Okla. judge dismisses restitution lawsuit filed by last survivors of Tulsa Race Massacre

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• Geoff Bennet:

  We're going to shift our focus now to the move by an Oklahoma judge to toss out a lawsuit seeking financial restitution for the three remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

  Judge Caroline Wall threw out the lawsuit trying to force the city and others to make amends for the destruction of the once-thriving Black district known as Greenwood. One of the living survivors of the massacre, Ms. Viola Fletcher, was just 7 years old on the day of the attack. She's now 109.

  Two years ago, she shared her eyewitness account during emotional testimony before Congress.

• Viola Fletcher, Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor:

  I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left her home. I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire.

  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.

• Geoff Bennet:

  And we're joined now by Oklahoma State Rep. Regina Goodwin, who represents the Greenwood District in Oklahoma's Statehouse.

  Thank you for being with us.

• State Rep. Regina Goodwin (D-OK):

  Thank you. Thanks for having me, Geoff.

• Geoff Bennet:

  You represent the historic Greenwood District. It's where you grew up.

  What's the reaction among the folks who represent to this decision by the judge to toss out the lawsuit from the three remaining survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre?

• State Rep. Regina Goodwin:

  Well, first of all, the response is that it's unjust.

  It is, unfortunately, what we have been accustomed to. This is our third go-round and going all the way back to my great-grandmother and 1922. There was another lawsuit in the early 2000s. And now here we are in 2023, and we're getting the same unjust decision.

  So, it is wrong. And we certainly know that our survivors and certainly descendants deserve better. How can you have a 109-year-old woman, in Ms. Viola Ford Fletcher, and certainly 108-year-old Ms. Lessie Benningfield Randle, and the 102-year-old Mr. Hughes Van Ellis, and they not receive their day in court? How's that just?

• Geoff Bennet:

  The city of Tulsa was among the parties pushing for this case to be dismissed.

  We should say that the mayor of Tulsa, his office said he was unavailable for an interview today, but they gave us a statement, part of which reads this way: "The city remains committed to finding the graves of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims, fostering economic investment in the Greenwood District, educating future generations about the worst event in our community's history, and building a city where every person has an equal opportunity for a great life."

  The mayor has said that he opposes what he called financially penalizing Tulsa residents to effectively pay for what would have been a settlement out of municipal coffers. How does that strike you?

• State Rep. Regina Goodwin:

  This whole notion that somehow the city coffers would pay for the injustice, well, guess what? The city is an institution. The city was complicit then in 1921. They're complicit today.

  It's a farce, the supposed excavations that they're trying to do as it relates to the remains of our deceased. So I don't put much into what Mayor Bynum is saying. I think his actions have shown more so than his words. And, unfortunately, again, when you're looking at a city that is complicit, a state that is complicit and a county that is complicit, guess what? That's the way it works.

  When the city does wrong, that's typically how it happens. The monies that are gained from all of the members helped to go to do right. So that notion is nothing new. I look at all the reparations that ever been done, whether it's for the Japanese or the Germans or Native Americans. That's all money that we have contributed to.

  So, when it comes to Black folks, it shouldn't be any different.

• Geoff Bennet:

  Some historians have said that as many as 300 Black people were killed in the Tulsa Race Massacre. It was an attack on the city's Black population.

  It was also an attack on Black institutions and on Black wealth. Help us understand how and why the community has not yet fully recovered from the destruction of wealth more than 100 years ago.

• State Rep. Regina Goodwin:

  I think, quite simply, it's the collective will has not been there to right by all people, as the mayor somehow alluded to, which does not happen even today.

  If you come into Tulsa today, you see a very divided community, in terms of wealth, in terms of homeownership, in terms of education, et cetera. So, the problem is, there are policies that are in place and people that are in place that refuse to do right.

  So, it's real, real simple, policy and people. I happen to be an elected official at the state capitol, and I for four years have been trying to have them address the issue of reparations, since the judge suggested that this should be handled legislatively. This could be handled in the courts. It can be handled legislatively. It can be handled just through people doing the right thing.

  So that's how we get to where we are today.

• Geoff Bennet:

  This judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled. What happens next in this fight for restitution, as you see it?

• State Rep. Regina Goodwin:

  So, there is — with attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, the effort to have an appeal.

  And, again, quite frankly, when you're dealing with seniors, our treasures, that are 109, 108 and 102, quite frankly, they're waiting for them to die. And they have demonstrated over the years, I think, more integrity, more, I think, honor and courage than I have just seen displayed by a lot of other folks.

  And we have to remember that this is a fight worth having going, again, all the way back to 102 years. If we can't get it right, and other folks have found a way to move forward, why not Tulsa? So, beyond all the talk, all the platitudes, the bottom line is, you continue to see a judge who said she's going to dismiss it with prejudice.

  Again, she waited long enough, and I guess she felt she had to do something in the still of the night on Friday, when she knew there would be no news cycle. So, there says — something to be said for a lack of courage and a lack of conviction and to do right by all folks.

  So we are where we are. It is not good. However, this is not new. We are in Oklahoma, and I would hope that we could get along further faster, but it's been 102 years. And how long would other folks wait for their justice? I think that has been a question I think that James Baldwin asked.

• Geoff Bennet:

  Oklahoma State Rep. Regina Goodwin, thank you for your time and for your insights.

• State Rep. Regina Goodwin:

  Appreciate you shining a light on this issue.