United States President, Joe Biden visited Tulsa, Oklahoma to honour the 100th anniversary of a race massacre.
Gatekeepers News reports that President Joe Biden on Tuesday visited the site where hundreds of Black Americans were killed by a white mob in 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also met with the few remaining survivors of the violence.
“This was not a riot, this was a massacre,” Biden said in a speech to survivors and their descendants. “(It was) among the worst in our history – but not the only one and, for too long, forgotten by our history.
“As soon as it happened, there was a clear effort to erase it from our collective memories … for a long time the schools in Tulsa didn’t even teach it, let alone schools elsewhere.”
Gatekeepers News reports that White residents in Tulsa shot and killed about 300 Black people on May 31 and June 1, 1921. They also burned and looted homes and businesses, after a white woman accused a Black man of assault, an allegation that was never proven.
The violence destroyed the African American community of Greenwood, at the time that it was called Black Wall Street. Historians say early 10,000 people were left homeless.
“We honour the legacy of the Greenwood community, and of Black Wall Street, by reaffirming our commitment to advance racial justice through the whole of our government, and working to root out systemic racism from our laws, our policies, and our hearts.”
Gatekeepers News reports that the White House, earlier on Tuesday, announced a set of policy initiatives to counter racial inequality, including plans to invest $10bn in communities like Greenwood that suffer from persistent poverty, as well as efforts to combat housing discrimination.
The U.S President also called for a $5bn grant program to expand housing options for Americans with low or moderate.
Biden, while honouring the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma, further announced Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black American and first Asian American to hold that office, to lead his administration’s efforts to counter Republican efforts to restrict voting rights.
Multiple Republican-led states, contending for a need to reinforce election security, have passed or proposed voting restrictions, which Biden and other Democrats say are intended at making it tougher for Black voters to cast ballots.
There was “an unprecedented assault on our democracy,” Biden said while pledging to defend voters’ rights. “This sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity like I’ve never seen.”
“I’m asking Vice President Harris to help these efforts, to lead them among her many other responsibilities. With her leadership and your support, we’re going to overcome again — I promise you. It’s going to take a hell of a lot of work,” he said.
