TULSA, Okla. — 102 years after hatred and carnage destroyed most of what was a bustling pride of African-American prosperity, the community around Greenwood Avenue helped commemorate the anniversary of the 1921 Race Massacre with the opening of a new restaurant.
The massacre was the worst domestic terror attack in U.S. history at the time, and the first attack to involve airplanes.
But its anniversary Wednesday also gave a chance at celebration just a couple blocks away.
The opening of Fixins Soul Kitchen, a small chain started by former NBA player and former Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson drew hundreds to the corner of Reconciliation Way and Detroit Avenue for it's ribbon cutting.
"We embrace the past and we want to remember those lost," Greenwood Rising Executive Director Raymond Doswell said. "But at the same time we understand that it's time for renewal and rebirth. And Fixin's restaurant and what they're doing is part of that effort."
That effort included honoring the three survivors from the massacre: Viola "Mother" Fletcher, Leslie Randell, and Hughes "Uncle Red" Van Ellis.
"For them to be here, hopefully we can turn a chapter to a new era where we have Black and white together and everybody in between doing something positive, building on their legacy," Johnson said during the ceremony.
Johnson said he has aunts from Tulsa, and that his grandparents lived in Tulsa.
Greenwood Chamber Advisory Board member Heather Nash's late grandmother survived the mass of hate crimes on May 31 and June 1, 1921, and is proud of the resilience shown by fellow Black Wall Street caretakers.
"Should we talk about the bad? All the time, because we don't want to ever forget it and we don't ever want it to happen again," Nash said. "But the good should always supersede the bad."
Fixins Tulsa will open with limited hours on June 6, and will be fully open to the public with regular hours beginning June 13. Fixins will also host a Juneteenth celebration on June 16, according to a release.
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