TULSA, Okla. — The Justice for Green Foundation announces a six-figure gift to the remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
With the help of the organization and other online fundraising efforts, the foundation is gifting $100,000 to Lessie Benningfield “Mother” Randle, Viola “Mother” Fletcher, and Hughes Van Ellis.
According to a statement from the Justice for Greenwood Foundation, the gift is marking "an important step in the long-overdue path toward justice" for the remaining living survivors of the Race Massacre.
Damario Solomon Simmons, Founder and Executive Director of Justice For Greenwood Foundation, gave the following statement about the gift:
“We are immensely proud to play our role in rectifying these injustices. Nothing can undo the immense pain inflicted upon the remaining survivors of the massacre, but alleviating their current financial burdens inflicted not only by the massacre itself but subsequent systemic racism is the least we could do for them as we continue to push for reparations. Now, we must work to ensure their stories are told, confronting our past and learning from it, to ensure we actively challenge enduring injustices.”
This year, the City of Tulsa commemorated 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre occurred in Tulsa's Black Wall Street.
The deadly event destroyed dozens of Black businesses and homes, as well as taking the lives of over 300 Black people living in the Greenwood District.
The remaining living survivors recently testified before a Congressional subcommittee hearing about receiving reparations and asking for accountability for the massacre from both the City of Tulsa as well as the State of Oklahoma.
READ MORE: 1921 Tulsa race massacre survivors, advocates testify on Capitol Hill
Recently, the City of Tulsa passed a resolution that included issuing an apology from the city for the Race Massacre to the survivors and descendants on Wednesday night.
The resolution also creates a community-led process to make efforts towards acting on recommendations from the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot commission report.
At this time, the newly-passed resolution does not include paying reparations.
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