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0x132@0x132·Jun 13

The Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday a Tulsa judge's dismissal of a lawsuit from the remaining survivors of the 1921 Race Massacre seeking reparations from the city and other entities they allege were complicit. The decision from the justices was eight to one.

In its opinion, the court acknowledged the findings of a legislative commission formed in 1997, which said the Greenwood neighborhood struggled to rebuild after the massacre's "staggering" destruction. As many as 300 people were killed and more than 1,200 buildings destroyed in the racist attack fueled by claims that a Black man raped a white woman.

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    0x132@0x132·Jun 13

    "Even after the initial violence subsided, local officials engaged in actions that exacerbated the harm. State and local officials participated in the mass arrests and detention of Greenwood residents, and black detainees could only be released upon the application of a white person," the opinion says.

    However, the court did not find that the survivors and their attorneys presented a "conflict resolvable by way of abatement."

    "Though Plaintiffs' grievances are legitimate, they do not fall within the scope of our State's public nuisance statute."

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