Imagine confronting the last survivors of one of the worst race massacres in American history and denying them reparations for the horrors they endured. Picture telling these Black individuals, not as descendants but as direct victims, that they are not entitled to seek justice for the atrocities inflicted upon them.
This is the stark reality faced by 109-year-olds Viola Ford Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle along with the estate of Fletcher’s late brother, Hughes Van Ellis, who passed away at 102. These three African American citizens experienced firsthand the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, a brutal event that claimed numerous Black lives and decimated Black Wall Street.
On April 2, the Oklahoma Supreme Court will not be deliberating on the reparations for the Tulsa survivors but on whether they even have the right to proceed to trial to argue their case for reparations.
“We are grateful that our now-weary bodies have endured long enough to witness an America, and an Oklahoma, that allows Race Massacre survivors the chance to access the legal system,” Randle and Fletcher stated together in a statement. “Many before us have knocked on courthouse doors only to be turned away. Now, our fight for justice is in the hands of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. They hold the power to grant us access to justice and the opportunity to present our case.”
Randle and Fletcher should be spending their remaining years in peace and enjoying time with their loved ones. However, instead of relaxation, they are facing courtroom battles to convince Tulsa, and by extension, America, to acknowledge and rectify the immense harm inflicted on a prosperous Black community, shattered Black families, and hundreds of Black lives.
In 2022, a Tulsa judge permitted a lawsuit to proceed, alleging that the city of Tulsa and related entities were complicit in the massacre, and that its repercussions continue to impact the survivors and their families to this day.
The women informed CNN that they have argued that the damage caused by the massacre was a “public nuisance” from the start and are seeking redress for this nuisance, as well as aiming to reclaim profits made from the “exploitation of the massacre.”
A public nuisance occurs when an individual or entity unreasonably interferes with a right shared by the general public, as per the Legal Information Institute.
On Fletcher’s 109th birthday on May 10, 2023, she found herself back in court battling a new motion to dismiss the case.
Fletcher expressed to CNN, “It wasn’t a pleasant experience.”
“Having to endure hours in court was really difficult, but I am prepared to do so again,” Fletcher added.
Today the final 109-year-old survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre will be making their case for reparations to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. It could be their last chance. I spoke with one of those survivors who told me what happened in 1921 isn’t ancient history to her. pic.twitter.com/6dciDzWuwy
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) April 2, 2024
Sadly, a few months later, a motion to dismiss the case was granted after the City of Tulsa argued that “merely being linked to a historical event does not grant unrestricted rights to seek compensation” related to the incident.
Subsequently, the families appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which took up the case in August 2023.
Now, Randle and Fletcher are engaged in a final attempt to secure an opportunity to present their case for reparations once more.
It is disheartening to witness such relentless denial of justice to direct survivors of heinous crimes, forcing individuals over a century old to continue fighting for justice. The callous indifference displayed by Tulsa and its legal representatives towards these survivors reflects America’s apathy and its reluctance to fully acknowledge and address its racist, oppressive history that stifled Black wealth. This stands as a stark reminder of the systemic injustices that certain factions seek to revive in the name of making America “great again.”
