Congresswoman Cori Bush Commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Greenwood Race Massacre
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, in a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the Centennial of the Tulsa Greenwood Race Massacre, Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) honored the survivors of the 1921 attack on the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma and their descendants, and demonstrated how racism not only fueled the Massacre, but continues to block efforts to compensate those who were brutalized and terrorized.
Her questioning of the witnesses focused on the generational trauma the Massacre continues to inflict and the racism that has prevented survivors and their descendants from being compensated.
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A full transcript of her questioning and exchange with the witnesses is available below.
Transcript: Congresswoman Cori Bush Questions Witnesses on the lasting trauma caused by the Massacre and the need for compensation (May 19, 2021)
CONGRESSWOMAN CORI: St. Louis and I thank you, Chairman Cohen, for convening this hearing.
It is both an honor and a profoundly sobering privilege to be sharing space with you and to Mr. Van Ellis, to Mother Fletcher, and Mother Randle with them as well, I hope to be able to actually meet them.
When I go home today, and this is to them, when I go home today, I will call my 7-year-old nephew and tell him about my day. I will tell him that I got to see and hear American heroes today. I will tell him that I spoke to them and all that they’ve lived, all those things that they talked about and how they lived in a neighborhood much like his in St. Louis. That he lives in a neighborhood with local schools just like they did and favorite parks where he spends his holidays the same way they do and where he celebrates some of his life’s most precious moments the same way that they did. But unlike in his neighborhood in St. Louis, this vibrant, beautiful community in Tulsa was burned down. And yet, Mother Fletcher, Mother Randle, and Mr. Van Ellis are still here with us today, sharing that story of courage.
To my colleagues on this committee, there is only one reason why descendants of the Tulsa massacre have not been compensated. And that reason is racism. It’s anti-Black racism to be clear. And it’s been stated a couple of times and I want to state it again. It’s anti-Black racism. Racism is not just slavery and Jim Crow. It is the daily violence that is enacted on our communities each and every day we live in this White supremacist society. Racism is when a group of our elders come to our halls to testify about the massacre they survived without any clear commitment from our leaders as to the reparations they are owed. That is outright racism. Full stop.
What happened in Tulsa on the evening of May 31st and that continued into the day of June 1, 1921, was a failure of the highest proportions. For 24 hours, a community was under attack. Traumatized. Brutalized. Terrorized. And killed. For no other reason than for being Black. It was the failure of our government that helped enable the violent massacre. It was the failure of our leaders, our leaders, for being complicit in white supremacist violence. It was the failure of our country for failing to protect its own citizens. It is a failure only made possible because racism is alive and well in this country. It was alive when a White mob burned Tulsa to a crisp. It is alive now as we debate the merits of repairing harm.
Underlying the generational trauma and exploitation is a government that refused to even acknowledge the humanity of our ancestors, enslaved and terrorized under white supremacy. A government that - to this day - refuses to acknowledge or atone for its ongoing racism. Ongoing and ongoing racism.
So let me ask Ms. Goodwin. How has your family, if you could just tell us briefly, how has your family’s history been affected by the Tulsa Massacre? And then I have a question for Ms. Crutcher. Ms. Goodwin, how has your family’s history been affected by the massacre? If you could name like three things that are like really stick out?
MS. GOODWIN: Well, one sticks out is the generational wealth that could have been basically accrued by now. There were some $76,244 back in 1921 in today’s dollars that has been said to be some $900,000 or perhaps $1.2 million.
CONGRESSWOMAN CORI: My goodness.
MS. GOODWIN: So, if we just talk about the material loss, that’s what you would deal with. If you want to talk about the scars and the, as it’s been said over and over again, the ongoing trauma, we feel this every day because we live in this community and, as it’s been said, we see a community that’s being gentrified. We see a community right now, this Massacre, is being monetized by Greenwood Rising and all of this hoopla, and our, the three folks that we could do right by, right now, are still living and so I could say to you that we feel that.
CONGRESSWOMAN CORI: Yes.
MS. GOODWIN: And when you say three things, I can name 30 things.
CONGRESSWOMAN CORI: I’m running out of time but thank you. I’m going to move to Ms. Crutcher, I only have a few seconds left but could you tell us, what does justice look like to you and your community? Thank you for sharing what you shared for us today. But if you could share with us today what justice is for Tulsa right now, what is that?
MS. CRUTCHER: Justice is simply restitution, repair, and respect. Those three words. That’s what justice looks like.
CONGRESSWOMAN CORI: Thank you. I want to end my remarks by talking directly to all the Black people, the young people who are listening to this discussion today.
Know that this country’s legacy of racism is still alive today. Our lives -- our very existence -- is a testimony, it is a testament to our will and our strength. It is a testament to our power as a people, of how much has stood our way, in the way of our survival, and yet, we are still here, we saw three people, they are still here, we are fighting for a world that honors our dignity and our humanity. And know, that we will always do this work of liberation and justice for each and every person until it is won.
Thank you.
To watch and download the Congresswoman’s full exchange, click here.
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Congresswoman Cori Bush represents Missouri’s First Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. She is also a Deputy Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a proud member of the Congressional Black Caucus. She is a registered nurse, single mother, and an ordained pastor. Following the murder of Michael Brown Jr. by a now-terminated Ferguson police officer, she became a civil rights activist and community organizer fighting for justice for Black lives on the streets of Missouri and across the country.