“The continuing blight alleged within the Greenwood community born out of the Massacre implicates generational-societal inequities that can only be resolved by policymakers—not the courts,” the justices wrote.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre—one of the deadliest acts of racially-motivated hate and violence in American history.
According to The Associated Press, the Supreme Court’s finding reaffirmed a decision made by a district judge last July. In their ruling, the court’s nine justices wrote that the plaintiff’s grievances—though legitimate—cannot be compensated under Oklahoma’s public nuisance statutes.
“Plaintiffs do not point to any physical injury to property in Greenwood rendering it uninhabitable that could be resolved by way of injunction or other civil remedy,” the court wrote in its Wednesday ruling. “Today we hold that relief is not possible under any set of facts that could be established consistent with plaintiffs’ allegations.”
In a statement, Tulsa officials said that the city “respects the court’s decision and affirms the significance of the work the City continues to do in North Tulsa and Greenwood communities.”
The lawsuit, writes The Associated Press, was filed in an effort to force Tulsa to provide compensation or other remedies for long-lasting consequences of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
During the riots, an all-white mob—with the support of local law enforcement—looted and burned the predominately African-American neighborhood of Greenwood, a community once so prosperous that it was termed “Black Wall Street.”
Over the course of two summer days—May 31 and June 1, 1921—an estimated 300 African-Americans were murdered, with thousands of survivors forcibly located to internment camps.
Even after race relations improved, the devastated communities were never rebuilt.
The two plaintiffs named in the complaint—Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher—are both aged over 100, and are two of the few living survivors of the attack. They had hoped that a lawsuit would provide some measure of “justice in their lifetime[s].”
However, in its ruling, the Oklahoma Supreme Court stated that any reparations or reconstruction must be ordered by legislators.
“The continuing blight alleged within the Greenwood community born out of the Massacre implicates generational-societal inequities that can only be resolved by policymakers—not the courts,” the justices wrote.
Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney representing the two plaintiffs, said that his team is planning to file a petition asking the court to reconsider its opinion. He and his colleagues have also asked the federal Department of Justice to open an investigation into the massacre and its aftermath.
“Once again,” Solomon-Simmons said, “the Oklahoma court system has failed the survivors.”
“We think the decision is wrong, and the reasoning is wrong,” he said.
Sources
Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Oklahoma Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit of last Tulsa Race Massacre survivors seeking reparations
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