OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — 22 years after Oklahoma Lawmakers provided recommendations to benefit the survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a state representative from Tulsa is focused on how to make those recommendations a reality. State Representative Regina Goodwin held an interim study at the state capitol Thursday afternoon.
“If we’re going to be accountable, we just can’t have recommendations and no follow-up,” said District 73 State Representative Regina Goodwin.
During a four-hour session Thursday afternoon, State Representative Regina Goodwin brought together more than a dozen policymakers, activists, original commission members and two of the remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Ford Fletcher.
“You have to repair the harm that was done,” said Representative Goodwin. “The generational wealth that was lost, the homes that were burned down, the businesses that are forever gone.”
It’s a followup to the 2001 Tulsa Race Massacre Commission report that provided several recommendations including compensation for survivors and their descendants, scholarships, economic development and a search for mass graves plus a memorial for the victims.
“What have we done as a state body as it relates to the recommendations 22 years later,” said Representative Goodwin.
During Thursday’s interim study, they discussed how to properly compensate the survivors and their descendants. They looked at Bruce’s Beach in Los Angeles County, California, as a case study on how government could return land and wealth.
They also discussed making it easier for students to apply for the Tulsa Reconciliation Education and Scholarship Program which came out of the original commission report.
“How will we roll that out,” said Representative Goodwin? “What is the outreach? How do we make sure that descendants are absolutely prioritized. Those are still challenges that we have.”
This year, they handed out 20 scholarships, but initially the scholarship was designed to help 300 students a year. Representative Goodwin said after getting a big influx in funding, $1.5 million, they’re working to make it more accessible. They’re doing that by bringing a Langston University committee on board to further promote the scholarship.
Some of the original commission members were at the interim study Thursday, and say it’s about seeking atonement and providing a better future.
“We’re sitting on $4 billion right now as a state and we know something should be done,” said Representative Goodwin. “Justice has not been served and we have centenarians that have been waiting 100 + years.”
During the interim study, they also discussed the search for mass graves and expanding that search beyond Oaklawn Cemetery.
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