A series of essays….
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ONE OF THE MANY MURALS THAT CAN BE SEEN ALONG THE CITY’S WALLS IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA, TODAY, IN MEMORY OF THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE |
….as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E Hughes
The goal was to lighten the story and to intentionally forget the lingering damage of the event.
What incident within the history of our country would you believe the line above might be referring to? It could be about each mass shooting that has heartbreakingly touched our lives over the past two decades beginning with the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999 which obliterated thirteen innocent lives and left many others both physically and mentally damaged for life.
I have a grudge or beef with someone. I have access to guns or the capability to buy them. Therefore, I have a license to kill.
We are a gun toting, axe grinding, Wild, Wild West kind of society who values gun rights over human rights and the past two decades of carnage, death of innocence, and destruction appears to be just the tip of this monstrous iceberg.
Having lived in Orlando, Florida, when one man of color, George Zimmerman, decided he had the right to take the life of a black teen, Trayvon Martin, and another shooter, Omar Mateen, slaughtered forty-nine innocent young adults and wounded fifty-three more while they were enjoying the evening listening to music and dancing at the Pulse Nightclub; I recall being caught in the middle of this nightmare logistically and emotionally and they both weigh heavily on my mind to this day.
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GEORGE ZIMMERMAN TRAYVON MARTIN |
Sadly, the ‘brush it under the rug’ defense for many of these massacres has been a part of this nation’s mindset for a very long time. So much so that our school textbooks (my own high school U.S. History textbook), indicate that the publishers of these books have chosen for years not to include instances of hate crimes affiliated with white supremacy under the assumption that all men are not created equal! For decades our students have been cheated of the knowledge of actual events that could and should have helped to shape their lives in one way or another.
Listening to a middle-aged, black lawyer being interviewed and referencing his lack of knowledge of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 until recently and having him admit to the fact that even within his own Tulsa educational career, nothing was mentioned about this monumental event—sends chills down my spine. He did not know about the history of his own people and he lives in the city where it all happened! Think about that for a second. Our educational system certainly has some catching up to do on Black American history!
The goal was to lighten the story and to intentionally forget the lingering damage of the event.
You might think that as slave stories were kept alive through sermons and hymns throughout the years, something this horrendous might be emblazoned upon the minds of those having lived through it no matter what color their skin happened to be. So tight was the noose around the necks of these unconscious souls, their fear for their own lives cut-off the oxygen of reason to the brain that caused them to conveniently forget the lingering damage of this event while feeling that, “If it happened once, it can happen again.”
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100 YEARS LATER, 107-YEAR-OLD SURVIVOR OF THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE, VIOLA FLETCHER, WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER.. |
Credit: Viola Fletcher, By cartoonist: J.D. Crowe
If the history books failed to include the murder of possibly over 300 Black men, women, and children, many of whom were thrown in mass graves like rabid animals after a slaughter, similar to the Jewish population in Europe during the Holocaust, and having recently lived through the race riots and the major pandemic of 1918–what other events have white supremacists intentionally forgotten to mark down in page after page of our history books? How many new horrors have yet to be discovered and brought into the light of day?
The blatant disregard for all humans and their rights has made it easier for haters to show their faces and take-up arms against what they consider to be the Establishment. Case in point would be the insurrection at the Capitol Building this past January 6, 2021.
The goal was to lighten the story and to intentionally forget the lingering damage of the event.
Prompted by the most noted white supremacist today and grand leader of the hatred for all persons of color, our 45th president had preconceived ideas within his agenda long before entering the White House; long before his electoral collage election of 2016. His goals were transparent and consisted of ridding the nation of persons of color, resurrect white supremacy across the land, and establish himself as dictator of the United States while using his status to monetarily rape middle class and poor Americans along the way. His unconscious pawns carrying guns, knives, poison sprays, and sharpened objects became his warriors-in-hate and took up arms against the Constitution of the United States and those who chose to uphold its written laws.
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MADNESS ON CAPITOL HILL ~ JANUARY 6, 2021 |
Credit: TVLine
And, just like those who lightened the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921, certain elected officials are doing so today in the hope that we will forget the lingering damage of this event. As if the videos of this coup do not exist, they would like us to believe that this mob was there to take selfies in front of the Capitol Building as mementos for their children. They live in a fantasy world artfully directed by the money, power, and lust of powerful individuals determined to control us.
Where were the videos of the Tulsa Race Massacre hidden for all of these years? The videos illustrating deputized white men holding guns and rifles as they led Black American citizens, wrists tied with rope, along the smoldering streets of their own town to their imminent deaths. Where were the still photos of this massacre kept from us nearly a century in time? Photos of Black families thrown across their front fence like death’s jewelry for all to witness; an elderly Black couple kneeling by the side of their bed in prayer while being shot in the back of the head, execution style; a man tied with rope around his waist and dragged behind a vehicle, his head bouncing along the pavement; and people of all ages, zombie-like, walking the streets that were laden with dead bodies and debris.
Just as the mass graves of this massacre are being dug up today in order to determine the identities of the victims placed there one hundred years ago, the videos, photos, and information about this massacre have only recently been uncovered in the year 2001, but were brought to light by Michelle Price, the executive director of the Tulsa Historical Society & Museum, in 2012.
President Biden will not allow us to forget this dark history that actually exists, whether we believe it to be true or not. We will learn more about it, retain what we discover, teach it as a part of Black American history, and focus on controlling the hate that allowed it to happen in the first place. This is a game plan for people who believe in the Constitution, respect all people no matter their race, religion, or economic status, and believe and trust in the equality and justice of a true democratic society.
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“IF IT HAPPENED ONCE, IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN….!” |
The Biden administration will not allow us to forget why and by whom our own Capitol Building was attacked. We will always remember when officers and civilians died in their own attempts to protect or destroy our democracy. We must never fail to recall the insurrection of January 6, 2021–no matter how much the far right would like to ‘lighten the story’ and have us forget.
Copyright © 2021 by Jacqueline E Hughes
All rights reserved
