The attorney for the last two known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre announced a new plan this week to benefit Greenwood and the verified descendants of massacre survivors and victims.
With the 104th anniversary of the massacre four months away, attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons rolled out the plan, called Project Greenwood, at a press conference earlier this week. New mayor Monroe Nichols quickly indicated support for “significant elements” of the plan, according to Randy Krehbiel’s reporting in the Tulsa World. It’s not completely clear yet which elements the mayor supports and which he doesn’t, though he did issue a very promising statement of partnership with Justice for Greenwood, the nonprofit backing the plan. From Krehbiel’s reporting:
“Project Greenwood reflects the unshakable resolve of the last living massacre survivors and descendants to address the generational impact of Greenwood’s destruction and move Tulsa forward,” Nichols said in his written statement. “I look forward to implementing significant elements of the plan in partnership with Justice for Greenwood and other stakeholders.
“They both want to see justice before they die,” said a tearful LaDonna Penny, a granddaughter of survivor Lessie Benningfield Randle. “If this is the opportunity to give them their flowers while they’re still here, then the city needs to do it.”
The plan is worth reading. Some of what it calls for first surfaced in Solomon-Simmons’ lawsuit that the state Supreme Court dismissed last summer and some of it is new. Here’s a condensed version of what Solomon-Simmons is asking of the City of Tulsa:
- Immediate compensation for Viola Ford Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle, the two living massacre survivors
- A compensation fund for families of victims
- Economic development and scholarship programs for descendants
- Descendent employment and contracting preference programs with the City of Tulsa
- Construction of a hospital in north Tulsa
- June 1 to be made an official city holiday
- Release of all massacre records
- A criminal investigation of known murder victims
Mayor Nichols has previously indicated support for economic development projects and the release of all city documents pertaining to the massacre. Solomon-Simmons said he is exploring private-public partnerships to help to finance the project.
One particular request, the municipal employment preference program for descendants, reminded me of a story from the reporter James Hirsch’s history of the massacre, Riot and Remembrance. A survivor, Robert Fairchild, lived to see the 75th anniversary of the massacre in 1995. From Hirsch’s book: