The Oklahoma Supreme Court denied a requestto reconsider a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit filed by the last two known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the Associated Press reports.
Seven members of the Oklahoma high court rejected the request by 110-year-old Viola Fletcher and 109-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle on Sept. 10 without comment, upholding a decision by a Tulsa district court judge to dismiss the case. Justice Richard Darby did not submit a vote, and Justice James Edmondson said he would have reheard the case.
Fletcher and Randle survived the massacre, which has been labeled as one of the worst acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history. Close to 300 Black people were killed and more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools, and churches were destroyed. A massive number of people were sent to internment camps that the National Guard overlooked after a mob of white people—some working with law enforcement—looted and burned down the Greenwood District, historically known as Black Wall Street in Oklahoma.
After filing the motion for the suit to be reheard, the attorney for the surviving members, Damario Solomon-Simmon, sought the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into the massacre under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which allows cold cases of violent crimes against Black people committed before 1970 to be reopened.
“President Biden sat down with my clients. He promised them that he would see that they get justice,” Solomon-Simmons said. “Then he went to the next room and had a robust speech where he told the nation that he stood with the survivors and descendants of the Tulsa race massacre…we are calling upon President Biden to fulfill his promise to these survivors, to this community and for Black people across the nation.”
According to KOCO News 5, the litigation attempted to force the city of Tulsa and others to make restitution for the destruction under the state’s public nuisance law. Legal reps also argued that the city appropriated Black Wall Street’s iconic reputation for its “financial and reputational benefit.” Lawyers feel that any money that Tulsa receives from the promotion of Greenwood or Black Wall Street, including funds from the Greenwood Rising History Center, should be put into a compensation fund for victims and their descendants.
The denial comes just a few weeks after the graves of three Tulsa Race Massacre victims were exhumed as the result of an investigation into graves from the massacre. Approximately 50 graves have been exhumed since Tulsa officials announced the investigation almost six years ago.
