TULSA, Okla. — The march planned for May 29 is being called the "2nd Amendment Armed March."
Organizers said it is not about violence but self-defense. The Elmer Geronimo Pratt Gun Club out of Austin, TX, and the national Black Panther Party are organizing the march.
Organizers said up to 1,000 legally armed citizens will descend on Greenwood to pay homage to the armed Tulsans who died defending the neighborhood during the Tulsa race massacre. They said the march is about unifying the Black community, not about sparking fear or intimidation, but they are willing to act in self-defense if they need to.
“Never again. This is the purpose of the guns," said Nick Bezzel with the Elmer Geronimo Pratt Gun Club. "Never again will you come into a neighborhood, a Black community, and massacre people the way you did Greenwood, the way you did Greenwood, even the red summer in Chicago.”
The march is planned for Saturday, May 29 at 4 p.m.
Bezzel said the City of Tulsa has not issued a permit for the march.
“You're basically saying you don’t want to issue us permits," he said.
However, officials at the city's permit department said the application for the permit is filed in a different name and the streets Bezzel has requested are already allocated.
A statement from Mayor G. T. Bynum's office said in part, "The permit request will be sent to the Tulsa City Council for their approval."
The statement goes on to say that the ransomware attack on the city's infrastructure slowed the agenda process.
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