2 Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors Attend Memorial Event At Standpipe Hill

Monday marked 100 years since the start of one of the most infamous moments in Tulsa’s history.

On that day, the Greenwood District was burned down. Hundreds were killed.

Black Wall Street is much smaller than it was a century ago.

People gathered Monday to remember those that were lost, still unknown and to mark the ground as sacred.

Two survivors of the massacre were at the event.

"To our dear survivors, Mr. Ellis and Mother Fletcher," U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (Georgia) said. "We are so indebted to you for your example."

The survivors of the massacre are why people finally learned what happened 100 years ago.

The hope now is that the commemoration and education can be a first step toward healing the nation and repairing the Greenwood District.

"We were robbed of our generational wealth," Dr. Tiffany Crutcher said.

Crutcher's brother, Terence, was shot and killed by Tulsa police in 2016. Officer Betty Shelby shot and killed her brother after encountering him outside his SUV which was stopped in the middle of a Tulsa street.

Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter and acquitted in 2017. The Crutcher family has been fighting for Terence ever since.

Almost a century before Terence’s killing, Tiffany's great-grandmother was also in Tulsa when the massacre happened.

"What could my life have been if my great-grandmother didn't have to flee and run for her life,” Crutcher said. "The only way we can get to a place of reconciliation is to acknowledge what happened and to atone for what happened. And that means reparations, repairing the damage repairing the pain."

A vigil was held Monday night in Tulsa less than a day before the city will prepare for President Biden's visit Tuesday.