(TheRedAlertNews.com) – The Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice is diving into America’s past with a federal investigation into the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.
This marks the first time the US government is formally reviewing the tragic event that left hundreds of black Tulsans dead and “Black Wall Street” in ruins.
Hundreds of blacks were killed during the incident, thousands were displaced and forced into internment camps by the national guard, and Greenwood, also known as “Black Wall Street,” was destroyed by a mob.
The investigation will be conducted by the civil rights division’s Cold Case Unit.
The review comes after Oklahoma’s supreme court dismissed a lawsuit filed by survivors Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher earlier this year.
The survivors responded by appealing directly to President Joe Biden and the Justice Department for intervention, The Guardian notes in a report.
Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general, described the Tulsa race massacre as “one of the deadliest episodes of mass racial violence in US history.”
The DOJ’s review will include examining documents, witness accounts, scholarly research, and other relevant information.
A report is expected by the end of the year.
However, despite this overdue recognition, survivors and descendants have expressed profound sadness over the protracted delay in seeking justice and the systemic failure of both the state and the country to adequately address the massacre.
Clarke emphasized that there is no expectation of prosecuting any individuals still alive.
This announcement was welcomed by survivors and descendants as an important step towards acknowledging the atrocities committed during the massacre.
Despite this, there’s a lingering concern whether this investigation will bring about any tangible justice or just serve as a historical acknowledgment.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, acknowledging the lasting trauma experienced by the massacre’s descendants, stated, “No one was ever charged for the two-day attack by the armed white mob that saw planes dropping incendiaries and mass detentions of Black survivors.”
The tragic sequence of events saw homes, businesses, and churches in Greenwood obliterated, forever altering the lives of its inhabitants.
Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons and descendant Tiffany Crutcher have both emphasized the significance of this investigation for understanding the magnitude of the crime.
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