Three Remaining Survivors Of Tulsa Race Massacre To Receive $300K
The three living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre are reportedly slated to be given $100,000 each from the Justice for Greenwood Foundation.
Viola Fletcher, Lessie Benningfield Randle, and Hughes Van Ellis recently testified before Congress, asking lawmakers to acknowledge the reality of racial violence in America.
“This gift for the survivors of the Tulsa massacre shows that we have the power to demand justice for Black communities in Tulsa and all across the country,” Justice for Greenwood Foundation founder and executive director Damario Solomon Simmons said, according to Bin News. The gift comes as a result of a partnership between the Foundation supporters, Color of Change, and national fundraising.
“I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street, I still smoke and see fire,” Fletcher told Congress last month. “I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day.”
Fletcher’s brother, Van Ellis, said the Massacre left their family in ruins. “We were made refugees in our own country,” he said in his testimony.
Earlier this week, a centennial commemoration was held to honor the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre. President Joe Biden unveiled a multi-part approach to address economic inequality stemming from racial violence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
