This story is why black lives matter.
99
As if there wasn't enough of an argument in favor of reparations... If descendants of Holocaust victims can get their family's treasures returned, why not Dr. Hooker? The city of Tulsa, and state of Oklahoma are legally culpable in this case - there is no statute of limitations for genocide..
64
I've read countless articles on Greenwood always with shame. I always described it as "Whitey's Darkest Stain on History". It still is to this day. That a jealous mob could do such a horrible thing to black achievers. It reeks of the same hate as Anti-Semitism and ranks accordingly as another one of man's worst crimes against humanity.
42
Back in Tulsa, we don't refer to the rampage of 1921 as a riot. We call it what it was: a massacre.
60
This story hurts my heart for humanity and especially for the families affected by these riots. The US could be a force for good in the world by facing our shared history and truly atoning for the sins of our ancestors. The Monument and Museum for Equal Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, where I first learned of these riots, is where such healing is taking place, in spite of the white nationalist president in Washington and the new rise of white supremacists around the country.
15
"American history is full of stories of black people doing precisely what America says it wants of its citizens — being creative, enterprising and industrious, being self-respecting and self-sufficient — only to have white people destroy what they’ve built, impede their progress and erase their wealth." Thank you, Mr. Blow, for this wonderful article. It's so important to teach the Tulsa Massacre and legacy in our classrooms. Rethinking Schools’ Linda Christensen wrote a lesson to try to do just that, found here:
https://www.zinnedproject.org/if-we-knew-our-history/burning-tulsa-the-l...
41
In less than 3 years it will be the 100th aniversary of this atrocity. I can only hope that Olivia will still be here, not to celebrate, but to be witness to this. There needs to be a wall, a Black wall with all the names in Red in Tulsa. There are other " riots " that need to be immortalized and their stories told on the anniversary of the the Tulsa Riot. If it is time to tear down the monuments to hatred maybe it is time to replace them with monuments of the riots like Tulsa so that those that died did not die in vain.
64
Thank you for this very moving. informative account of Black Wall Street and placing the attack on successful decendents of slaves as a recurring theme in the history of our nation.
Whites like me need to educate ourselves in Black History to develop understanding, empathy and knowledge of the many injuries our Black citizens and their ancestors have endured. We need to make reparations.
18
So sad that there are pockets of this hatred still in our land.
10
Could someone please, please film an interview (or better yet a documentary) with Ms. Hooker? She is a precious part of our history, one I fear will soon be lost.
26
This to me is the most poignant line in the story: "American history is full of stories of black people doing precisely what America says it wants of its citizens — being creative, enterprising and industrious, being self-respecting and self-sufficient — only to have white people destroy what they’ve built, impede their progress and erase their wealth." To connect that to the present, Trump was a reaction to Obama who was "doing precisely what America says it wants of its citizens". Fox News would spend its time criticizing Obama for wearing a tan suit in the summer as "unpresidential" because Obama was a great role model and they had nothing else. Trump is just like the riot, an infantile reaction by a certain segment of whites who can't stand the fact that a black person could be more successful than them. These whites would rather destroy everything than let a black man be better off than them.
51
I am so delighted to read this. I had the great privilege of meeting Dr. Hooker a couple of years ago. She is an inspirational figure and I am so excited that Mr. Blow is bringing her and her story to the attention of the world. Well done!
55
I have walked the remains of the streets of Greenwood. It was a beautiful place once. You could still see the foundations of the fine homes that lined the leafy streets. It was destroyed in a fit of white rage. Bang. Just like that. It is Tulsa's great shame and when I frequented it for business, I found few locals who knew anything about it.
Thank you Mr. Blow.
58
Thank you for this profile. I appreciate the insight into a history I knew nothing about. This is a wrenching story, one that needed telling.
13
Just two years after these horrors occurred my grandfather took my then four-year-old father to watch James Scott, a black man, lynched from the Stewart Bridge (no relation to my family) near the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia. Mr. Scott was then buried in an unmarked grave in the Columbia cemetery, where later the leader of the lynch mob and my grandparents were buried. Only decades later was Mr. Scott’s death certificate corrected and his grave properly marked. The past is not past. Indeed it is prologue.
16
The past is definitely not even past. Leading up to 2008, Wells Fargo deliberately targeted black communities for subprime mortgages. When the crash happened, those black borrowers were foreclosed upon and stripped of their life savings--the money they'd put in down payments. Less noisy than the Tulsa Race Riot, but just about as effective in destroying black hopes of prosperity. And let's not forget the criminal "justice" system which incarcerates so many black people for so much longer than whites for similar offenses, and the constant stream of murder by cops who "fear for their lives" whenever a black person runs away from them...
15
Thank you Charles Blow for telling this horrendous moment in US history. This atrocity, and those that preceded and succeeded it in this country, sounds no different from what the Nazis did to the Jews. US citizens who condemn the Nazis and the Holocaust need look no further than their own country. Nazi ideology was derived in large part from eugenics in this country, specifically the Jim Crow laws. It is long past the time for us to examine our own racism—and yes, that includes ALL whites—take responsibility, and do something about it. (I am white and Jewish.)
9
What a great story; thank you for bringing this beautiful lady into my life. Thank you, also, for telling this awful tale. I was not aware of this evil and you have educated me yet again. Keep writing, Mr. Blow.
6
I have no recollection of hearing about, let alone learning about the Tulsa riots.
All my classes dealing with history dwelt on the pre and post American revolution, the westward expansion of the country, the civil war or if you prefer the war between the states, the Spanish/ American war, WW I, II and Korea. after 1955, I was on my own. [As my field was the Classics, it was only with MLK that the civil rights movement became really publicized.]
Nothing about the civil rights conflicts. a passing reference to the triangle shirtwaist fire in 1911 [which might have mentioned women's and labor's rights] and the '29 crash and the depression, but nothing about the plights of black, previously calked Negroes or Coloreds or the N word.. All this in northern schools. I have no idea what was taught in the south.
Mr.Blow, I hope you continue to write about this remarkable woman as you have only highlighted some standout events in this op-ed.
25
Interesting article but does not provide a lot of information about the riot.
I googled and found a lot of information that isn't mentioned in this article.
One thing very important that isn't mentioned.
It wasn't a race riot.
It was a war where White and black people were killed not a riot where only Black people were killed.
The three hundred people Charles Blow mentioned was the total of black and white fatalities.
He gives you the number of black people injuries and then states up to three hundred people died.
The presumption most people will have is that all three hundred were black
as he doesn't mention that white people were injured.
White people also were injured.
What happened on that day was bad but not as bad as this article as this article since it doesn't tell us any thing that happened that day other than telling us black people were killed or injured inferring
that the white people did what they did for no other reason than their hatred of black people and their desire to kill them.
Do not believe me without doing some research on your own and then please leave a comment.
@John
Perhaps some whites were killed too. If the KKK was invading my community, shooting family members and neighbors, I can understand shooting back and killing the “invaders”. This sounds like Trump and Charlottesville when he said there were bad people on both sides. I agree it was not a riot. It was a massacre of blacks by whites.
21
@John
I don't know where you did your research, but what I've read in the past and what I read today is more in keeping with the information provided by Mr. Blow. Try reading this:
https://tulsahistory.org/learn/online-exhibits/the-tulsa-race-riot/
10
@John See Linda Christensen's "Burned Out of Homes and History" at the Zinn Education Project: https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/burned-out-of-homes-and-history-... and her article, "Burning Tulsa: The Legacy of Black Dispossession." https://www.zinnedproject.org/if-we-knew-our-history/burning-tulsa-the-l... 'The term “race riot” does not adequately describe the events of May 31—June 1, 1921 in Greenwood, a black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In fact, the term itself implies that both blacks and whites might be equally to blame for the lawlessness and violence. The historical record documents a sustained and murderous assault on black lives and property. This assault was met by a brave but unsuccessful armed defense of their community by some black World War I veterans and others.'
33
You described Olivia Hooker as "glorious." The word is perfect for her -- her dignity, her honesty, her calm -- you brought all of that to us in your essay. She is bearing witness to acts of barbarism, acts of violence, all against a backdrop of white supremacy, a backdrop of growing hatred. We need to hear voices like hers.
7
The irony of all this is absolutely amazing. For here, in middle America, the anger is palpable. Look at the fire in the eyes of Trump supporters. See how excited they are that someone has come along to help them complete the work that was not successful in eradicating the" threat "of Black Americans in 1921. And now they see their promised land. I wonder what watching Trump go up in flames will do to them. It will enrage them even further. And then Charles Blow walks into Dr. Hooker's living room to sit and chat with a person whose life was destroyed by people who were the likely ancestors of Trump supporters. Back then she and her family had the look of horror on their faces. Today. Well today, look at that smile on her face. A smile that says: "I know America will not let it happen again today." Let's make sure of it. VOTE.
14
I jusI read this beautiful tribute to Dr. Hooker, and through her and your reporting learned about the Tulsa Massacure. Horrible. I then read the comments, and the one by LG from California, The writer said that you should have “designated this article as NSFW.” I puzzled over what NSFW meant, and eventually thought it must stand for Not Safe for Whites. I am white and it pains me to learn of one more attrocity committed on or against people - Black, Latino, Native American.... Our history books are indeed a white-wash. For anyone who is white, Black, Brown... - reading pieces like this, or The Devil in the Grove, about atrocities against Blacks in Florida, and the history of Thurgood Marshall, are so important. I am ashamed. I am remorseful. I am so appreciative that you, Charles, bring such important lessons to me and all your readers. Every day is so painful when T(he)rump shows his ignorance, prejudice and helps to foment hate and prejudice. Thank you, thank you
18
The use of aircraft in the Tulsa carnage may explain a long-standing ambivalence about aviation in the black community, the amazing performance of the Tuskegee Airmen notwithstanding. The number of black airline pilots has gradually risen from one percent to perhaps three percent over the last decades, being far outpaced but the increase in the number of female airline pilots. An African-American professor of mine actually opined that this may have been a factor in Obama's pillorying of corporate jets during the auto industry bailout, which did nothing for an already depressed business aviation. There are many factors for the lack of black pilots, including the high cost of aviation education, but being bombed by white guys in your home town could not have helped.
5
This pogrom resonates for me as a Jew and a human being. One of my earliest memories is watching on TV the Brown vs. Board of Education riots --- the fire hoses and dogs and twisted, faces spitting hatred at kids like me trying to get to school.
What courage and dignity it took for people in the South to stand up to that vicious, barbaric and lethal hatred and demand their human rights.
That the detritus of that era is still with us, and that it has been emboldened and validated by the "election" of Trump leaves me sick with despair.
Evil will never just fade away; it has to be chased away and barred, closely monitored and fought because it is relentless, ageless, shameless, and murderous.
13
And let's not forget that Donald Trump's father Fred was arrested at a KKK rally in Queens in 1927:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/28/in-1927-donald...
So we know which side he would have been on in the Tulsa riots.
20
I don't know how to express my thoughts as well as Charles Blow does in this horrifying article, but I will try.
Racial agonies past and present will never lead to healing and reconciliation if people are constantly reminded of what happened in the past. First, those of us assume the guilt if we are white and feel powerless to redress what can never be undone. Second, the black community rightly feeds on the anger and grievances generated by being constantly reminded. Although the average man has a low memory quotient which time helps to relieve his pain: The Irish still live a 700 year old war, the Jews the Holocaust, the Blacks racism.
When will it all end? Picking at scabs helps none of us. Although man's inhumanity to man continues in other forms, life is definitely better than it was in all 3 of the above cases and we should celebrate that.
Conclusion: Memories can be devils. There is no answer that will ever satisfy everyone and never will be.
@R.Brookson On the contrary, We need to keep the memory of atrocities alive so we can be on guard against repeating them. So we can agree as a society that they are unacceptable.
18
Racism has a long history in the US. Today, the closeted racists are out in the open. Sad. But Trump has encouraged this. Repeatedly.
13
so as a young child this esteemed lady thought it's the nature of whites to be friendly only when they want to sell something to her father? and that "great lesson" ("racism and racial violence is shocking and haunting") just stands to reason, doesn't it?
Instead of stoking racial division, Charles Blow should pay more attention to the black-run press, particularly the Atlanta Black Star, which has a much more convincing take on Greenwood's impoverishment based on economic logic:
"After segregation ended, African-Americans flocked to support businesses owned by whites and other groups, causing Black restaurants, theaters, insurance companies, banks, etc. to almost disappear. Today, Black people spend 95 percent of their income at white-owned businesses."
Integration, though morally unimpeachable, brought small black companies into competition with bigger, better-financed white companies with more highly qualified staff. The result? They were crushed...not by physical violence, but by the marketplace.
You can read the rest here: https://atlantablackstar.com/2013/12/09/5-ways-integration-underdevelope...
6
Again, a historical occurrence they never wrote about in our history books. Spike Lee has a movie here.....
8
Thank you for this important article, Mr. Blow. It's a piece of American history that everyone should know, but I'm just learning. Dr. Hooker is an extraordinary woman. To have the strength and tenacity to move forward and accomplish all she did, after the horrors of Tulsa, is inspiring. The photo of your radiant smiles and mutual delight, is beautiful. Unfortunately, the racism in this country isn't going away anytime soon. The present administration fuels the fires daily. It is incumbent upon all of us to try to build bridges between communities and all people. Even a small kindness goes a long way. Restitution is in order for the victims and their families of the Tulsa massacre.
3
Thank you for bringing Ms. Hooker to the Times. The history she relates is heartbreaking and needs to be told. I pray that people will one day learn to live in peace.
4
Trump and the GOP of today are deleterious to our Nation's soul and substance. Clear and present dangers. Yet about 42% of us will explicitly give them license.
Some don't recognize the malignancy unfolding. Oblivious to the stark lessons of history and the collateral damage unfolding; easily enhanced by the simple messages and the "truthiness" of the GOTrump propaganda; too forgiving; too dismissive of facts and sound logic. I mean why strain your brain or reach deeper than your superficial instincts - you have a job and rising stocks don't you!?
Some just don't care about the iceberg because of some parochial reason or some vengeance they feel must be extracted. The nerve of those dirty liberals allowing women autonomy over their bodies and people to love and live how they love!
But half of the 42% are actually philosophically and psychologically real gang members. Hey 19-33% of us actually think this Country would be better off under Martial Law - think about that!
What scares me - older and over the hill - to the core is that we 58% won't forcefully combat this obvious existential malignancy with our vote.
What the GOTrump is doing is destroying our good character.
We can recover from bad policies, laws, or practices given we still have souls. But we are sunk if we lose our souls.
Are we a Nation of mean, petty, bigoted, prejudiced, intolerant, xenophobic, and/or selfish/self-serving people?
Oblivious to facts? to truth? to suffering of others?
VOTE NO!
10
America, the shining city on the hill.
1
We shall and we will never accept the collective amnesia regarding the racial crimes in this country.
4
Thank you Mr. Blow. It speaks volumes that I was educated at the best universities in this country and never heard of the Tulsa Race Riot.
3
Human brutality is never far from the surface
3
Reading this reminded me of what I've read about the pogroms in Eastern Europe, when Jews were robbed, maimed, and killed for sport? out of jealousy?
4
Many Blacks will say the success of Black Wall Street was because of segregation and we kept our money in our community and the reason why it hasn't happened anywhere since to this day is because of integration and the black dollar continues to go elsewhere?
2
I hope Charles Blow writes more like this: ideally, first hand encounters with people and their experiences. He is a wonderful writer. His preoccupation with Trump has been masking his true talents.
2
Our American economy is based on competition, it is a daily competition for our very survival. Competition turns neighbors into enemies. If someone else has something then it must have been at my expense.
Racism is America's original sin; but, our economic competition makes us all turn against each other, race, religion, political party and geography just give us easily identifiable targets.
We need a new economic system that makes us all part of the same team. That doesn't mean it has to be communism or socialism, we are smart enough to figure out how to make capitalism work for everyone if we really wanted to try.
3
Mr. Blow - I never miss your beautifully written op-ed contributions. This is one of the most moving and pertinent. What a beautiful photo. On this day of tragedy in northern Massachusetts and destruction in the Carolinas, your words and views give me hope and brought a smile to my heart. Bravo.
1
Thank you for reminding us that what some people would like to portray as ancient history is in fact living memory. My grandfather, 1910-2006, would speak to me of older relatives who had been enslaved. He told me about seeing confederate veterans marching near his home in Richmond to memorials in Oakwood cemetery. We must face these facts together, or continue to be destroyed by our lies and willful ignorance.
7
I'm glad Mr. Blow has shared Dr. Hooker's sorry with us. I wish he had taken his commentary further with these two points:
1) While the Tulsa riots were clearly a matter of white-on-black violence, which has an undeniably larger larger and wider historical parallel in this country, the perpetrators of such senseless acts are no longer exclusively white nor the victims exclusively black, as we have seen in more recent episodes. Dr. Hooker's recollections serve as a reminder of the senselessness of mob violence regardless of race.
2) Her experience also serves as a cautionary tale of how a mob mentality can infect and debase otherwise good, considerate people, as the whites in Tulsa that Dr. Hooker saw as a child might well have been. We all would do well to reflect how the current sparks of outrage, spread by social media, could place us just a few triggers away from witnessing the work of a mob ourselves. Our current political and social upheaval will eventually pass, making it extremely important that cooler heads, and our better nature, should prevail in the meantime.
1
Slavery is the stain this country can never wash out. (Native American genocide blots the other side of the fabric) Stories like these confirm my resolve to keep saying that. Thanks to Charles for digging this one up.
3
I remember hearing about this story when I was a child in Oklahoma. I overheard my mother and grandmother whispering about it in the kitchen one summer day. They were whispering about it out of earshot of my Grandfather who was in the KKK (this was in the early 70s). They were talking about what a shame everyone couldn’t just get along and how my grandfather has just gone to a “meeting” and his buddies said they needed to do something else about the folks that were getting to “uppity” in the area. So, as child who was rather a pain, I asked them to tell me the story they said that some mean people had burned down “blacktown” in Tulsa when grandma was young. Just the bare facts for a 7 year old kid. I was also warned to NEVER talk about this outside the house, and absolutely never to mention it to my grandfather. Have things changed during the intervening years in OK? A bit, but not nearly enough. Thanks for your story and stirring the souvenir of those hot summer days mixed with secrets. Keep up the good work #resist
11
Thank you for sharing this interview.
Could you follow up with interviews with any surviving children of rioters. Presumably, like the rest of us, many of them are unaware of what their forebears did. Knowledge of historic oppresion is important in order for people today to understand simmering resentments.
4
What a great picture! And a terrible part of our history. Thanks for the article.
1
One of the most dangerous and destructive traits of the human psyche is the feeling of "otherness." It can leave us feeling threatened and afraid of those we perceive as "other" and cause us to strike out. That feeling combined with mob mentality has led to heart-wrenching atrocities like the Tulsa attack.
When we segregate ourselves into communities based on race, religion or ethnicity, we put ourselves in danger of compartmentalising ourselves to the detriment of society as a whole. Of course it is more comfortable for us to do this especially when there are clear power differences among these groups. It can take a real effort to reach beyond this tendency and simply be accepting, not judgmental, of our differences. In this effort we can never afford to lose sight of the hard lessons history gives us, particularly when we have individuals like Dr. Hooker available to give the history a human face.
2
I had never heard of the Tulsa riot until reading James Loewen’s excellent “Lies My Teacher Told Me.” I was shocked, and then angry that this history had been literally whitewashed out of my sight. Also, the fact that this well-documented loss of property, life and livelihood was never recompensed by the government is a disgrace. Reparations for the families of Greenwood victims should still happen.
6
Don't think that Tulsa might not happen again. In fact the best evidence that something might be committed by one group of people to another is that it had been committed before. The potential is there. It just needs the right combination of circumstances. Just look at Charlottesville.
3
At an event last night to honor the work, Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston, I mentioned Black Wall Street. When I visit her home of Eatonville Florida, the oldest African American incorporated town in the country, which suffered much of what Black Wall Street did, but due to the strength and determination of Eatonville, it still stands today! And Black Wall Street is a long lost memory.
Which proves that Zora Neale Hurston, who challenged the sensibilities of Northern folks, was right in her views about self determination.
3
My (white) grandmother told me that when she was five years old, she remembers peeking out the curtains of her house that day and seeing wagon-loads of bodies, loaded with black victims, headed towards the Arkansas river, which was several blocks away. There have long been rumors that a lot of them were either buried on the other side of the river, or simply tossed in it. My grandmother has been gone some 17 years now, but I think what she saw that day haunted her for the rest of her life. In Greenwood today, there are many bronze markers on the sidewalks where the businesses once stood, with the names of each one engraved on them.
12
Once again, thank you for reminding us to not neglect history and memory!
My daughter told me that her doctoral advisor said one day,- that the miracle is that we have survived.
I'm reminded daily of the trauma suffered by African Americans and the myths and lies perpetuated about our conditions. We've worked hard, we've overcome barriers, we've had hope and carried on in spite of systemic barriers (laws, policies, norms) that have prevented our grasping and holding on to the "American Dream."
Let's remember, the people of Tulsa and so many more who truly represent our genius, fortitude, morality, dignity, creativity and continue to move our children in these directions, without neglecting the systemic changes that must be made to level the field.
15
Thank you Mr. Blow for this snapshot of America's past. I applaud you for turning your lens on an historical story which many have never been exposed to.
The question is why is that so given the fact that it is pretty easy to find a number of books that have talked about the history of "Black Wall Street?"
My guess is that the answer is the difference between history books and history textbooks.
There are history books written with truth and rigor by historians of merit about what has truly happened in America's past and then there are the history textbooks written for our public schools which for all intents and purposes are the myths of an America (bordering on fairy tales) that those who have approved their purchase want children to believe.
The truth is out there. It sadly is too often sequestered away from those who need to hear it the most: our next generation.
11
A moving, beautiful essay. And with this sentence we should writ large across our hearts:
"History doesn’t stay stuck in the time that it happens. That is only where it is born, after which it is alive and moving with us through time and space."
13
@Concerned Mother Exactly the quote I just highlighted and was going to comment upon. You have stated it as simply and eloquently as this essay is written.
2
And we have the audacity to argue about some athletes choosing to kneel during the national anthem? We should all take a knee, every last one of us. Then get up and vote the racist out of the White House.
117
@Michael Amen to that! Well said; we should ALL take a knee and engage in peaceful protest at what is still happening in this country.
3
Thank you for an important story, beautifully told. And thank you for the photo. What a precious encounter!
68
Agreed! Thanks for the story.
1
This is a part of American history that America doesn't want to know about.
And while many African-Americans are aware of this story of the Tulsa riots, many also have similar stories of their own to tell.
Thank you, Charles Blow for telling this one.
The relatives on my father's side of the family lived through something similar being educated and of means -- something almost unheard of at that time.
They had to endure the intimidation, the plundering, the threats, not only had the temerity of being educated, but because as light-skinned Blacks they could literally "pass", for white.
But that still didn't stop my grandfather and his brother from taunting the whites who chased them from their property, even after they received death threats for doing so.
My grandfather moved to New York, as did his brother, who unfortunately made the grave decision of returning down South again where he was never heard from again.
This is why stories such as these from Tulsa are so important in coming to understand not only the history of the Diaspora in this country, but why now, especially now why it is vital to stand up against the tyranny of racial discrimination and oppression, and remember a history that has long been erased or forgotten.
So than you again, Mr. Blow for this wonderful story and testament to the past.
It has taken a long time to get this far...We won't go back.
62
Thanks you, Charles, for an important remembrance from an eye witness, and not a single mention of Donald Trump. It’s an important statement about the indomitable will of a distinguished woman who experienced such atrocity so young, yet came back to make her own sizable dent in her world.
Are you back?
15
"American history is full of stories of black people doing precisely what America says it wants of its citizens — being creative, enterprising and industrious, being self-respecting and self-sufficient — only to have white people destroy what they’ve built, impede their progress and erase their wealth."
I think there's something about bigots that can't stand to see success in those they revile. Hence, they go burn it up rather than accept the fact the objects of their contempt might have actually made something of their lives.
That photo of Charles and Olivia Hooker is priceless--she with the wide smile and dainty body, lost in her recliner yet beaming at the chance to provide oral history.
Another line in this column also jumped out at me: when Hooker remarks, “It took years for me to get over the shock of seeing people be so horrible to people who had done them no wrong.”
Isn't that the truth of oppression everywhere?Random acts of violence--crimes, to put it midly--committed against people they didn't even know or who "had done them no wrong."
Man's inhumanity toward man knows no boundaries of time, place, color, or history.
68
@ChristineMcM: The brightest and most industrious were singled out for destruction by the KKK.
2
Professor Hooker sounds like an amazing woman. One whose story should be told for it holds up a mirror to our country's history of racism.
21
This all lives on in Trump.
25
I had no knowledge of these evets until reading this column. Thank you, Charles Blow.
This story needs to be taught in every middle and high school in the country as part of the regular curriculum. It is long past time for this nation to learn ALL of its history.
57
You had an unbelievable and unforgettable experience with Dr. Hooker. Thank you for sharing it with us. Given the hatred and divisiveness which plagued 1910 and seem to rule today's politics, it seems just as unbelievable that LBJ managed to get the civil rights act of '64 and the voting rights act of '65 passed and signed into law. After the passage of the civil rights act, LBJ was elected in 1964 with one of the largest popular vote margins in history. OH, USA, where have you gone?
32
Coveting the things of others is what has caused a lot of evil in the world, not just the United States.
I'm sad that the century plus year old woman had to endure hate as a small child. I'm afraid the hate will probably be around after she and everyone else alive now will be gone.
10
I am a 72 yr old white guy that grew up in a white town in Massachusetts. I was shocked at the way our black families were treated in the news from the south, like the school issues, the segragation etc. . I never met a black man until I was in the Navy. As a leader in a combat center on an aircraft carrier, I had to help make everyone the best, my eyes never saw color, only success. And once again, you remind us of the evil in the minds of some people is still happening today, but a lot more sophisticated and yet out in the open. Thank you for writing this column.
23
For those who wish to silence the witnesses of the past, W.B.Yeats summed up why we must remember in "Easter 1919."
"Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child"
In a country that is still divided along ethnic lines, it might help some whites to remember that once upon a time their own ancestors were the victims of a purge. They ought to ask themselves how would they feel if told to forget.
14
@McCamy Taylor: That was "Easter 1916." It saddens me that so many with Irish names are oppressors here: Ryan, McCarthy, Brady, Mulvaney: they birth no terrible beauty.
1
I first learned my American history growing up in the UK - obviously much less extensively than American students were taught. A bit of a British slant mentioned how entrenched slavery remained after its abolition by the Brits, and how Lancashire cotton workers showed solidarity with the slaves even though they were thrown out of work by an embargo on southern cotton during the civil war. Nevertheless, the history of slavery was mostly ignored; we may have learned about the British abolitionists, but nothing about British merchants who profited from the slave trade.
Fast forward to my American life. Living near the border, I found that CBC Radio was a wonderful source for news and features that didn't cover only Canada. That's how I learned about the Tulsa race riot, probably around the time of its 75th anniversary. I never saw it mentioned in American media until today, so thank you Charles.
Of course, the US isn't unique in underplaying unsavory aspects of its history. What's so disquieting about today's America is that many of its people are nostalgic for their own versions of it. A sleeping monster is awakening, and not without prodding from the WH.
43
Thank you for your article, Charles. I am regularly amazed at the number of people in both Tulsa and the country at large who know nothing about the Tulsa Massacre. You may find it interesting that Tara Brooke Watkins, originally from Oklahoma, is currently working on a PhD in Theater Arts and Performance Studies at Tufts University. She learned of the events in Tulsa while doing research and not when she was growing up in Oklahoma. She collected stories and then wrote and produced a powerful play presented in Tulsa this past summer. The play had an entirely black cast of Tulsa actors. You may want to talk with her, as her goal is to make this history more available to the general public and especially to young people. Every American needs to own our history and work together to make our future more positive.
45
My dad was transferred from NY to Tulsa when he worked for the FAA. Believe me, Mr. Blow, very little has changed there. My dad couldn’t get over the culture shock of being thrust into the land of ignorant racists.
35
One must wonder whether the white Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 has ever appeared in any high school civics or history books in America, up to the present, particularly in chapters devoted to instances of violent civil disturbances, most likely only chronicling black-based incidents. Thank you Mr. Blow, for enlightening your readership about yet another forgotten and censored episode of unrestrained white supremacy at work in this country.
19
@John Grillo--I taught the race riot when I taught history in Tulsa for about ten years (late '80s/mid '90s). My high school students certainly learned what had happened on the northern side of downtown Tulsa, and they learned that it was indeed white racism that fomented this disastrous event. I know of many other teachers from my time in Tulsa who also taught it. The race riot was in the Oklahoma history books that we used then, and there was no claim therein that black citizens started the riot.
22
Dr. Hooker. Love it!
10
Were there fine people on both sides in Tulsa as in Charlottesville?
27
"The past is never dead. It's not even past." This was written by Faulkner, a sensitive soul trying to make sense of a region where incest was preferable to miscegenation ("Absalom, Absalom") and a privileged son of said region would rather kill himself than return to the hell that was the American South. Hell for everyone. For the Cherokee who were forced off their land in Georgia and made to walk the Trail of Tears. For the Blacks who were scapegoated, murdered, reviled--and silenced. But also hell for the whites who participated in the atrocities or looked the other way when they occurred. The guilt must have been overwhelming. No wonder whites tried so hard to pretend it never happened. How could they look into the eyes of their children, their young Billy Faulkners and explain away the atrocities? Children know better. They have an instinctive sense of the humanity of others. Their love for other people has to be beaten out of them.
The silence in the history books about Tulsa compounds the tragedy. It pretends that such episodes are exceptions to the rule of the American Dream when in fact they have been all too common. The silence is proportional to the intense embarrassment that modern whites feel when forced to confront and explain the past--that is never really past--to their children and explain the sorry state of the present. White privilege is not a gift. It is a soul killing curse. Silence is not golden. Silence kills. Mr. Blow, please keep writing.
49
@McCamy Taylor
Beautifully written article and comment. Thank you both.
2
I can't believe this story is unknown to so many white people, but I suppose that's the result of the luxury we've always enjoyed to shut the Black American History book whenever things get too uncomfortable. Look up Red Summer of 1919, the Atlanta (1906), East St. Louis (1917), and Chicago (1919) race riots, Rosewood, and one that's especially relevant now, the Wilmington Uprising of 1898.
28
Don't forget the 1863 draft riots in NY.
1
White elected leader says Make America Great Again on behalf of white people, he receives a standing ovation. A professional black athlete says lets Make America Great Again for all Americans including minorities, he gets his jersey burned, receive death threats, and gets booed by a white audience. What does America really stand for? What are Americans are afraid of when minorities stand up for equal treatment and equal justice under the law?
97
I want this incident to be permanently renamed to reflect what it actually was: The Tulsa Race Massacre. There was no riot. There was a coordinated terrorist action by the KKK against a large, peaceful, prosperous African American neighborhood that killed many and utterly destroyed their homes, businesses, and property. Massacre, not "riot".
80
@Bruce
Actually it wasn't a massacre.
There would have been a much larger death total if it was and only black people would have been killed.
Don't believe me.
Do some independent research.
Thank you Charles for brilliant piece ... honestly, I don't know what else to say but, well done!!
11
Ovlivia J. Hooker sounds like an amazing woman. 103 years old and still sharp. We should all be so lucky.
As Charles Blow writes:
“Not only was she the first African-American women to join the Coast Guard, not only was she a psychology professor and activist, but she is one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921”
But the article isnt about her accomplishments, and what she did to achieve them. It is about her being a victim of a race riot that occurred four generations ago. She may have carried the images of that terrible trauma with her but she clearly didn’t let it define her or hold her back. Four generations later that is the life lesson we should acknowledge and celebrate.
17
Mr. Blow,
Thank you for this story. It prompted me to watch the full movie about it on youtube. I was stunned that I had never heard of this before.
13
Thank you for writing about this. I am a 67 year old white woman and I never even knew about this atrocity. Its a powerful and important account from a very impressive American woman.
23
I grew up in Bartlesville, just north of Tulsa, in the 50s and 60s. No one ever talked about the riot, which was a white race riot. It was never mentioned in school or church. It was like it never happened. I only learned about it many years later after I left Oklahoma.
22
@wgnichols4
You lived in Bartlesville at the time they fired the city librarian for allowing black children to come to the library.
The trumped up some charges that she was a communist but racism was the reason.
20
@Margaret Butler
Yes, that was Ruth Brown. The town was a hot bed for the John Birch Society and Goldwater. Kurt Vonnegut referred to it in one of his books as the "right wing capital of the southwest". He spent time there.
3
Thank you for presenting Dr. Hooker's story to us.
Sadly this wasn't an isolated incident. After WW1 blacks returning from the American Expeditionary Force were often lynched in uniform. Birth of a Nation, endorsed by President Wilson, resurrected the Klan, even in the North. Lynch mobs slaughtered dozens of blacks at a time in Tulsa, E. St. Louis, Rosewood, Florida and elsewhere.
How people in Dr. Olivia Hooker's generation made it so far is an inspiring testament to the unbreakable character of the human spirit. How much better off would we all be if the people of her generation had simply been allowed to live in peace?
26
It's especially infuriating as the Harlem Hellfighters made the greatest sacrifice and had the largest number of casualties of any US troops sent to France.
20
Thank you for sharing this story. It is unfortunate that the complete story of the non-white people of the United States has never been told. In graduate school, I focused on black studies, and it was only then that I learned the whole truth. I wonder how many people who saw BlackkLansman, are aware that the horrific event that Harry Belafonte recounts was real and reported on by W.E.B. DuBois. Teaching the full story of black America is essential.
14
Mr. Blow sometimes in simple words and not so simple stories lies the greatest most complex truths.
Thank you as always for your writing.
14
Really great work Charles. Thank you for visiting Olivia and conveying her story - and that of her family and community - to me.
Racism is the history of an error. The fault of seeing superficial differences in appearance and not underlying similarity of form. Of not appreciating that the command of all of a language indicates that a human brain is in all our heads - and all of those are grey in tone or "colour". Of not recognising that peculiar gifts are not universally shared or monopolised by all who look the same, but allocated without chauvinism or prejudice to select individuals - more or less equally - of all groups of different shape and shade. Of not giving all a chance to shine, as freely as they may, as the individual human persons they each are. Of not respecting and cherishing the fine art and work of all others - that we may all benefit from - regardless of the particular "race", of the doer of the well done.
Many thanks again Charles.
22
I believe there is a film about the attacks in Tulsa. I haven't seen it, but I did see another film called Rosewood, about the similar destruction of a black town in Florida, in 1923.
If you are not aware of these ugly events in our nation's history, it's important to educate yourself. This was less than 100 years ago. Racist violence is still with us and we need to stop pretending it was over long ago... It's worse now because the president openly encourages it and his supporters are emboldened... It's a disgrace...
36
@sfdphd
And Wilmington, NC
5
Mr. Blow, Thanks for the history lesson. I'm ashamed to say I didn't know anything about the Tulsa Race Riot. But then, this is why I read your column religiously.
22
Excellent. Thank you Charles!
12
In my opinion, the most important line from the story is, “My family had never told me about hate,” said Hooker. “I didn’t know what that was.”
People have to be taught to hate. It isn’t natural. From what does hate originate? fear of what isn’t known? Lack of self-confidence and self-respect that pushes one to try to reduce the status of whatever is strange to them? Some experience that made one afraid?
I hadn’t heard about the event discussed in the article. I have no connection to Tulsa or anybody there. I never visited the place. But it doesn’t make me feel less ashamed that it occurred.
I fear that, with the divisive leaders in place and the acceptance of their actions by others in appointed and elected positions, this is the way things are headed. In fact, I’m surprised that acts of violence related to the administration Mr. Blow - I know you didn’t write this piece to “sell three more papers and earn three more shekels” and I hope you keep it up. But there are a lot of people who don’t read the Times and are less informed as a result. I guess I’ll have to make some gift subscriptions in the next few days.
24
This story was exhaustively researched and told excellently in the book "Death in a Promised Land" by Scott Ellsworth, a native Tulsan. Recommended if you want to learn more.
25
There are several excellent books about this event. One which is historical fiction as the characters are imagined but the events are not is : Fire in Beulah by Rilla Askew written in 2001. She is a contemporary writer who lives in both N Y and in OK each year. It its heartrending to read. I teach history and know teachers in Oklahoma. This event was buried for decades. However there has been a curriculum in place to teach it for some years now and Tulsa citizens are attempting to confront the racist past of the community. My friends tell me that it is quite difficult to teach as it tends to upset the students. But their district has begun to hold special trainings for teachers as the district has learned that it is hard to teach about this; it is such a recent wound and outrage. As the author points out in this excellent interview there are still people living who experienced this or they know that just one or two generations back their family experienced this. The school district has held a series of "equity " forums for the city and this event, among other subjects, has been explored. There have been several police shootings of unarmed black men in Tulsa in recent years-rather high profile.
I am so sorry about what Dr. Hooker went through a child. She had a wonderful family and thank God they were able to protect her. And in Texas; at our border more children are being deliberately traumatized . Why do we not learn ?
49
i lived in Tulsa for over 20 years, moving there from the NorthEast. Initially I wondered why one portion of the population all lived North of downtown. I learned. My favorite memory was an early MLK parade, which was just the locals marching down the streets of North Tulsa. A lovely older woman came up and joined hands with my partner and I as we all sang We Shall Overcome. While I was in the minority that day, things did start to change. For that moment at least, we were all equal Thank you for sharing this beautiful story.
11
Thank you for the wonderful yet heart-rending column, Charles. It reminds of the pogroms in the Russian Pale of Settlement.
12
The U.S. Coast Guard has honored the military service of Dr. Hooker by naming a section of seminar rooms at USCG Headquarters after Dr. Hooker.
38
Charles, I wish you had designated this article as NSFW, because now I'm crying and I am trapped in my office without tissues. This one really got to me.
10
Terrible things happened in the world. Instead of dwell on it, learn the lessons, and move forward. Make sure that nothing similar happen to anybody, anytime. All the people are capable of doing such atrocities, so, I won't blame whites alone for all atrocities.
7
@Alex E
No one suggested that you blame whites alone for all atrocities. You have constructed what is called a straw man argument. Also, me thinks thou doth protest too much.
24
The problem is, this episode is rarely taught and little known by Americans. As for the lessons, think of all the atrocities against black people and people of color that have occurred since 1921, and ask yourself whether this lesson has sunk in. It’s still as important as ever to call attention to these events and the lasting trauma they caused to the victims and their communities.
8
@Alex E:
No Alex, Charles Blow certainly does not blame whites alone for all atrocities."
But you, sir, attempt to hold to account no whites for any of their atrocities, attributing their racist crimes to the nebulous "terrible things happened in the world" and, anyway, one should not "dwell" on such crimes "but move on."
How convenient for whites. After all, if their crimes against humanity and people of colour in particular are really part and parcel of the amorphous, unattributable "terrible things...in the world," whites do not have to take any responsibility for their actions, do not have any need to restore that which they've plundered, do not have any compelling reason to engage in any real atonement, and by all means have thus no religious, legal, or logical reason to make any reparations.
Well, thank you very much for both demonstrating and conveying the white racist point of view and the rancid, unremitting assault on truth that is its point of the spear.
15
Mr. Blow, thank you for reminding your reader to actively consider whether each of US, today, is complacent, and even complicit, actively as well as passively, in a continuum and not a misleading either/or state in America's tradition- anchored WE-THEY culture which continues to seed, promote, enable, and harvest violating created, targeted and selected "the other!" His/her ethnicity. Gender and gender identity. Weight. Height and other selected characteristics. Age. "Color." Birthplace. Religion. Language.State of homelessness. By words voiced.By done deeds.Harming limbs, psyches and lives.Excluding. Marginalizing. Dehumanizing.Humiliating. Discriminating.Traumatizing. And by a range of ommissions. When we witness the violating and remain silent.Willfully blind.Deaf. Ignorant about the range of not-remembered, not-noted, Tulsa's. Long before 1921. As well as since.Willful ever-present self-deceit. That no one was punished THEN is yet another face of a culture in which personal accountability is little more than a word. Surely not a norm! Nor an ethical, menschlich, daily, guideline.Within a socio-political framework. in which limited human and nonhuman resources for well being, in safe living quarters, are equitably shared.Underpinned by mutual trust.Mutual respect.Caring.Mutual help, when and if needed.For those whom we know. For strangers whom we may choose to get to know. Or not.Hidden history needs uncovering. Perhaps an ongoing column: WE-THEY-US: (RE)Considered
3
"Strange Fruit" recorded by a current vocal recording star would hit No. 1 on the charts the day of its release. Because the sentiments in the song live today.
8
Olivia Hooker can be heard talking about this in a vivid short NPR piece: https://n.pr/2D5qE7F and there's a short video interview here: https://bit.ly/2kCFTtx -- "I refuse to call it a riot," she remarks, and I have to agree with her there.
8
Thank you, Charles, for this history lesson. I had not heard of the Tulsa riot until I read your column. It was a despicable act and should be widely taught. I wonder if some memorial exists to remember the event and the people who suffered. There certainly should be one.
And thank you for introducing me to Dr. Hooker. I enjoy meeting people who are an inspiration to others. God bless her.
18
This should be read by every American.
20
Mr. Blow, thank you. What gives me hope, every day, is when I walk outside with my dog and get to chat with the beautiful young people walking toward Howard university law school.
7
Every time the Black honors student is inexplicably passed over when the school distributes the senior year awards; or when the corporation shunts the bright Black intern into the "minority program" while others go into the rotations; or the professor betrays his assumption that the bright Black college student must only be there because of an "unfair" program that gave a leg up; or the capable Black manager is ignored, dismissed, and talked over and has his or her ideas taken by others for their own in meetings and conference calls; or the capable Black manager is continually passed over for promotion into the higher ranks, Greenwood happens all over again
15
Please look up the New York City draft riots of 1863 and the impact on the African American community in Manhattan. Wikipedia provides an excellent summary.
14
I am aware of The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921! I thank you for writing this article to make people who are not aware of this past history; AWARE! Thank you, again!
11
...that racism and racial violence is shocking and haunting and you carry it with you, both communally and individually, in blunt injury and in excruciating detail, down to the image of the beautiful biscuits being tossed in the mud."
Beautifully written.
And I trust that gives you greater insight into the memories and emotions of white people in many cities who lived through the urban rioting of the 1960s through today. Oftentimes, white business owners were looted, shot at, intimidated by rioters, and told to leave the neighborhood or be boycotted ("activist" Sonny Carson knows all about this). And oftentimes these same white business owners had seemingly sensitive and cordial relations with their black clientele...till one day.
I wasn't around in Tulsa in 1921, but I was around when urban neighborhoods changed racial identities, people argued and hated and burned, and "leaders" like the Rev. Al Sharpton created a hoax to see if he could get the tinder box to explode, and then refused to admit his lies.
I suppose when people act as a mob out of hate, there is an absence of light which no excuse can justify, and the darkness leaves its scars for generations.
I'm glad you reported this story.
You have more reporting to do.
7
@Jubilee133
By "more reporting" I assume you mean on the systemic and institutionalized racism which ensured that people of color could only live in certain neighborhoods. Perhaps if the black residents of Greenwood were permitted to live in peace and prosperity, and black Americans EVERYWHERE were afforded the same rights, protections and opportunities as white Americans, the climate of the 50s/60s would have been much different. One should not expect to tread on the lives, livelihoods and dignity of a people for centuries and then be able to complain that the circumstances created by those actions result in events like those that occurred in the 50s/60s.
1
@Jubilee133
Your comment reminds me of whataboutism. The urban riots of the 60s, which stemmed from racial injustice, have zero to do with the Tulsa Massacre, other than being about race. And people are taught about those riots - probably because they fit the narrative of violent black people, unlike the Tulsa Massacre and the others much like it that we also don't learn of.
And, no, those white business owners don't need greater insight, then or now. They - and I suspect you - need to recognize their part in the continuation of a country that was built on the premise of White Male Supremacy and continues on that premise to this day. And then they need to work with everyone else to make it a just system that isn't biased toward white male as the definition of normal from which all others deviate.
Charles does indeed have more reporting to do, but it isn't about urban riots from the perspective of white people - that's been done. He does need to keep writing these unknown and unheard stories about the true heroes in our midst, those who survive horrific events and are not broken by them and live beyond the expectations of society around them.
3
From what I remember reading of this incident, it was a fabricated, and inflammatory account by the media, of an alleged incident of a violation by a black male of a white girl that was the cause of this riot. False information was used to incite this action against a town of innocent people attempting to live as normal a life as was possible for them in that place.The same usage of false witness, that has been repeated many times over since then against other groups of peoples, for the justification to take actions against them.
We are headed to a place in time that will fully reveal the truth of this abhorrent use of this newly acquired mass communication in our past for the exploitation of others. A return to a restoration of the quality of our information to where it should be.
12
Fascinating article; despicable episode in US history. It took place at the same time as the on-going exploitation and murders of many Osage Indians, close to Tulsa, described in David Grann's bestselling history, "Killers of the Flower Moon." The Tulsa Race Riot and the murders of the Osage are different kinds of crime, but they have in common the maddening venomous envy that many white people feel when they observe the comfort and security of people of color.
60
"Hooker said it made her question her sense of belonging in this country, as well as the patriotic songs she learned as a child."
My God. How could it do otherwise?
My thanks to doctor Olivia J. Hooker for doing more than her share to elevate the human race.
19
please go out and find more people like her and tell us their stories
if that's how you use your column for the next decade, it would be worth it
there is no progress without truth and reconciliation
20
I am white and lived and worked in Tulsa for a year and a half in the late 1960s, and never knew about or heard about the horrible race riot until later. I didn't know why the city was so white.
9
Thank you, Mr. Blow for retelling this tragic bit of history. I heard about the Tulsa Riot on NPR a year or so ago. My heart ached listening. And as I read your article my heart aches for all the folks who worked so hard to succeed only to have evil destroy it.
Unfortunately, the evil of racism remains intact in our nation. We cannot change what many do not acknowledge. Racism is real, it’s evil roams our land. Sigh.
13
Thank you, Mr. Blow, sitting down to talk with that remarkable survivor. Tulsa one of those many events that has marked our history that we Americans are so reluctant to acknowledge, let alone atone for.
It reminded of the many years my wife and I spent in Chile when it was trying to come to terms with the deep wounds left by the Pinochet dictatorship. The Chileans, to their great credit, have had two official truth commissions that revealed the nature of that dark legacy - the 3,000 plus "disappeared," political persecution of tens of thousands more, and the documented torture of at least 40,000 more. The most eloquent testimony on torture victims came from those who survived, as Olivia Hooker did, and from their families and friends. But as your article so eloquently suggests, the trauma of distant events can haunt so many lives even of those who did not suffer or witness them directly.
30
Australia has its own history in relation to the treatment of the indigenous tribes who were dispossessed when the English decided to establish a colony and a giant jail here. Eventually we became a country and since then we have been making spasmodic efforts to right the wrongs of the past. The report card is mixed. This fascinating piece by Charles Blow should receive a wide audience within the US. It is only by knowing and understanding history that we benefit from the lessons it gives us.
24
As an aside, it's interesting how little is ever reported about the decimation of the Native American Indians and what they are dealing with today. The atrocities they experienced are akin to the catching of slaves in Africa - you all moved in on them willingly or not- and you ignore their existence. America never was that great and the more I read about your country the less capable of it ypu seem to be.
11
@Anna
Before you get to feeling to self righteous Anna read up on Canadians treatment of our indigenous populations. Residential school, the last on closed in the ‘80’s.
There is a simple numbers game going on, and that is one of demographics.
The people that remember the huge injustices of the past are coming to an end within their lives. They are passing on those memories while they can, so that we do not forget.
On the flip side, there are the ones that were the proponents of those injustices that are coming to an end within their lives as well, and will no longer be able to pass that on.
We are reaching a tipping point where the color of our character, and not of our skin will be the only measuring of someone.
11
This small-scale holocaust should be not just in books, but in all junior and/or high school curricula. Does Tulsa have a permanent exhibit on this disgrace in its town hall--where it can be easily viewed? It should.
102
Thank you for introducing us to such a wonderful accomplished woman. Clearly she's tough, she didn't let the trauma stop her from living an extraordinary life.
35
My black wife's family came from Southern Mississippi and settled in Central Massachusetts. Her father had a good job in a factory but wanted to be independent, so he bought a pickup truck and got into the scrap metal business. That turned out to be very lucrative, and he made a lot of money, but he lived a very quiet, low-key life and didn't flaunt his wealth. He told me he did that because "if white people know you've got something, they want to take it away from you." My people who were in the Mafia did something similar. They lived in the neighborhood in tenements so as not to call attention to themselves and have the law investigate them. Same tactic, different reasons.
144
@baldinoc one honest man kept a low profile so as not to have jealous whites take it from him. How is that comparable to a criminal who also had his reasons for keeping a low profile?
8
"They had cause to believe that his personal safety, like the defense of themselves and their community, depended on them alone." This quote from the Tulsa Historical Society shows the African-American community decided to put the whole community at risk for the sake of one individual which the local authorities were doing there best to protect. Of course the White community including the Militiamen, was more heavily armed and, of course, took advantage of the opportunity to 'keep the community in it's place.' It is unfortunate that Ms. Hooker experienced what she did, but a more clear picture of the riot could have been given.
1
@Richard Mclaughlin: On the contrary, you give an incomplete picture. From Wikipedia:
"After he was taken into custody, rumors raced through the black community that he was at risk of being lynched. A group of armed African-American men rushed to the police station where the young suspect was held, to prevent a lynching, as a white crowd had gathered."
It's a sad fact that the risk of lynching was great, even though this man was merely *accused*, and not a fugitive.
55
Mr Charles, thanks for the great journalism; I think you have to keep writing more of these stories. The fact is that some Americans, native born or immigrants, don’t have the full grasp of how slavery and racism decimated the lives of many African Americans. Many will learn a lot here and hopefully can put things in perspective. Again thanks for your great work!
105
It should also be noted that somehow this NEVER appears in history textbooks, at any level, that I have seen. No wonder those it serves have little difficulty convincing people that such thing never happened, that they're just "fake news".
If we think we can continue to sanitize history in a time when information is increasingly available and at great speed, we're wrong. We're also wrong if we think we aren't and won't pay a price for what is in reality, simply lying about our history.
87
Excellent article. I regret that I never had more education about the real nature of slavery and the real nature of what we did to Native Americans. I'm going to google the Tulsa Riots and see what information I can find.
When the race riots of the late 1960's happened; and when the LA riots happened it received naitonal attention. The Tulsa Riots of white against blacks has been buried.
17
@Jamespb4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot
6
Thank you for writing this. During Black history month, I tried to find any first-hand accounts of this massacre. I failed. This story should not disappear from our history.
41
And you for sharing your visit with this strong, articulate lady. It’s vital for all of us to be reminded that our history of slavery, of Jim Crow, of segregation and the civil rights movement is not remote. My husband’s grandfather (not great grandfather) was born a slave. This vein of hatred still runs close to the surface in our country. Trump’s ascent and the racism and destruction he encourages makes it clear: ongoing vigilance and strong voices are required of all of us. We must pay attention and we must vote.
82
Is there anyway a white person raised in a privileged middle income family can relate to or understand this ugly piece of American history? I think not. Thank you Charles for a great and important column.
13
@Milton Lewis,
Shutting your imagination to the possibility of "others" understanding your narrative is the first step on a dangerous path.
Agree that this event should be included in US history textbooks and should be broadcast much more widely.
12
America: meet some of your bequeathed: Emmett Till. Tulsa. Chicago. Springfield (Illinois). And that’s just a drop in the bucket.
I almost broke down reading this, Mr. Blow. Seems like when black folks throughout American history have done all the right things; have checked off all the right boxes that white folks checked off—been industrious; been frugal and thrifty; been enterprising; been law-abiding; sent children to school; served in the military—none of that has seemed to matter.
What a lot of white folks won’t want to own is that they have a history of violence in America. Yet, to hear President Trump go on about violence in urban America (“what the hell do you have to lose?”) black folks just up and kill people, loot, destroy and on and on.
None of the Tulsa criminals were prosecuted. One doubts if the “authorities” ever sought them out, as they surely would have had the situation been reversed. Most white Americans don’t want this conversation, captive to Donald Trump’s America in resentful, willful denial. They’re the aggrieved majority, horrified—yes, horrified—by all the rampaging, murdering, looting, thieving, home and dream and life-destroying interlopers on “their” land that their “dear leader” is trying desperately to return to—a place that always existed in their fevered imaginations.
I envy your time with the gorgeous Ms. Olivia Hooker, Mr. Blow, a witness to history indeed. But, as has been recently said, “the past is not dead; it’s never even past.”
96
We are still paying a very high price for America’s Original Sin—Slavery.
It is clear to me that we cannot move forward as a unified people until we deal with this issue of racism in the past and in the present.
We Americans have done much, but we will never be great until people are “not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
We all need to pull together or we will surely break apart.
36
@Doctor No. Not quite the "original sin". Me thinks that the genocide of the Native Americans might take this dubious distinction.
12
@Doctor No agree! But the first step is actually acknowledging that we have racism. Many live in denial.
6
@Phil Parmet
America is burdened with several original sins.
Slavery, Genocide, the electoral college, the 2nd amendment. These come to mind and the country is paying dearly for the unintended results.
1
I guess this is one reason the concept of reparations doesn't seem crazy to me. In addition to all the insidious, pervasive discrimination; outright stealing, murder and terrorism are part of America's legacy in its treatment of its black citizens.
113
This story was buried in history for so long, but I believe it to be one of the most important American stories for the reason mentioned here. Apologists for the status quo ask why the black community hasn't advanced more. Slavery was so long ago! Little told are the stories of how every time black people did prosper and build things, white people would come along and literally burn it all to the ground. Tulsa was once home to the richest of black neighborhoods, and now, in 2018, it's one of the most segregated cities in the country. Still, as the community stagnates, after centuries of terrorism against it, people wonder why they don't prosper. One of the horrors of racism in this country is that it can go on in perpetuity, reinforcing itself, each failure of the black community to advance taken as evidence for why it must be kept down.
198
I thank Ms. Hooker for her memories, her sacrifices and, I hope, her forgiveness. This story, and it's place in history, points to the the absurdity of the Supreme Court declaring that that is no more racism so there is no need for Voting Rights protections and soon no need for Affirmative Action. When there are still people around with vivid memories of the civil rights era and the carnage that preceded it, then you realize that these civil rights are nascent to many. I remember when we invaded Iraq and I tried to see the invasion from the Iraqi's standpoint. A group of innocents, with no connection to 911, have their country bombed, their homes invaded, their men imprisoned and tortured and their children left to witness it all with horror. I thought then what I thought when I read this piece. This kind of trauma will remain with the victims long after the perpetrators wish it to be forgotten.
72
The seeds of bigotry are nurtured at home, generation after generation. What kind of example are this president and his hateful followers setting for today's children? America's problem with racism will persist for generations to come.
27
@Randomonium
Your comment brought these lyrics to mind:
You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught
[Verse 2]
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade
You've got to be carefully taught
[Verse 3]
You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
20
@Ida Kowit - Yes! As true today as when those words were written.
@Ida Kowit
"You Have to be Carefully Taught" from The King and I, Rodgers and Hammerstein
1
An excellent book on this shameful event is Alfred Brophy's "Reconstructing the Dreamland: the Tulsa Riot of 1921." Not only did the perpetrators try to bury the history of the riot, the victims have never received restitution for their considerable losses.
47
I am a 72 year old white woman who is still contemplating racism. Not so much the fact of it, but the hate and resentment whites show to blacks. I sometimes wonder if there is a guilt that transcends generations, or is it just jealousy that others have something they do not? I am beginning to believe that some are just evil. Greenwood has always seemed to be an example of jealousy. The blacks had items, culture and thoughts these whites could not even understand, they just knew they were "of the elite."
You are so right to want to talk to those elders who have lived through a history you have not. They carry so much within them that will be lost when they go. I always love your writing. Keep it up. It is important.
300
@Tricia Alexander. Thank you - evil indeed. We may never know, what motivates the evil perpetrated against black people, sometimes directly, sometimes through the system.
Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise" so fittingly captures the effort and determination of black Americans to transcend this hate. Her words ring true as you observe black peoples' responses to the next institutional-speak following the next police shooting; or to commentators wading into the next Serena Williams tennis match and outfit controversy.
We've been here many times before, sadly we'll be here again, and Still, We Rise.
Still I Rise - Maya Angelou, (edited)
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
34
Wonderful article by a wonderful man. Thank you Charles.
13
I was just in Tennessee visiting my sister who still believes, based upon her experience, that race relations are just fine. However, in the next breath she says that Obama made the problem worse, that is racial relationships, which indicates that she holds two ideas at the same time, that race relations are just fine and that they are worse. It is true that in my sister's world, and as far as she can see, the races do get along. She blames the victims obviously of racial crimes and pins the blame on President Obama for "siding" with the black victims rather than the white perpetrators, in this case, policemen. It is the South and it is crazy making.
45
@Harold JohnsonYour sister is not alone, nor is the South alone: look at all the Midwestern (white) states who would completely agree with her. The problem is, America elected a BLACK president, and there are many who just can't--or won't--ever get over that.
16
I very much like the picture of Charles Blow and Dr. Hooker. Their smiles are winning, and show that hate will not win in the long run.
62
@Philip D
I hope you are right but how long is the "long run". I am reminded of J M Keynes remark re. pie in the sky economic forcasts "In the long run we are all dead".
8
This is why the Chinese authorities are basically giving the U.S. the middle finger over the issue of the Uighurs being rounded up. The U.S. is loaded with its own human rights violations, the whole world knows it, and they don't care anymore about our skin deep platitudes about human rights.
We annihilated and "assimilated" Native Americans, except for the ones we forced onto reservations. We continue to oppress blacks. We steal and indefinitely incarcerate children, even infants and toddlers, of immigrants. We help fuel the history's largest cholera outbreak in Yemen with our bombs and cash. We destabilize other countries, then refuse the refugees running from the terror we funded and enabled.
The current president continuously pours gasoline on the flames of hate and racism, right out in the open, for everyone to see. Then Bolton claims the U.S. shall not be required to have accountability anywhere on Earth.
Mr. Blow, I had actually never heard of this Tulsa event until reading this article. The towering cruelty that citizens of "the land of the free" can inflict saddens me yet again today.
206
@P H - "This is why the Chinese authorities are basically giving the U.S. the middle finger over the issue of the Uighurs being rounded up. "
No, it isn't why. The Chinese authorities give the middle finger to everybody. So do the US authorities.
5
This story shows how quick anger and hate can take off while love and compassion are put aside. I wonder what sermons the white preachers preached after that day in Tulsa?
16
@Matt586, I wonder what sermons they preached before that day. Look at some of our most prominent white preachers right now.
19
Dr. Hooker seems delightful. Is the point of this that terrible things have happened to blacks in the past? That certainly is true, and they have happened to pretty much all of the rest of humanity too. So what?
It was nice to meet Dr. Hooker though.
1
@William Powell what response is that....racial hate and destruction. because it happens to humanity is no reason to accept it. perhaps you should travel more and open your eyes and your heart.
6
@William Powell The point is that we need to remember our history. All of it, not just the parts that make us look good.
10
The point of this story is a that entire an community of white folk in the United States was never destroyed because of racial hatred.
30
I am not suprised there are no comments......instances like this, and this is not the only time White invaded a Black community and tore, burned, ransacked, looted, decimated it to the ground. They didn't want Blacks to have anything. Human beings they were not. I guess the act itself is too much even for this paper's avid readers to comment on. After all....what kind of a comment could you give that would explain away such barbarism? They had a torch in one hand and the bible in the other.
24
@nyc2char, I think you underestimated the readers but you're right otherwise. This was not the only similar event. There were the destruction of a black town in Florida and the armed coup d'etat by whites against a black city government in North(?) Carolina, and those are only what I remember about without ever having studied the matter.
1
@Thomas Zaslavsky: The town in Florida that suffered a similar fate is called Rosewood.
@nyc2char
They were acts of extreme violence designed to keep blacks "in their place." Some other Florida locations that come to mind are Rosewood (as another commenter noted), Ocoee, Newberry, and Axe Handle Saturday in Jacksonville.
2
Dear Mr. Blow,
Thank you for the beautiful story. I always thought America had progressed much further in removing and eradicating most of the bigotry and racial disparity, that is, until we got Trumped.
14
Mr. Blow, thank you for conducting this interview and writing this account. It is something that the readers (and non-readers) of the New York Times need to hear.
88
What a powerful encounter, reminding me how tethered the present is to the past. Thank you for sharing it. We need to share these stories over and over.
61
Thank you for this inspiring piece.
I confess to being ignorant about this horrible event (so much of the 20th century got rushed through in history class for my generation). I'm grateful to you for keeping its meaning alive.
One can only imagine how many other horrible events remain unknown to most, and how many perpetrators and enablers of those savage attacks continue to walk among us (formerly unseen until recently).
38
The carrying, nurturing and remembering of tragedy and grievances is a activity that deserves several PhD thesis studies.
What Ms. Hooker endured is obviously terrible and heartbreaking.
But it occurred 100 years ago. Less than 15% of the population had indoor plumbing. RCA built its first large radio tower in NY weeks after this riot.
To compare the US of 1921 to the US of today is nearly impossible. This does not mean that Ms. Hooker's ordeal is any less tragic but it does mean that this event is NOT an indictment of America in 2018!
When we nurse our tragedies, mourning lives unknown, we are ultimately reflecting our fear that tragedy will befall us and no one will remember our trials.
Better to build up our communities in the ties that bind (as Americans) than focus on the frayed and shorn edges of our grandparents divisions.
6
@Arturo
As George Santayana put it, "those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it." So whilst we might, in some small measure, be glad that the US of 2018 is not the US of 1921, we should not ignore the fact that this tragedy is one more blight on the mythic American "ideal" we like to believe in and champion.
Given the current divisive atmosphere that promulgates our social and political environment, would we really have to dig too deeply to let loose these demons that raged in Tulsa again? I would hope not, but they keep testing the chains, trying to find a weak link...
33
@Arturo
While it is true that this event occurred 100 years ago, it is useful and instructive even in 2018. Even today politicians opine that the economic disparities as a function of race are due to innate differences. The truth is that when African-American communities built successful business communities they were destroyed; an act of terrorism on the same scale as the Kristallnacht in 1938. Mr. Blow's article provides context to understanding the dynamics of current racial politics.
20
@Arturo Trust me, we have not been nursing this tragedy. During Black history month, I tried to learn more about it. It's been written out of our history. Do you want the holocaust forgotten as well?
2
Thank you Charles. I hope someone, maybe one of our wealthy brothers in OK can take the lead on a memorial or something. Anything.
34
Not too much has changed, really. just different tactics. Same meat, new gravy...
23
Olivia Hooker is a person who lived and survived history and we are indebted to Mr Blow for bringing her story into our lives.
The Tulsa Race Riot, like all too many instances of white brutality against innocent blacks in our history, is under-reported in the history lessons of our schools. This unwillingness to confront the reality and human consequence of our racist history persists in too many venues to this day.
Let's be clear. Tulsa's riot was an act of racial terrorism. The fact that the Tulsa riots occurred, were evil, and that the perpetrators were never punished is a stain upon all Americans.
Racism does not define white history. But denying the reality of racism does define some whites.
170
@TDurk: "Under-reported"! You are too kind! (Readers: This is not a criticism.)
I suppose if only 300 were killed, it's not as important as the 9/11 attack, right? (Sarcasm, aimed at official commemorations.)
4
@TDurk
Go to Montgomery Alabama to see recently opened museum and a monument to the nearly 5000 black victims of white American terrorist lynching from the end of Reconstruction to 1950. museumandmemorial.eji.org
11
@Thomas Zaslavsky
First they do not know how many people died.
What I read the correct number can be much less and you will not know from this article a significant number of-those fatalities were White.
Read the story again.
Charles Blow doesn't say three hundred Black people died.
He says three hundred people died.
You can say he did not literally lie because he didn't say three hundred Black people but most people reading it will assume that number was referring only to Black people.
Thank you for this powerful history lesson.
34
Thank you for making history, however unpleasant, come alive with your recounting of the riot and the effect on a real, living person.
20
So many people are still trying to pretend things like this never happened. We have to keep telling this story and relate it to what is still happening in the present.
109
Just yesterday I read an excellent piece in CJR on Tucker Carlson who authored this gem "“The idea that I’d be responsible for the sins (or, for that matter, share in the glory of the accomplishments) of dead people who happened to share my skin tone has always confused me,”
No shame with this twit...
14
Despicable people like Carlson readily accept the benefits inherited from the acts of the past (think WWII), but refuse any of the responsibilities (slavery etc.).
3