00:49:35.363
but we would like to see
the first-ever

955
00:49:35.407 --> 00:49:39.672
criminal investigation
into the crimes

956
00:49:39.715 --> 00:49:41.674
that were committed
against Greenwood

957
00:49:41.717 --> 00:49:44.416
and who committed those crimes.

958
00:49:44.459 --> 00:49:48.376
We want to know the identities
of those individuals

959
00:49:48.420 --> 00:49:51.771
who proudly stood
in front of cameras,

960
00:49:51.814 --> 00:49:56.341
taking pictures with their guns,
dead Black bodies behind them.

961
00:49:56.384 --> 00:49:59.039
Taking pictures
burning down homes

962
00:49:59.083 --> 00:50:01.607
because they knew
they had the blessing

963
00:50:01.650 --> 00:50:05.263
and the protection
of the police, of the sheriff,

964
00:50:05.306 --> 00:50:06.916
of the National Guard.

965
00:50:08.701 --> 00:50:10.137
NARRATOR:
While it will take years

966
00:50:10.181 --> 00:50:11.747
for the new reparations lawsuit

967
00:50:11.791 --> 00:50:14.098
to make its way
through the legal system

968
00:50:14.141 --> 00:50:16.622
the intermittent effort
to unearth physical evidence

969
00:50:16.665 --> 00:50:22.106
from the 1921 massacre
resumed in October 2019.

970
00:50:22.149 --> 00:50:25.370
A team of archeologists
from the University of Oklahoma

971
00:50:25.413 --> 00:50:27.502
scanned a section
of Oaklawn Cemetery

972
00:50:27.546 --> 00:50:29.678
with ground-penetrating radar.

973
00:50:30.984 --> 00:50:33.030
This archeological work
was first proposed

974
00:50:33.073 --> 00:50:35.380
by the late Dr. Clyde Snow,

975
00:50:35.423 --> 00:50:37.773
a world-renowned
forensic anthropologist

976
00:50:37.817 --> 00:50:41.821
and adviser to the 2001
Tulsa Riot Commission.

977
00:50:41.864 --> 00:50:44.780
Dr. Snow brought to
the Tulsa massacre commission

978
00:50:44.824 --> 00:50:47.044
the same techniques
and technologies

979
00:50:47.087 --> 00:50:51.091
that he used successfully in
global war crime investigations,

980
00:50:51.135 --> 00:50:53.441
such as the investigation
in Guatemala

981
00:50:53.485 --> 00:50:55.704
where, in the 1990s,
he and his colleagues,

982
00:50:55.748 --> 00:50:57.706
including Eric Stover,

983
00:50:57.750 --> 00:51:01.058
unearthed remains of civilians
killed by the military junta.

984
00:51:03.669 --> 00:51:07.107
If there was an exit wound,
I don't see it.

985
00:51:07.151 --> 00:51:08.195
No, I haven't even
looked at this.

986
00:51:08.239 --> 00:51:10.067
STOVER:
For nearly 30 years,

987
00:51:10.110 --> 00:51:13.070
Dr. Snow and I conducted
human rights investigations

988
00:51:13.113 --> 00:51:14.897
and war crimes investigations,

989
00:51:14.941 --> 00:51:20.468
and one of the things we learned
was that everybody counted

990
00:51:20.512 --> 00:51:23.906
and also that everyone
is accountable.

991
00:51:23.950 --> 00:51:26.474
And it was with that philosophy

992
00:51:26.518 --> 00:51:32.219
that he joined the commission
as an investigator,

993
00:51:32.263 --> 00:51:34.308
and he was determined

994
00:51:34.352 --> 00:51:38.791
to try and find the mass graves
from the massacre.

995
00:51:40.749 --> 00:51:45.319
SNOW: The objectives
of our investigations

996
00:51:45.363 --> 00:51:51.804
are to put our findings
in the historical record

997
00:51:51.847 --> 00:51:54.589
so that the revisionists
can't come along

998
00:51:54.633 --> 00:51:59.986
in a generation or two and say,
"Oh, this never happened."

999
00:52:01.205 --> 00:52:04.730
It's hard, you know,
for a revisionist

1000
00:52:04.773 --> 00:52:10.083
to argue with a skull with
a gunshot wound in the head.

1001
00:52:11.215 --> 00:52:13.173
NARRATOR:
In Tulsa, forensic experts

1002
00:52:13.217 --> 00:52:15.219
directed a preliminary
radar scan

1003
00:52:15.262 --> 00:52:18.439
of possible mass grave sites
at Oaklawn Cemetery.

1004
00:52:18.483 --> 00:52:22.313
This detected anomalies
consistent with mass graves.

1005
00:52:22.356 --> 00:52:26.012
Dr. Snow concluded
his 2001 commission work

1006
00:52:26.055 --> 00:52:30.190
by recommending archeological
exploration at Oaklawn Cemetery.

1007
00:52:30.234 --> 00:52:32.888
STOVER: The city
ignored that recommendation,

1008
00:52:32.932 --> 00:52:35.761
and nothing was done
for nearly 20 years,

1009
00:52:35.804 --> 00:52:40.113
and then when G.T. Bynum was
elected to the city council,

1010
00:52:40.157 --> 00:52:43.725
he reopened
the forensic investigation.

1011
00:52:43.769 --> 00:52:46.337
I worked with my colleague
on the city council

1012
00:52:46.380 --> 00:52:49.122
who represented North Tulsa,

1013
00:52:49.166 --> 00:52:51.603
and so he and I went to
the mayor at the time and said,

1014
00:52:51.646 --> 00:52:54.127
"We think it's really important
that Tulsans know

1015
00:52:54.171 --> 00:52:56.303
if there are really mass graves
in our city or not."

1016
00:52:56.347 --> 00:52:58.044
And the mayor said no.

1017
00:52:58.087 --> 00:53:00.655
And so after I got
in the office,

1018
00:53:00.699 --> 00:53:02.048
it was one of the initiatives

1019
00:53:02.091 --> 00:53:04.268
that my team launched
immediately.

1020
00:53:06.400 --> 00:53:09.229
NARRATOR: So in 2019,
a new radar scan

1021
00:53:09.273 --> 00:53:11.840
attempted to validate
the evidence and testimony

1022
00:53:11.884 --> 00:53:14.103
accumulated over generations.

1023
00:53:15.235 --> 00:53:16.932
The forensic experts confirmed

1024
00:53:16.976 --> 00:53:19.761
and expanded on the commission's
20-year-old findings

1025
00:53:19.805 --> 00:53:24.244
of potential mass graves
at several locations.

1026
00:53:24.288 --> 00:53:26.464
HAMMERSTEDT: Both with
resistance and the radar,

1027
00:53:26.507 --> 00:53:30.511
we did identify three
unmarked graves in this area.

1028
00:53:30.555 --> 00:53:32.383
Here's an example of one of them

1029
00:53:32.426 --> 00:53:34.254
where we see one
of these low parabolas.

1030
00:53:34.298 --> 00:53:36.038
We caught that
in four different passes.

1031
00:53:36.082 --> 00:53:37.562
So it looks pretty promising

1032
00:53:37.605 --> 00:53:39.303
that it is an unmarked grave
of some sort.

1033
00:53:39.346 --> 00:53:41.609
Whether or not it's associated
with the massacre

1034
00:53:41.653 --> 00:53:43.568
is not really clear
at this point.

1035
00:53:43.611 --> 00:53:45.526
These features do look
very good to me.

1036
00:53:45.570 --> 00:53:46.701
I'm not an archeologist.

1037
00:53:46.745 --> 00:53:48.355
I'm a forensic anthropologist,

1038
00:53:48.399 --> 00:53:51.010
but I work with archeologists
all the time on burials.

1039
00:53:51.053 --> 00:53:55.275
They do look good, but we
don't know what's underneath,

1040
00:53:55.319 --> 00:53:59.671
so please bear with
our further investigations,

1041
00:53:59.714 --> 00:54:02.282
because we don't know what
the preservation will be like,

1042
00:54:02.326 --> 00:54:05.416
and even if the preservation
is truly excellent,

1043
00:54:05.459 --> 00:54:06.939
we don't know
who we'll find in there.

1044
00:54:09.420 --> 00:54:13.641
NARRATOR: In July 2020,
99 years after the massacre,

1045
00:54:13.685 --> 00:54:16.078
the archeology team
finally began digging

1046
00:54:16.122 --> 00:54:17.776
in Oaklawn Cemetery.

1047
00:54:17.819 --> 00:54:20.300
To team members, onlookers,
and media,

1048
00:54:20.344 --> 00:54:23.477
the excavation
was a moment of truth.

1049
00:54:23.521 --> 00:54:26.132
DeNeen Brown was there
to witness the excavation

1050
00:54:26.175 --> 00:54:29.004
that her reporting
had helped launch.

1051
00:54:29.048 --> 00:54:31.311
DeNEEN:
This morning at 10:00,

1052
00:54:31.355 --> 00:54:36.316
the bulldozer broke ground
at Oaklawn Cemetery.

1053
00:54:36.360 --> 00:54:40.538
This is 99 years after
the Tulsa Race Massacre.

1054
00:54:42.104 --> 00:54:45.673
So there are a lot of
descendants of massacre victims

1055
00:54:45.717 --> 00:54:49.938
who are eagerly anticipating
this very moment

1056
00:54:49.982 --> 00:54:52.637
when the city finally searches,

1057
00:54:52.680 --> 00:54:54.943
physically searches
for their loved ones.

1058
00:54:58.382 --> 00:55:00.209
What were you feeling
this morning

1059
00:55:00.253 --> 00:55:02.255
when they first dug
into the ground?

1060
00:55:02.299 --> 00:55:03.256
What was your emotion?

1061
00:55:03.300 --> 00:55:06.215
I'm happy about it.

1062
00:55:06.259 --> 00:55:08.348
Of course, you know,
the sadness comes when you think

1063
00:55:08.392 --> 00:55:12.787
of how our community members
perished back then.

1064
00:55:12.831 --> 00:55:16.008
These were friends, neighbors,

1065
00:55:16.051 --> 00:55:18.358
some employees
of my family members

1066
00:55:18.402 --> 00:55:19.968
who they never saw again.

1067
00:55:22.406 --> 00:55:26.497
Personally I feel
for this situation

1068
00:55:26.540 --> 00:55:27.933
because I have
a great-grandmother

1069
00:55:27.976 --> 00:55:29.935
who is also buried here.

1070
00:55:29.978 --> 00:55:32.981
And I'm another generation
who endeavors to find her grave

1071
00:55:33.025 --> 00:55:34.722
to give her the due respect

1072
00:55:34.766 --> 00:55:37.377
that she so deserves
at some point in time, you know.

1073
00:55:37.421 --> 00:55:39.292
Will that ever happen?
I don't know.

1074
00:55:39.336 --> 00:55:42.208
But my heart is here because
I know what that feels like.

1075
00:55:42.251 --> 00:55:44.515
To know that someone
is buried somewhere

1076
00:55:44.558 --> 00:55:46.125
and you don't know
where they are

1077
00:55:46.168 --> 00:55:48.345
and you can't give
any answers towards that.

1078
00:55:50.738 --> 00:55:52.740
NARRATOR: Days of digging
in the July heat

1079
00:55:52.784 --> 00:55:55.656
yielded only artifacts
and debris.

1080
00:55:57.919 --> 00:55:59.791
We had oral histories
that matched up

1081
00:55:59.834 --> 00:56:02.576
with written documentation

1082
00:56:02.620 --> 00:56:06.406
that pointed that this
very well could be the spot.

1083
00:56:06.450 --> 00:56:10.149
I had found, in the old records
of the cemetery,

1084
00:56:10.192 --> 00:56:13.457
there was one page that
marked this particular area

1085
00:56:13.500 --> 00:56:16.416
which pointed out it's
the only area in the cemetery

1086
00:56:16.460 --> 00:56:17.722
that wasn't accounted for.

1087
00:56:20.115 --> 00:56:23.597
So we go out there
to dig this hole,

1088
00:56:23.641 --> 00:56:26.513
and they figure it's gonna
take the backhoe a day,

1089
00:56:26.557 --> 00:56:28.123
day and a half.

1090
00:56:28.167 --> 00:56:30.430
And at that point,
we'll hit bones, right.

1091
00:56:30.474 --> 00:56:33.433
Because the anomaly
is looking good.

1092
00:56:33.477 --> 00:56:37.176
I mean, the scientists said,
"We have got a pit."

1093
00:56:37.219 --> 00:56:40.440
So here we go, digging.

1094
00:56:40.484 --> 00:56:43.356
And it's just not
going well at all.

1095
00:56:45.010 --> 00:56:47.491
STUBBLEFIELD:
We're dealing with a substrate

1096
00:56:47.534 --> 00:56:49.667
that is full of debris,

1097
00:56:49.710 --> 00:56:52.887
kind of like backyard fill,
only this isn't household.

1098
00:56:52.931 --> 00:56:54.715
It's more construction level --

1099
00:56:54.759 --> 00:57:00.678
nails, rusty nails, broken
glass, lots of partial bricks.

1100
00:57:03.550 --> 00:57:05.813
WARNER: And they're digging
and they're digging deeper.

1101
00:57:05.857 --> 00:57:09.426
And they're going 9 feet,
10 feet, 11 feet, 12 feet.

1102
00:57:09.469 --> 00:57:11.732
They finally got to 16 feet.

1103
00:57:11.776 --> 00:57:13.473
There's water dribbling through.

1104
00:57:13.517 --> 00:57:16.171
There's a tree trunk at 16 feet.

1105
00:57:16.215 --> 00:57:19.653
And I'm thinking this is
a bit of the Holy Grail,

1106
00:57:19.697 --> 00:57:23.440
and nobody is willing
to give up their chance

1107
00:57:23.483 --> 00:57:25.616
of finding the Holy Grail.

1108
00:57:25.659 --> 00:57:27.095
You don't know,
are you ever gonna

1109
00:57:27.139 --> 00:57:29.097
get another chance to dig again?

1110
00:57:29.141 --> 00:57:33.624
So do you just keep digging and
hope that you find something?

1111
00:57:33.667 --> 00:57:35.974
And that was kind of
the way it was.

1112
00:57:37.105 --> 00:57:40.587
NARRATOR: Following eight days
of searching, on July 22, 2020,

1113
00:57:40.631 --> 00:57:43.024
the excavation work was halted.

1114
00:57:43.068 --> 00:57:46.506
The mayor was no less
committed to the effort.

1115
00:57:46.550 --> 00:57:50.205
Some people push back on me
since we started this

1116
00:57:50.249 --> 00:57:52.338
and ask, you know,
"Why are we doing this?

1117
00:57:52.381 --> 00:57:54.601
Why are we spending
the money on it?"

1118
00:57:54.645 --> 00:57:59.867
And I always try and present it
from the human standpoint.

1119
00:57:59.911 --> 00:58:01.826
Your entire neighborhood's
burned to the ground.

1120
00:58:01.869 --> 00:58:03.523
Your business is burned
to the ground.

1121
00:58:03.567 --> 00:58:05.656
And there's members
of your family missing.

1122
00:58:05.699 --> 00:58:07.875
And you are never told
what happened.

1123
00:58:07.919 --> 00:58:10.574
No one's ever held accountable
for doing it.

1124
00:58:10.617 --> 00:58:13.577
And you don't know where
the members of your family went.

1125
00:58:13.620 --> 00:58:16.580
And there are people,
descendants of those families,

1126
00:58:16.623 --> 00:58:19.452
who are still here in our
community that still don't know.

1127
00:58:19.496 --> 00:58:22.673
And if we can,
through this investigation,

1128
00:58:22.716 --> 00:58:25.110
give them some better idea
of what happened

1129
00:58:25.153 --> 00:58:27.895
and where the remains
of their family members are,

1130
00:58:27.939 --> 00:58:31.595
that's the goal for us
in doing this investigation.

1131
00:58:31.638 --> 00:58:33.553
[ Indistinct shouting ]

1132
00:58:33.597 --> 00:58:35.555
NARRATOR: Along with
many American cities,

1133
00:58:35.599 --> 00:58:39.254
Tulsa today is attempting
to bridge the racial divide.

1134
00:58:39.298 --> 00:58:42.736
That process is, by turns,
peaceful and tense,

1135
00:58:42.780 --> 00:58:46.087
punctuated by protests
and provocations.

1136
00:58:46.131 --> 00:58:49.700
In mid-October, a 250-foot
Black Lives Matter mural

1137
00:58:49.743 --> 00:58:51.789
on Greenwood Avenue was removed

1138
00:58:51.832 --> 00:58:54.443
by the Department of Public
Works at 4:00 in the morning.

1139
00:58:54.487 --> 00:58:57.664
By 8:00 a.m.,
the avenue had been repaved.

1140
00:59:02.974 --> 00:59:05.846
A week later,
a rally and march against racism

1141
00:59:05.890 --> 00:59:08.545
attracted scores of activists.

1142
00:59:09.589 --> 00:59:12.592
Last Monday, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
became the first city

1143
00:59:12.636 --> 00:59:14.899
to remove
a Black Lives Matter mural.

1144
00:59:15.943 --> 00:59:19.294
So today we are having
a "good trouble" protest

1145
00:59:19.338 --> 00:59:22.994
to protest the prolonged
culture of white supremacy

1146
00:59:23.037 --> 00:59:27.215
that continues to oppress
people of color here.

1147
00:59:27.259 --> 00:59:29.348
We talk about systemic racism,

1148
00:59:29.391 --> 00:59:32.177
and there are people who still
deny that it is a real thing.

1149
00:59:32.220 --> 00:59:33.961
It isa real thing.

1150
00:59:34.005 --> 00:59:35.702
Systemic means it's part
of a system,

1151
00:59:35.746 --> 00:59:37.095
it's part of our ecosystem,

1152
00:59:37.138 --> 00:59:39.663
it's part of everything
that we do.

1153
00:59:39.706 --> 00:59:43.362
Removing that mural
is absolutely a mirror

1154
00:59:43.405 --> 00:59:47.627
on what is going on in Oklahoma,
what is going on in Tulsa.

1155
00:59:47.671 --> 00:59:49.890
It's not about that mural,
just that mural.

1156
00:59:49.934 --> 00:59:52.023
It's about what that represents.

1157
00:59:52.066 --> 00:59:54.634
I'm somebody who loves this
city, who dotes on this city,

1158
00:59:54.678 --> 00:59:58.072
and who always talks about
what it can be,

1159
00:59:58.116 --> 01:00:04.601
but the reality is, the time for
our city to get it right is up.

1160
01:00:04.644 --> 01:00:06.864
CROWD:
Black lives matter!

1161
01:00:06.907 --> 01:00:09.344
NARRATOR: The Black Lives Matter
protesters march downtown

1162
01:00:09.388 --> 01:00:11.956
to City Hall,
where a Blue Lives Matter march,

1163
01:00:11.999 --> 01:00:14.741
in support of police,
was also under way.

1164
01:00:17.701 --> 01:00:19.790
MAN: We are sending a message
to the city of Tulsa,

1165
01:00:19.833 --> 01:00:22.227
to the city councillors,
and to the mayor

1166
01:00:22.270 --> 01:00:26.274
who erased Black Lives Matter
from Black Wall Street.

1167
01:00:26.318 --> 01:00:27.928
That is why we are here.

1168
01:00:27.972 --> 01:00:30.191
We support our police officers.

1169
01:00:32.106 --> 01:00:35.327
We already showed that
we fuckin' back the blue.

1170
01:00:35.370 --> 01:00:37.503
What we are against
is white supremacy.

1171
01:00:37.546 --> 01:00:39.810
NARRATOR:
The protest also attracted

1172
01:00:39.853 --> 01:00:42.073
numerous armed militia members.

1173
01:00:42.116 --> 01:00:46.077
The opposing sides
converged at City Hall.

1174
01:00:46.120 --> 01:00:48.688
DIAMOND: When you see
self-proclaimed militia people

1175
01:00:48.732 --> 01:00:52.387
in their fake military camo
and those things show up,

1176
01:00:52.431 --> 01:00:54.563
it's not about
an intellectual discussion

1177
01:00:54.607 --> 01:00:57.479
between the Second Amendment
and the First Amendment.

1178
01:00:57.523 --> 01:01:01.614
This is about a bunch of guys
who, at their core,

1179
01:01:01.658 --> 01:01:05.879
see Black and brown
and white people coming together

1180
01:01:05.923 --> 01:01:09.622
to talk about justice,
and they don't like it.

1181
01:01:09.666 --> 01:01:11.363
HALL-HARPER: I started getting
calls and text messages

1182
01:01:11.406 --> 01:01:13.278
from some of my constituents,

1183
01:01:13.321 --> 01:01:17.586
basically saying that there
were militia men downtown,

1184
01:01:17.630 --> 01:01:23.462
surrounding them with AK-47s,
automatic weapons,

1185
01:01:23.505 --> 01:01:25.856
in military gear.

1186
01:01:25.899 --> 01:01:28.728
And so at that point,
I made a beeline

1187
01:01:28.772 --> 01:01:31.775
and headed straight down
to this location

1188
01:01:31.818 --> 01:01:33.211
to see what was going on.

1189
01:01:34.778 --> 01:01:39.521
The militia represented
the exact same mob

1190
01:01:39.565 --> 01:01:42.873
that was represented in 1921
when the massacre took place.

1191
01:01:42.916 --> 01:01:46.441
And we saw that play out
once again in 2020

1192
01:01:46.485 --> 01:01:50.097
as we approach the centennial
of the massacre.

1193
01:01:50.141 --> 01:01:52.099
It's every type of racism
that you could think of --

1194
01:01:52.143 --> 01:01:55.320
systemic, institutional,
blatant, in your face.

1195
01:01:55.363 --> 01:01:56.756
It is typical of Tulsa.

1196
01:01:56.800 --> 01:01:58.932
It is what I call
the spirit of Tulsa.

1197
01:02:00.586 --> 01:02:05.983
The folks that showed up with
those firearms at the protest

1198
01:02:06.026 --> 01:02:08.463
were not requested
to be there by anyone.

1199
01:02:08.507 --> 01:02:10.770
I've heard that they said
that they were there

1200
01:02:10.814 --> 01:02:12.816
to support
the police department.

1201
01:02:12.859 --> 01:02:15.035
Our police department
doesn't need their help.

1202
01:02:15.079 --> 01:02:18.604
It's unfortunate that there is
a group that is more interested

1203
01:02:18.647 --> 01:02:22.173
in testing
their Second Amendment rights

1204
01:02:22.216 --> 01:02:26.612
than understanding the realities
of the racial dynamics

1205
01:02:26.655 --> 01:02:27.831
that we're trying
to work through

1206
01:02:27.874 --> 01:02:29.963
as a community right now.

1207
01:02:30.007 --> 01:02:32.487
Oftentimes Black people
are called on-camera

1208
01:02:32.531 --> 01:02:36.796
after something racist occurs
to explain racism,

1209
01:02:36.840 --> 01:02:39.712
to explain what happened,
to explain the incident.

1210
01:02:39.756 --> 01:02:42.367
But I can't explain

1211
01:02:42.410 --> 01:02:46.284
why white people
hate Black people so much.

1212
01:02:46.327 --> 01:02:50.244
I cannot explain the motives
of the militia

1213
01:02:50.288 --> 01:02:55.859
that came to Tulsa to agonize
the peaceful protestors.

1214
01:02:55.902 --> 01:03:01.212
I cannot explain the other
white extremist groups

1215
01:03:01.255 --> 01:03:03.344
that have antagonized

1216
01:03:03.388 --> 01:03:08.088
Black Lives Matter protestors
across the country.

1217
01:03:08.132 --> 01:03:13.790
I can only say that the hope
of people who have good hearts

1218
01:03:13.833 --> 01:03:16.575
is that this hatred
that has erupted in the country

1219
01:03:16.618 --> 01:03:19.012
will go back underground

1220
01:03:19.056 --> 01:03:21.449
and not only go back
under the ground,

1221
01:03:21.493 --> 01:03:23.364
but just, like, evaporate.

1222
01:03:26.237 --> 01:03:27.716
MAN: I need everybody
to clear the street.

1223
01:03:27.760 --> 01:03:29.414
NARRATOR: Neither the police
nor the militia

1224
01:03:29.457 --> 01:03:32.330
could stop the protesters
from painting a new BLM mural

1225
01:03:32.373 --> 01:03:35.159
on the street
just outside City Hall.

1226
01:03:35.202 --> 01:03:37.161
A number of protesters
were arrested,

1227
01:03:37.204 --> 01:03:39.380
and the mural
was quickly erased.

1228
01:03:39.424 --> 01:03:42.340
But the event underscored
the divide in Tulsa.

1229
01:03:42.383 --> 01:03:43.907
MAN: I need everyone
to clear the street now.

1230
01:03:43.950 --> 01:03:45.909
ROBINSON: We're not trying
to take anything

1231
01:03:45.952 --> 01:03:47.911
from any other Tulsan.

1232
01:03:47.954 --> 01:03:51.784
We're trying to provide an
opportunity for upward mobility

1233
01:03:51.828 --> 01:03:52.959
for everyone in Tulsa.

1234
01:03:53.003 --> 01:03:54.787
No matter what their race is,

1235
01:03:54.831 --> 01:03:59.357
what their sexual orientation
is, what their income is,

1236
01:03:59.400 --> 01:04:02.621
and definitely
what their zip code is,

1237
01:04:02.664 --> 01:04:05.667
everyone deserves a pathway
to upward mobility.

1238
01:04:05.711 --> 01:04:08.670
And when you talk like that,

1239
01:04:08.714 --> 01:04:13.501
then people can push past
the black and the white of this

1240
01:04:13.545 --> 01:04:16.287
and they can start thinking
about the right and the wrong

1241
01:04:16.330 --> 01:04:17.941
of inequity.

1242
01:04:17.984 --> 01:04:22.510
♪ Nobody told me

1243
01:04:22.554 --> 01:04:28.125
♪ The road would be easy

1244
01:04:28.168 --> 01:04:30.867
♪ I don't believe

1245
01:04:30.910 --> 01:04:33.652
♪ He brought me this far

1246
01:04:33.695 --> 01:04:39.963
♪ To leave me

1247
01:04:40.006 --> 01:04:41.399
-Amen.
-Amen.

1248
01:04:43.053 --> 01:04:45.969
NARRATOR: With the centennial of
the 1921 massacre approaching,

1249
01:04:46.012 --> 01:04:49.233
Greenwood activists are
expanding community campaigns

1250
01:04:49.276 --> 01:04:50.799
with events such as
the unveiling

1251
01:04:50.843 --> 01:04:54.064
of a historic marker
outside the AME Church.

1252
01:04:54.107 --> 01:04:56.501
Greg Robinson
lost his mayoral bid,

1253
01:04:56.544 --> 01:04:59.286
but he's redoubling his
commitment to public education.

1254
01:05:00.940 --> 01:05:04.335
The Greenwood Leadership Academy
was established in 2016

1255
01:05:04.378 --> 01:05:06.946
in the shell
of a former grammar school.

1256
01:05:06.990 --> 01:05:08.556
Robinson helped found
the academy

1257
01:05:08.600 --> 01:05:10.515
to bridge the achievement gap

1258
01:05:10.558 --> 01:05:12.952
separating African-Americans
from their fellow students

1259
01:05:12.996 --> 01:05:14.867
in the Tulsa
Public School system.

1260
01:05:14.911 --> 01:05:16.869
That gap is a chasm.

1261
01:05:16.913 --> 01:05:19.002
For example, in 2018,

1262
01:05:19.045 --> 01:05:22.962
only 13% of Black third graders
were proficient in reading

1263
01:05:23.006 --> 01:05:27.010
compared with 39%
of white students.

1264
01:05:27.053 --> 01:05:28.663
When you look at poverty

1265
01:05:28.707 --> 01:05:30.578
and then you look
at school outcomes,

1266
01:05:30.622 --> 01:05:34.800
there is almost a one-to-one
ratio in terms of achievement.

1267
01:05:34.843 --> 01:05:36.497
And so we looked around
and we said,

1268
01:05:36.541 --> 01:05:40.501
"hey, our city is not going to
do anything about it

1269
01:05:40.545 --> 01:05:42.373
if we don't."

1270
01:05:43.940 --> 01:05:46.594
NARRATOR: The school is a
tribute to Greenwood's history.

1271
01:05:46.638 --> 01:05:48.205
Every corridor and classroom

1272
01:05:48.248 --> 01:05:51.991
is named for a landmark
destroyed in 1921.

1273
01:05:52.035 --> 01:05:53.732
The school's emphasis
on Greenwood

1274
01:05:53.775 --> 01:05:55.386
and the massacre's history

1275
01:05:55.429 --> 01:05:58.867
defies the official whitewashing
of Oklahoma history.

1276
01:06:00.913 --> 01:06:04.047
ROBINSON: We wanted to focus
on the ingenuity

1277
01:06:04.090 --> 01:06:08.181
and the creativity that built
the Greenwood neighborhood,

1278
01:06:08.225 --> 01:06:10.836
Black Wall Street
in the first place.

1279
01:06:10.879 --> 01:06:13.708
That's why our creed is,
"Who am I?

1280
01:06:13.752 --> 01:06:15.754
I am excellence."

1281
01:06:15.797 --> 01:06:19.758
We want them to embody the
excellence that was Greenwood

1282
01:06:19.801 --> 01:06:22.195
and carry that forward

1283
01:06:22.239 --> 01:06:25.155
to be just like their ancestors
of the past

1284
01:06:25.198 --> 01:06:27.766
and do something incredible
in the future.

1285
01:06:27.809 --> 01:06:30.812
That's all about saying, "Hey,
who do we have at the table?

1286
01:06:30.856 --> 01:06:32.162
Who's at the table and what..."

1287
01:06:32.205 --> 01:06:33.946
NARRATOR:
By way of shaping that future,

1288
01:06:33.990 --> 01:06:37.167
Robinson is mentoring young men
and women in North Tulsa.

1289
01:06:37.210 --> 01:06:39.430
Lacking opportunity,
young people here

1290
01:06:39.473 --> 01:06:43.956
often abandon the city
in search of careers elsewhere.

1291
01:06:44.000 --> 01:06:46.437
When I was growing up,
any time you heard

1292
01:06:46.480 --> 01:06:50.484
of somebody young and Black
about to be successful,

1293
01:06:50.528 --> 01:06:53.835
they would say, "I'm graduating,
and I'm leaving Tulsa."

1294
01:06:53.879 --> 01:06:55.750
That's what would draw applause.

1295
01:06:55.794 --> 01:06:57.970
That's would draw applause
from older people,

1296
01:06:58.014 --> 01:06:59.798
from people I knew.

1297
01:06:59.841 --> 01:07:01.756
They're like, "Leave.
There's nothing here for you."

1298
01:07:01.800 --> 01:07:03.889
What you said the other night
when you were like,

1299
01:07:03.932 --> 01:07:05.325
"We got to do something
that's worthy

1300
01:07:05.369 --> 01:07:07.153
of the ancestors' suffering"...

1301
01:07:07.197 --> 01:07:09.677
NARRATOR: Robinson's protégé
Tyrance Billingsley II

1302
01:07:09.721 --> 01:07:12.289
is developing a business plan.

1303
01:07:12.332 --> 01:07:16.162
He has two goals -- establishing
a tech center in North Tulsa

1304
01:07:16.206 --> 01:07:17.990
and keeping talented
young adults

1305
01:07:18.034 --> 01:07:20.601
in the town they're often
forced to depart.

1306
01:07:22.255 --> 01:07:23.691
BILLINGSLEY:
Greg is actually the reason

1307
01:07:23.735 --> 01:07:25.432
that I chose to stay in Tulsa

1308
01:07:25.476 --> 01:07:27.913
after I graduated high school
rather than leave it.

1309
01:07:27.956 --> 01:07:29.828
The Black Wall Street story

1310
01:07:29.871 --> 01:07:32.135
and the history that I grew up
in has always inspired me.

1311
01:07:32.178 --> 01:07:35.442
But there was a time
when I thought it might --

1312
01:07:35.486 --> 01:07:36.922
I wasn't sure if anything
was going to come of it.

1313
01:07:36.965 --> 01:07:39.533
But meeting Greg,
being from North Tulsa,

1314
01:07:39.577 --> 01:07:41.274
pouring into me the way he did,

1315
01:07:41.318 --> 01:07:44.625
he was the one who kind of
got me to thinking,

1316
01:07:44.669 --> 01:07:46.323
"Rather than leaving
the first chance I get,

1317
01:07:46.366 --> 01:07:48.151
why don't I stay here

1318
01:07:48.194 --> 01:07:50.849
and end up building something,
building something here?"

1319
01:07:52.677 --> 01:07:54.287
NARRATOR: Billingsley
is the first to admit

1320
01:07:54.331 --> 01:07:57.160
that his business plan
is early stage.

1321
01:07:57.203 --> 01:07:59.640
He's working around the clock
to connect with investors,

1322
01:07:59.684 --> 01:08:02.121
venture capitalists,
and technology companies

1323
01:08:02.165 --> 01:08:04.602
to revive Greenwood
and North Tulsa.

1324
01:08:05.994 --> 01:08:07.474
MAN:
Coming to Tulsa is not us

1325
01:08:07.518 --> 01:08:09.346
making it look
like Silicon Valley.

1326
01:08:09.389 --> 01:08:11.652
It's not us making it
look like Chicago, New York.

1327
01:08:11.696 --> 01:08:13.872
It's really about
making it look like Tulsa.

1328
01:08:13.915 --> 01:08:16.962
And I think a lot of the things
that you're sharing

1329
01:08:17.005 --> 01:08:19.573
that stand out with you
in this report,

1330
01:08:19.617 --> 01:08:21.184
as well as a lot of the things

1331
01:08:21.227 --> 01:08:23.142
that you've shared
through your pillars,

1332
01:08:23.186 --> 01:08:25.840
a lens around
ecosystem development

1333
01:08:25.884 --> 01:08:28.191
from an entrepreneur's
perspective

1334
01:08:28.234 --> 01:08:32.195
I think really can get us
a lot of opportunities.

1335
01:08:32.238 --> 01:08:34.501
We don't just have a
responsibility to build it back.

1336
01:08:34.545 --> 01:08:37.330
We have a responsibility
to build it better.

1337
01:08:37.374 --> 01:08:39.941
I envision a community
where young entrepreneurs,

1338
01:08:39.985 --> 01:08:43.902
young Black people in general
grow up knowing that it's --

1339
01:08:43.945 --> 01:08:46.992
being a successful entrepreneur
is synonymous with Black.

1340
01:08:47.035 --> 01:08:49.603
...a lens around
ecosystem development

1341
01:08:49.647 --> 01:08:51.431
from an entrepreneur's...

1342
01:08:51.475 --> 01:08:54.042
We're trying to facilitate
$1 billion worth of investment

1343
01:08:54.086 --> 01:08:57.133
in starting up
our Black tech ecosystem here.

1344
01:08:57.176 --> 01:09:00.048
So that doesn't mean being
written a billion-dollar check.

1345
01:09:00.092 --> 01:09:02.312
That means getting different
accelerators here,

1346
01:09:02.355 --> 01:09:05.010
different companies
to run programs here,

1347
01:09:05.053 --> 01:09:07.012
getting different entities
to come here

1348
01:09:07.055 --> 01:09:09.580
and invest in maybe
building housing,

1349
01:09:09.623 --> 01:09:12.626
whether it be Google or
the Facebooks or the Twitters.

1350
01:09:12.670 --> 01:09:14.672
At the core, whatever we...

1351
01:09:14.715 --> 01:09:17.109
DeNEEN:
Oh, there are phenomenal people

1352
01:09:17.153 --> 01:09:22.201
doing extraordinary work
in the city of Tulsa.

1353
01:09:22.245 --> 01:09:25.726
We know that because of
the history of oppression

1354
01:09:25.770 --> 01:09:30.340
and racism and segregation
and racist laws

1355
01:09:30.383 --> 01:09:33.473
that have tried to keep
Black people back,

1356
01:09:33.517 --> 01:09:35.432
it only means that, you know,

1357
01:09:35.475 --> 01:09:38.348
oftentimes Black people
start behind the starting line.

1358
01:09:38.391 --> 01:09:40.306
And sometimes the race
is already going.

1359
01:09:40.350 --> 01:09:42.265
But we often will catch up.

1360
01:09:42.308 --> 01:09:45.093
I mean, it's phenomenal.

1361
01:09:45.137 --> 01:09:46.834
NARRATOR: While some
young Tulsans are focused

1362
01:09:46.878 --> 01:09:48.619
on cutting-edge technology,

1363
01:09:48.662 --> 01:09:51.796
Betsy Warner relies
on old-school research methods,

1364
01:09:51.839 --> 01:09:55.103
such as this paper chase
in Tulsa's city archives.

1365
01:09:55.147 --> 01:09:57.976
She hopes that old
topographic maps might reveal

1366
01:09:58.019 --> 01:10:02.154
where the city sited mass graves
following the massacre.

1367
01:10:02.198 --> 01:10:04.243
I've gone into records

1368
01:10:04.287 --> 01:10:07.986
that they never went into
20 years ago.

1369
01:10:08.029 --> 01:10:12.469
This shows the river, The Canes,
which is an area that they've --

1370
01:10:12.512 --> 01:10:16.255
that's been pointed out
as a possibility of burials.

1371
01:10:16.299 --> 01:10:18.562
I'm trying to logically,
in my head,

1372
01:10:18.605 --> 01:10:21.956
figure out,
"Okay, who did they bury?

1373
01:10:22.000 --> 01:10:23.871
How did they bury them?
Where did they bury?

1374
01:10:23.915 --> 01:10:25.917
Why did they bury them there?

1375
01:10:25.960 --> 01:10:28.398
And what were the laws
at the time?"

1376
01:10:30.138 --> 01:10:31.966
NARRATOR:
Following the hiatus in July,

1377
01:10:32.010 --> 01:10:35.579
a second excavation
was scheduled for October 2020

1378
01:10:35.622 --> 01:10:37.668
at a site
where ground-penetrating radar

1379
01:10:37.711 --> 01:10:39.583
had found anomalies.

1380
01:10:39.626 --> 01:10:41.324
There were just two headstones

1381
01:10:41.367 --> 01:10:45.284
of known Black 1921 massacre
victims already there,

1382
01:10:45.328 --> 01:10:47.155
but forensic scientists
hypothesized

1383
01:10:47.199 --> 01:10:50.420
that more victims,
identified by city records,

1384
01:10:50.463 --> 01:10:53.466
might have been buried
alongside them.

1385
01:10:53.510 --> 01:10:55.947
There are several things
that we can look at

1386
01:10:55.990 --> 01:10:57.470
to see
if they're the right bones.

1387
01:10:57.514 --> 01:11:00.299
One is there's got to be
this level of trauma.

1388
01:11:00.343 --> 01:11:03.215
The death records,
the funeral home records

1389
01:11:03.259 --> 01:11:06.479
pretty much state
where their injuries were.

1390
01:11:06.523 --> 01:11:11.832
So we know if we find somebody
who's about 5'7"

1391
01:11:11.876 --> 01:11:17.185
that has a bullet
in their left thigh, bingo.

1392
01:11:17.229 --> 01:11:19.579
We can probably figure out
which one that is.

1393
01:11:19.623 --> 01:11:21.320
The nice thing is, even though
they don't tell you

1394
01:11:21.364 --> 01:11:24.149
how tall these guys are
on the death certificates,

1395
01:11:24.192 --> 01:11:26.717
many of them were
World War I veterans.

1396
01:11:26.760 --> 01:11:28.327
And when they enlisted,

1397
01:11:28.371 --> 01:11:32.462
they wrote down kind of
how tall these guys were.

1398
01:11:32.505 --> 01:11:35.943
So we have an idea
we can kind of match up.

1399
01:11:35.987 --> 01:11:38.424
We got to be able to match up
bodies and whatever.

1400
01:11:38.468 --> 01:11:43.951
This is not some, you know,
history project for the city.

1401
01:11:43.995 --> 01:11:45.649
This is a murder investigation.

1402
01:11:45.692 --> 01:11:47.346
And we're trying to find
neighbors of ours

1403
01:11:47.390 --> 01:11:49.174
who got murdered

1404
01:11:49.217 --> 01:11:51.350
and find out
where their remains are

1405
01:11:51.394 --> 01:11:53.309
so that their family can know.

1406
01:11:57.356 --> 01:11:59.358
NARRATOR:
Like the July excavation,

1407
01:11:59.402 --> 01:12:02.187
the second excavation
in October 2020

1408
01:12:02.230 --> 01:12:04.885
began in less-than-ideal
conditions.

1409
01:12:04.929 --> 01:12:08.149
DeNeen Brown came again
to observe and report.

1410
01:12:09.934 --> 01:12:13.546
This is an expansion point
for the search.

1411
01:12:13.590 --> 01:12:16.767
As you know,
this is the second excavation.

1412
01:12:16.810 --> 01:12:21.249
They began the first excavation
looking for mass graves

1413
01:12:21.293 --> 01:12:24.688
not far from here
near the crape myrtle trees.

1414
01:12:24.731 --> 01:12:28.387
That excavation
took place in July.

1415
01:12:28.431 --> 01:12:30.781
They didn't find
human remains there.

1416
01:12:30.824 --> 01:12:35.960
So the city decided to expand
its search to this site here.

1417
01:12:37.004 --> 01:12:40.399
If you look there, there are
two marked tombstones.

1418
01:12:40.443 --> 01:12:44.751
One is a tombstone
for Eddie Lockard,

1419
01:12:44.795 --> 01:12:47.580
and the other
is for Reuben Everett.

1420
01:12:47.624 --> 01:12:51.367
They are two known Black men
who were killed

1421
01:12:51.410 --> 01:12:55.196
in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

1422
01:12:55.240 --> 01:12:56.894
They believe that somewhere

1423
01:12:56.937 --> 01:12:59.723
in the vicinity
of those tombstones,

1424
01:12:59.766 --> 01:13:03.291
there might be
at least 18 Black bodies

1425
01:13:03.335 --> 01:13:05.903
buried somewhere out here
in unmarked graves.

1426
01:13:08.166 --> 01:13:12.866
The reason I get emotional
about this search

1427
01:13:12.910 --> 01:13:15.956
is we have a government

1428
01:13:16.000 --> 01:13:18.655
that's actually
physically searching

1429
01:13:18.698 --> 01:13:22.310
for the bodies of the people
who lost their lives.

1430
01:13:26.010 --> 01:13:27.446
STOVER: Look, what you
have to understand

1431
01:13:27.490 --> 01:13:32.451
with forensic scientists
who do this work,

1432
01:13:32.495 --> 01:13:35.193
it's rough,

1433
01:13:35.236 --> 01:13:42.374
because you are retelling the
last chapter of somebody's life.

1434
01:13:45.072 --> 01:13:48.467
Even when you're in the ground
and if there's clothes on,

1435
01:13:48.511 --> 01:13:51.644
you can reach into the pockets
and you can find things,

1436
01:13:51.688 --> 01:13:54.125
and that tells you something
about that person.

1437
01:13:54.168 --> 01:13:56.475
[ Camera shutter clicking ]

1438
01:13:56.519 --> 01:13:59.739
So that you're all of a sudden
re-creating that person.

1439
01:13:59.783 --> 01:14:02.176
So you get very attached.

1440
01:14:02.220 --> 01:14:05.310
But you also have to be
professional about it.

1441
01:14:05.353 --> 01:14:08.139
So Clyde Snow
used to like to say,

1442
01:14:08.182 --> 01:14:10.620
"You work in the daytime,
you cry at night."

1443
01:14:12.970 --> 01:14:14.450
NARRATOR:
There are no celebrations

1444
01:14:14.493 --> 01:14:16.800
in a search for human remains.

1445
01:14:16.843 --> 01:14:18.758
But there are sometimes
breakthroughs.

1446
01:14:18.802 --> 01:14:20.673
On the second day of excavation,

1447
01:14:20.717 --> 01:14:22.806
archeologists discovered
a single coffin

1448
01:14:22.849 --> 01:14:24.721
containing human remains.

1449
01:14:24.764 --> 01:14:28.202
On the third day, an additional
11 coffins were found.

1450
01:14:29.595 --> 01:14:32.424
STACKELBECK: We have now
identified at least 12 coffins.

1451
01:14:32.468 --> 01:14:34.034
That gave us information

1452
01:14:34.078 --> 01:14:36.210
with regard to the condition
of the remains

1453
01:14:36.254 --> 01:14:39.083
and the extent to which
they were very friable

1454
01:14:39.126 --> 01:14:41.694
or if they were really in
a good state of preservation.

1455
01:14:43.087 --> 01:14:44.871
NARRATOR: Materials recovered
from the graves

1456
01:14:44.915 --> 01:14:47.613
were concealed
behind a makeshift screen.

1457
01:14:47.657 --> 01:14:50.834
The question is, whose are they?

1458
01:14:50.877 --> 01:14:52.966
Chief archaeologist
Kary Stackelbeck

1459
01:14:53.010 --> 01:14:55.621
is evaluating several scenarios.

1460
01:14:55.665 --> 01:14:57.841
STACKELBECK: One of those
is a mass grave of individuals

1461
01:14:57.884 --> 01:14:59.364
where there was mass killings.

1462
01:14:59.407 --> 01:15:00.844
And we have numerous examples
of that,

1463
01:15:00.887 --> 01:15:03.020
both more recently
and in the past,

1464
01:15:03.063 --> 01:15:05.588
and what that looks like,
unfortunately.

1465
01:15:05.631 --> 01:15:09.722
But we can also see mass graves
in association with epidemics,

1466
01:15:09.766 --> 01:15:12.551
and this has
happened periodically

1467
01:15:12.595 --> 01:15:15.119
throughout our history
and most recently right now.

1468
01:15:15.162 --> 01:15:20.298
Mass graves are being
excavated at this point in time

1469
01:15:20.341 --> 01:15:22.866
in other parts of the world
where we have many people

1470
01:15:22.909 --> 01:15:26.086
who are dying
as a result of COVID-19.

1471
01:15:26.130 --> 01:15:28.828
In fact, one of the last
major influenza epidemics

1472
01:15:28.872 --> 01:15:34.573
that we had was very close in
time to the 1921 Race Massacre.

1473
01:15:34.617 --> 01:15:36.401
So that's where
the forensic anthropologists

1474
01:15:36.444 --> 01:15:38.403
are really going to be critical,

1475
01:15:38.446 --> 01:15:40.840
from the standpoint of their
ability to ascertain the extent

1476
01:15:40.884 --> 01:15:44.191
to which we can see indicators
of trauma for these individuals.

1477
01:15:46.193 --> 01:15:48.326
NARRATOR: Finding evidence
of violence or trauma

1478
01:15:48.369 --> 01:15:50.676
is a task that lies ahead.

1479
01:15:50.720 --> 01:15:52.069
On their final day of work,

1480
01:15:52.112 --> 01:15:53.810
the archeologists
covered the graves

1481
01:15:53.853 --> 01:15:57.553
with protective materials,
then refilled the pit with dirt.

1482
01:15:57.596 --> 01:15:59.424
A court order will be required

1483
01:15:59.467 --> 01:16:02.035
before the remains
can be exhumed.

1484
01:16:02.079 --> 01:16:03.428
Work is expected to resume

1485
01:16:03.471 --> 01:16:07.301
on the Oaklawn gravesite
in summer 2021.

1486
01:16:07.345 --> 01:16:09.739
Other possible mass gravesites
around Tulsa

1487
01:16:09.782 --> 01:16:11.479
may be excavated in the future.

1488
01:16:13.351 --> 01:16:15.832
WILLIAMS: When the mass grave
was discovered,

1489
01:16:15.875 --> 01:16:20.532
it was a hallelujah moment
for myself and this community.

1490
01:16:20.576 --> 01:16:22.795
And now we're like,

1491
01:16:22.839 --> 01:16:25.624
"Okay, we can begin this road
to justice now.

1492
01:16:25.668 --> 01:16:30.237
And no longer is this folklore
or rumors.

1493
01:16:30.281 --> 01:16:31.674
Now we have something.

1494
01:16:31.717 --> 01:16:34.024
Let's get started."

1495
01:16:34.067 --> 01:16:37.593
The ancestors have been crying
out for such a long time.

1496
01:16:38.724 --> 01:16:40.596
I mean, you have to
be deaf, blind,

1497
01:16:40.639 --> 01:16:42.554
and crazy not to hear them.

1498
01:16:42.598 --> 01:16:45.644
You know, I would say there are
two big things for me

1499
01:16:45.688 --> 01:16:48.299
that I hope people
can learn from this.

1500
01:16:48.342 --> 01:16:51.737
One is that when you move beyond

1501
01:16:51.781 --> 01:16:54.348
sort of the simplistic
explanation of what happened

1502
01:16:54.392 --> 01:16:56.307
and you look at the real history
of what happened

1503
01:16:56.350 --> 01:16:59.527
on that night in Tulsa,
it is terrifying

1504
01:16:59.571 --> 01:17:02.661
because you realize
that it could happen today.

1505
01:17:02.705 --> 01:17:07.013
It is an instance of hatred

1506
01:17:07.057 --> 01:17:10.713
overpowering the rule of law
in a community.

1507
01:17:10.756 --> 01:17:16.370
The other that's more positive
is I hope that people see

1508
01:17:16.414 --> 01:17:20.200
that it's never too late
to try and do the right thing.

1509
01:17:20.244 --> 01:17:23.116
The investigation
that we're doing right now,

1510
01:17:23.160 --> 01:17:24.683
we shouldn't be doing it.

1511
01:17:24.727 --> 01:17:27.860
The city should have done this
98 years ago,

1512
01:17:27.904 --> 01:17:30.820
but we can't go back in time
and make the city

1513
01:17:30.863 --> 01:17:34.562
do what it should've done
in 1921 or 1922.

1514
01:17:34.606 --> 01:17:36.652
We can only do today
what's in our power.

1515
01:17:37.914 --> 01:17:40.786
And we as a community
are trying to do right

1516
01:17:40.830 --> 01:17:44.311
by our neighbors
in 2020 and '21.

1517
01:17:45.965 --> 01:17:48.620
STOVER: I think for the city
of Tulsa to have done this

1518
01:17:48.664 --> 01:17:50.404
is remarkable.

1519
01:17:50.448 --> 01:17:54.321
They need to be cautious,
don't raise any hopes.

1520
01:17:54.365 --> 01:17:56.584
But I think it is something

1521
01:17:56.628 --> 01:17:58.891
that others
throughout the United States,

1522
01:17:58.935 --> 01:18:02.286
because we know there are
other unmarked graves

1523
01:18:02.329 --> 01:18:05.724
of victims of racial violence,
that they should learn from this

1524
01:18:05.768 --> 01:18:08.205
and replicate
what's being done here.

1525
01:18:11.991 --> 01:18:14.037
NARRATOR: When the archeologists
and cemetery workers

1526
01:18:14.080 --> 01:18:16.039
left the Oaklawn Cemetery,

1527
01:18:16.082 --> 01:18:18.737
community activists
held a vigil.

1528
01:18:18.781 --> 01:18:20.391
Prayers for the dead
were mingled

1529
01:18:20.434 --> 01:18:22.349
with plans for the future.

1530
01:18:23.699 --> 01:18:29.052
Scripture says that light
will always shine over darkness.

1531
01:18:30.923 --> 01:18:35.145
We will continue
for as long as it takes

1532
01:18:35.188 --> 01:18:37.756
to make sure
that our ancestors are honored,

1533
01:18:37.800 --> 01:18:40.324
to make sure
that the truth is found,

1534
01:18:40.367 --> 01:18:45.068
and to make sure that we stand
as a community strong and better

1535
01:18:45.111 --> 01:18:47.505
because we fought
for what was right.

1536
01:18:53.729 --> 01:18:56.470
NARRATOR: The Oaklawn
mass gravesite remains filled in

1537
01:18:56.514 --> 01:18:59.647
while the legal and
scientific reviews take place.

1538
01:18:59.691 --> 01:19:01.998
The remains discovered
in October 2020

1539
01:19:02.041 --> 01:19:03.956
may never be identified,

1540
01:19:04.000 --> 01:19:07.612
but the effort has given
many Tulsans hope that 2021,

1541
01:19:07.655 --> 01:19:09.614
the massacre's centennial year,

1542
01:19:09.657 --> 01:19:12.443
will mark an end
to the silence and denial

1543
01:19:12.486 --> 01:19:14.358
and the start
of positive change.

1544
01:19:15.925 --> 01:19:17.883
At the AME Church in Greenwood,

1545
01:19:17.927 --> 01:19:22.105
rebuilt after the events of 1921
and a potent symbol of hope,

1546
01:19:22.148 --> 01:19:24.063
Majeste Pearson
recently rehearsed

1547
01:19:24.107 --> 01:19:26.674
"Lift Every Voice and Sing."

1548
01:19:26.718 --> 01:19:30.243
The NAACP, in the early 1900s,
designated the song

1549
01:19:30.287 --> 01:19:32.289
"The Negro National Anthem."

1550
01:19:32.332 --> 01:19:34.987
Majeste plans
to perform the anthem

1551
01:19:35.031 --> 01:19:39.339
on the centennial
of the massacre, May 31, 2021.

1552
01:19:39.383 --> 01:19:41.472
[ Vocalizing ]

1553
01:19:45.650 --> 01:19:50.786
♪ Lift every voice and sing

1554
01:19:50.829 --> 01:19:56.792
♪ Till earth and heaven ring

1555
01:19:56.835 --> 01:20:00.883
♪ Ring with the harmonies

1556
01:20:00.926 --> 01:20:06.192
♪ Of liberty

1557
01:20:10.457 --> 01:20:14.635
I guess a great a hope is that
this will never happen again

1558
01:20:14.679 --> 01:20:16.899
if you tell the story.

1559
01:20:16.942 --> 01:20:22.121
But people have to be reminded
that it did happen.

1560
01:20:22.165 --> 01:20:26.212
And there has to be justice

1561
01:20:26.256 --> 01:20:29.825
for the descendants
of those who survived

1562
01:20:29.868 --> 01:20:33.524
and the descendants of those
who were killed in the massacre.

1563
01:20:35.004 --> 01:20:37.397
What that justice looks like,

1564
01:20:37.441 --> 01:20:40.226
that's something that
they'll have to define,

1565
01:20:40.270 --> 01:20:46.102
but until they obtain justice
for this massacre,

1566
01:20:46.145 --> 01:20:48.017
there can't be healing.

1567
01:20:48.060 --> 01:20:50.889
I can't help
but hold on to hope,

1568
01:20:50.933 --> 01:20:53.587
because other than that,
you've killed me,

1569
01:20:53.631 --> 01:20:55.372
and I can tell you this,
the very folks that go out

1570
01:20:55.415 --> 01:20:57.330
and kill other folks, right --

1571
01:20:57.374 --> 01:20:58.941
I say this all the time.

1572
01:20:58.984 --> 01:21:00.943
Dead people kill people.

1573
01:21:00.986 --> 01:21:03.510
Dead people are out here
on the streets with the AK-47s.

1574
01:21:03.554 --> 01:21:05.164
They have no spirit of humanity.

1575
01:21:05.208 --> 01:21:06.949
They have no spirit of God.
So they're already dead.

1576
01:21:06.992 --> 01:21:09.865
That's why they have no problem
killing you.

1577
01:21:09.908 --> 01:21:12.955
So I'mma continue to live.

1578
01:21:12.998 --> 01:21:16.001
I'mma continue to say,
as long as I got breath, right,

1579
01:21:16.045 --> 01:21:17.133
we got time to get it right.

1580
01:21:17.176 --> 01:21:19.265
So as long as I got life,

1581
01:21:19.309 --> 01:21:21.180
we got time to get it right,
and we hold on to that.

1582
01:21:21.224 --> 01:21:23.226
Other than that, we'd go crazy.

1583
01:21:23.269 --> 01:21:26.403
History gives us
moments to reflect.

1584
01:21:26.446 --> 01:21:28.361
History gives us moments
to look back

1585
01:21:28.405 --> 01:21:32.931
and to examine where we've come,

1586
01:21:32.975 --> 01:21:35.325
how far we've come
from that moment.

1587
01:21:35.368 --> 01:21:37.457
It gives us an opportunity

1588
01:21:37.501 --> 01:21:41.809
to ask, what have we achieved
since then,

1589
01:21:41.853 --> 01:21:44.073
and to also come to grips
with the fact

1590
01:21:44.116 --> 01:21:46.989
that perhaps
we haven't come far enough.

1591
01:21:47.598 --> 01:21:52.908
♪ Let our rejoicing rise

1592
01:21:52.951 --> 01:21:55.998
♪ High as the listening

1593
01:21:56.041 --> 01:21:58.826
♪ Listening skies

1594
01:21:58.870 --> 01:22:08.575
♪ Let it resound loud as
the rolling seas ♪

1595
01:22:08.619 --> 01:22:11.056
JOHNSON: There's no question
that on the centennial,

1596
01:22:11.100 --> 01:22:16.757
May 31st, June 1, 2021, the eyes
of the world will be on Tulsa.

1597
01:22:16.801 --> 01:22:20.500
The operative question will be,
how has Tulsa changed

1598
01:22:20.544 --> 01:22:23.329
over the course
of this 100 years?

1599
01:22:23.373 --> 01:22:25.549
My perspective is that
the Centennial Commission

1600
01:22:25.592 --> 01:22:27.812
wants the world to know

1601
01:22:27.855 --> 01:22:32.164
that Tulsa has acknowledged
its history

1602
01:22:32.208 --> 01:22:36.734
and is working on the slow
and arduous process

1603
01:22:36.777 --> 01:22:39.389
of healing that history.

1604
01:22:39.432 --> 01:22:41.043
We're not there yet.

1605
01:22:41.086 --> 01:22:42.958
We're working on it.

1606
01:22:44.263 --> 01:22:48.050
♪ Sing a song

1607
01:22:48.093 --> 01:22:54.230
♪ Full of the hope that
the dark past has taught us ♪

1608
01:22:54.273 --> 01:22:58.234
♪ Sing a song

1609
01:22:58.277 --> 01:23:06.894
♪ Full of the hope that
the present has brought us ♪

1610
01:23:08.113 --> 01:23:13.423
♪ Facing the rising sun

1611
01:23:13.466 --> 01:23:18.776
♪ Of our new day begun

1612
01:23:18.819 --> 01:23:21.300
♪ Let us march on

1613
01:23:21.344 --> 01:23:24.782
♪ Till victory

1614
01:23:24.825 --> 01:23:26.610
♪ Let us march on

1615
01:23:26.653 --> 01:23:29.439
♪ Till victory

1616
01:23:29.482 --> 01:23:31.093
♪ Let us march on

1617
01:23:31.136 --> 01:23:34.792
♪ Till victory

1618
01:23:34.835 --> 01:23:39.275
♪ Is won

1619
01:23:39.318 --> 01:23:45.542
♪ Till it's won

1620
01:24:01.297 --> 01:24:16.225
♪

1621
01:24:16.268 --> 01:24:26.322
♪

1622
01:24:26.322 --> 01:24:35.200
♪