On Friday, an Oklahoma judge dismissed a lawsuit demanding reparations for African-Americans related to the 1921 riots that took place in Tulsa, which has come to be known by some as the “Tulsa Race Massacre.”
According to ABC News, Judge Caroline Wall dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, thus eliminating any future chance the plaintiffs may have had at forcing reparations out of the city and others that were allegedly involved. The lawsuit was filed by three survivors of the incident, all of whom are now over 100 years old; their attorney has demanded that they see “justice in their lifetime” for the incident that took place in the Tulsa neighborhood of Greenwood 102 years ago.
In a statement by the group supporting the lawsuit, Justice for Greenwood, the group claimed that “Judge Wall effectively condemned the three living Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors to languish — genuinely to death — on Oklahoma’s appellate docket.”
“There is no semblance of justice or access to justice here,” the group angrily added. While the group hinted at challenging Judge’s Wall’s decision, a lawyer for the three plaintiffs did not comment on whether or not they would appeal.
The lawsuit, filed under Oklahoma’s public nuisance law, had claimed that the incident, which resulted in the destruction of what had once been a major hub of black businesses, still has lingering after-effects that allegedly harm the city’s black community to this day. However, Judge Wall said in her opinion that she was throwing out the case after hearing arguments from the city, the regional chamber of commerce, and other government agencies at the state and local level.
In his own statement after Judge Wall’s decision, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum declared that “the city remains committed to finding the graves of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims, fostering economic investment in the Greenwood District, educating future generations about the worst event in our community’s history, and building a city where every person has an equal opportunity for a great life.”
The 1921 incident in Tulsa, previously a widely unknown incident in American history, was greatly amplified by Black Lives Matter and other far-left racial groups during the race riots of 2020, often cited as an alleged example of past racism against African-Americans.