Growing up just miles from the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I did not learn about the 1921 Race Massacre until I was an adult. From May 31 to June 1, 1921, Tulsa experienced one of the worst mass murders in American history.
A mob of white citizens entered Greenwood, also known as Black Wall Street (which housed the greatest concentration of Black wealth in the country), killing over 300 Black citizens and maiming over 800. Even today, those numbers might be low, as mass graves are still being discovered and exhumed. In addition to mass murder, businesses, homes and churches were burnt to the ground, prompting local officials and newspapers to call the incident a “race riot.”
As terrifying and heartbreaking as those days were for the city, what happened afterwards demonstrated the long-term objectives of American white supremacy. Even though businesses along Black Wall Street were insured, because the incident was called a “race riot,” their claims were denied, leaving many business owners unable to rebuild.
As daunting and devastating as the massacre, fires and denials were, Black business owners rolled up their sleeves and began to rebuild. Don Shaw was born 25 years after 1921, but recalls Greenwood’s revitalization efforts.
The Guardian interviewed Shaw in 2023, reporting, “He remembers walking the streets of Greenwood in his youth and seeing Black-owned businesses up and down its blocks: a hotel, dry cleaner, soul food restaurants, churches, a ballroom, dentists, pharmacies, hardware store, photo studio, the 750-seat Dreamland Theatre.”
As the Black community began to rebuild and thrive once again, city planners of Tulsa attempted to finish what 1921 could not accomplish. In the early 1970s, a new eight-lane highway was placed right down the middle of Greenwood, segregating the Black community from downtown Tulsa.
The Guardian reported, “The Dreamland Theatre – along with hundreds of homes and businesses – was bulldozed and covered in concrete. Greenwood’s commercial area shrank from dozens of blocks to just one.”
The construction of the highway, along with mortgage restrictions for Black citizens, instituted policies known as “redlining” across Tulsa. Coupled with Jim Crow laws and voter suppression measures, Tulsa’s Black citizens increasingly lost advantages and influence within the city at large.
Over the span of 50 years, generational wealth was destroyed for Tulsa’s Black citizens. Some estimates place the final losses of Greenwood during this period as well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The economic gains for Tulsa’s Black citizens faded away, along with any political influence they may have wielded.
This is the reality of white supremacy, and we’re seeing it once again today.
This week, the Texas Senate approved new congressional lines during a rare mid-decade redistricting effort, aiming to provide Republicans with more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Redistricting is traditionally completed after the U.S. Census every decade.) The effort was in response to President Donald Trump’s request to add more seats in Texas, enabling Republicans to maintain control after the 2026 elections.
The move by Republicans prompted House Democrats to leave the state, while Senate Democrats staged a walkout in protest of the vote. Critics of this unusual mid-decade redistricting effort point to the notion that most of the targeted districts are comprised of Latino and African American voters. State Representative Nince Perez (D-El Paso) pointed out the new map would “leave Latino residents with one-third the voting power of whites and for African Americans, one-fifth.”
Proponents of the new map claim they are creating new opportunities for Latinos. Harris County Republican Party Chair Cindy Siegel responded: “A new District 9 would be drawn to create a Hispanic-majority district. This reflects the growing Hispanic electorate in Harris County—many of whom voted Republican last November. In total, 5 out of 8 Harris County congressional districts would have non-Anglo majorities, increasing minority representation across the board.”
And therein lies the manipulation and dishonesty of white supremacy: the claim that efforts to maintain power and control are beneficial for racialized communities. From the onset of the American experiment, white supremacy has played a significant role in shaping the country. From the electoral college to voter suppression, white supremacy makes and enacts the laws, and when those no longer work, they change them to benefit those in power.
When Jesus said in Luke, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,” I believed him.
When Paul said to the Galatians, “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus,” I took him at his word.
When the Founding Fathers claimed, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” I bought into that hope.
But now, I think Malcom X may have been right when he declared: “I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.”
I pray that Brother Malcolm’s words do not come to pass, but I’m afraid we must now face a reckoning; that possibility exists.
White supremacy will never give up its power willingly. As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
Something familiar is in the wind these days. White supremacy is once again gaining momentum and wafting through the air. If left unchecked, it will cause even more damage than we have seen in the past.
May people of good faith rise up to demand freedom, justice, and an end to white supremacy.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
CEO of Good Faith Media.
