After months of lobbying and collaboration, the US Department of Justice finally agreed to review and evaluate the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Damario Solomon-Simmons led the efforts to make this happen. He is an attorney representing the living victims and other descendants of the massacre. He says this is a big step in achieving their goals, like uncovering more answers.
“We only know about 10% of what actually happened. Who actually participated,” Solomon-Simmons said “Those are things, we don’t have the capacity as private attorneys to get some of that information that we hope the federal government can help fill in some of those gaps.”
Egunwale Amusan is a descendant of one of the victims.
2 News listened to his reaction to the DOJ’s decision.
“People who may not understand this passion, who haven’t been part of this fight from the very beginning, know this: we will never stop fighting,” Amusan said.
Descendants like Amusan want reparations. They also want the DOJ to recognize the race massacre as the largest crime scene in the country’s history.
Based on conversations he’s had with the DOJ, Solomon-Simmons expects the work to be done by the end of this year, but he says its impact will last forever.
“[This report] will really, forever … As long as there’s the United States of America, this report will talk about what happened here in Tulsa,” he said, “And hopefully, that will help us get closer to the justice and reparations that are still due.”
More than a century after the massacre, descendants say they deserve more. This decision by the DOJ represents an accomplishment of one of their biggest goals. That accomplishment is not lost on Amusan.
“This moment is one you should never forget,” Amusan said.
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