Bill To Establish Black Wall Street Monument Closer To Becoming Law

An effort that many Oklahomans say is long overdue could soon come to fruition: federal legislation making the site of the Tulsa Race Massacre a national monument is a step closer to becoming law.

The bill, the Historic Greenwood District—Black Wall Street National Monument Establishment Act, was introduced last year by Oklahoma Senator James Lankford; it advanced out of the Senate's Energy and Commerce Committee last week.

In an interview, Sen. Lankford offered some clarification as to the establishment of a ‘monument’.

"There’s not necessarily a physical monument or location," Lankford explained, "it’s designating that entire district."

Lankford was quick to point out that passage of the legislation would not mean ceding control of Historic Greenwood to the federal government. He says this would essentially elevate the district and the attached history to the level of the nation's most significant civil rights locations.

"This puts us on that map," Lankford said, "to increase tourism in the area and increase awareness of what happened and the reconciliation that we’ve done in Oklahoma."

No one is more grateful to Lankford and his Democratic co-sponsor, Cory Booker (D-NJ), than Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, who co-chairs the Historic Greenwood-Black Wall Street Coalition, a group of over 11 Tulsa-based organizations that has for several years driven the effort to establish Black Wall Street as a national monument.

"The fact that this bill moved out of committee and is headed to the Senate floor," Crutcher said in an interview Monday, "is just another step in the right direction."

Crutcher is the descendant of a victim of the massacre, which helps fuel her desire to see the bill become law.

"It's about preserving the story of Greenwood, a story that was erased from our history books," she said. "I went to school on Greenwood and didn't learn about what happened here during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma history."

That ugly part of Oklahoma history -- the 1921 torching and destruction by white Tulsans of a prosperous community Black Oklahomans had built -- is now required teaching in Oklahoma classrooms, but Crutcher says this is a story all Americans should know.

"Not only did they build a beautiful community, but when it was burned to the ground, they were able to rebuild," Crutcher emphasized. "So, this is about resilience, this is about strength, this is about honor and making sure that everyone knows that you can always move forward when truth is told and when tradition is extended."