Biden to visit Tulsa to mark centennial of race massacre

President Biden will travel to Oklahoma next week to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the White House announced Tuesday.

Biden will be in Tulsa on Tuesday for the anniversary of the infamous racist attacks on the city’s Black Wall Street. Further details of the trip were not immediately available.

White mobs descended on the thriving Black community in Tulsa’s Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street, in 1921, burning it to the ground and killing hundreds of people.

The announcement of the visit came on the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a former police officer in Minneapolis last summer. Floyd’s death set off nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

The centennial of the Tulsa massacre was the subject of a hearing last week before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Viola Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, testified about her memories of the violence and her desire for justice for the survivors still alive today.

“I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home,” she testified. “I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lining the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams.” 

Fletcher is among the survivors of the massacre taking legal action against the city of Tulsa in seeking reparations over the attack.