#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Justice for Greenwood Town Hall

Episode Date: June 1, 2021

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I want to welcome the Roland Martin Unfiltered Family to Greenwood District here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are here in the Greenwood Cultural Center, where today, 100 years ago, more than 300,000 African Americans were slaughtered by a mob of white domestic terrorists. And not a mob, thousands of whites descended on this district. Thirty-six square blocks were destroyed by white domestic terrorists in Tulsa. Not one person was held accountable for that heinous act. The most severe racial attack in American history. Planes were used to drop incendiary devices on rooftops. Nearly 1,500 homes destroyed. All businesses destroyed. 10,000 African Americans forced to be refugees sent out across the country

fleeing here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Today, they will be holding a town hall to remember the folks. There are three survivors left from that fateful day, one 107, one 106, and one 100 years old. We've been here since Thursday chronicling this commemoration of this horrific event and not just talking about what took place in the past, but how this city and this state has refused to create a victims compensation fund. Some say they refuse to actually provide reparations to the people who were impacted, the survivors and the descendants. Today, or tonight, the city of Tulsa had planned a massive nationally televised event that was going to feature Stacey Abrams and John Legend. Both of them pulled out.

The city said it was because the attorneys made unreasonable demands at the last second. That is a lie. So here we stand, even 100 years later, and Tulsa, in the state of Oklahoma, refuses, absolutely refuses, to provide compensation to the ancestors first of all to the survivors and the descendants of those who died in this horrific accident now as you can see there's a red carpet set up over here uh many of the people coming through the survivors have been coming through others have been coming through as well taking photos a lot of other dignitaries will be here and in the same place

tomorrow, President Joe Biden is going to be speaking here as well. As I said, we spent time over the last several days talking to folks here in Tulsa, talking to descendants, talking to people impacted. Also, we had a chance to sit down and talk with two of those three survivors as well. And so where we are, folks, where we are, it has been an amazing time, but also there's been a lot of focus on Black Wall Street. Of course, a lot of those black businesses and the effort to revive Black Wall Street. We showed you how here very few Black-owned businesses still exist. A lot of the land that Black people actually owned, they no longer have access to.

And so all of these things are still happening in Greenwood. Right now, again, behind me, you can actually see, we'll take a shot behind me, of folks who are here and their assembly here. This town hall is supposed to be starting in 11 minutes. And so that's what we're waiting on. We've been talking to various folks, Congressman Jim Clyburn, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Cori Bush. We're going to be showing you some of those interviews shortly, sharing their thoughts of what took place here in Greenwood. Earlier, I saw Congresswoman Lisa Rochester, who is from Delaware, and so she also is here as well. And so what we want to be able to do is give you context of what's going on, what is happening here, how the folks here are trying to restore what is going on. There are folks that exist, but people st

to actually provide compe to do so on Wednesday. Th a $30 billion museum that interest and philanthropy in Greenwood. But none of to the descendants. None happening. And so, folks, it is still a racial divide in Tulsa that exists right now. Those things are

still taking place. And so, as I said, folks are gathering here in the room. Like I say, you've had events taking place all day. Vernon AME across the, across the, across from this center. You've got the, what's also been happening, folks, they had a taking of a soil ceremony tomorrow. That's going to be exhumation of more bodies taking place tomorrow. And so all of these things are happening because folks want to rebuild here. They want to redevelop this and for there to be black-owned businesses to be able for them to actually be able to thrive. And so we've been meeting a lot of these black business owners, a lot of young African-Americans who are starting businesses and who are building as well. And so these things have been happening repeatedly. And like I say, a lot of people have been

inspired. We talked to the Justice for Greenwood community. They want to make this actually an annual event as well. Be able to bring people from all across the country to Tulsa because it wasn't just Tulsa where there were black Wall Streets. We had black Wall Street happening in many cities across this country. And so it is an opportunity for this generation to carry forth the message that has been taking place here as well. And so hopefully we can soon play some of the interviews we played. Just folks, share your thoughts.

I talked with the daughter of the talk with the daughter of one of the brother who actually helped create the commission. He's going to be coming through here shortly. Don Rice, a former state official. So we talked with him as well. And so that's one of the things that that's one of the things that we're sitting here waiting to hear from. And so he's going to be coming through. We're going to talk with him as well. And so we're looking forward to that. Looking forward to that conversation. Y'all have been watching our streams that we have been happening. You've been seeing those streams take place. We've been sharing those with you. And so we want to be able to share some of that with you as well. And so

I want to do right here, bring me the HDMI cord. Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke earlier today. He spoke earlier today at the prayer wall unveiling that took place. And so I had an opportunity to record that. Reverend, of course, has been dealing with Parkinson's disease. It has been very tough on him dealing with that. But it was great to see him in sound mind and spirit, sharing, sharing with the people today as well, where he talked about not only that, but also the need for there to be a reconstruction taking place in this in this place as well, for there to be a new opening here taking place in Greenwood. And so here's some of what Reverend Jackson had to say light today. We slay giants. They were still alive.

The giants had sons. The giants kept coming. I said, so good be the war because there's a mind to work. We had that day because we told in scripture, we will not take the landmarks. Mother of God said, we will not take the landmarks, that mother of God said, we will not take the landmarks, and mother of God said,

we will not take the landmarks, mother of God said, it's a bit with the wall, because we have a mind to work. For those who are here today to find yourself, Bishop and Reverend Turner, and those tripping in your box today, I want to tell you the cost is the same as institutional. We're here today to give you a foundation, to give a person, give a translation today to this church.

This is the landmark of grace and difference. We seek healing today and hope over despair, care over indifference. When the walls fall, we come to a special place today to seek healing. We're out in our counties in hope. We all want resurrection.

We all want resurrection. We all want resurrection. On Sunday morning. We avoid the crucifixion see we all want resurrection on sunday morning we avoid the crucifixion the truth of values truth is they are different and distant because of this rain honey you cover up and yet we rise again we read the truth fresh on earth will rise again we want healing we took choose the flesh and the earth and rise again. We want healing. We took the glass out of the wound.

We all want healing. We took the glass out of the wound. We seek to repair the injury. We did not see the real injury until we saw George Floyd's killing. We saw the results. And we tell. We saw the results of saw the George Floyd killing in real time. Homes and businesses were destroyed, 400 homes and we saw internment camps broke. Filth was solid out, mid days turned into mid nights. 100 years of cover up, crime against humanity. family that's abandoned. So home. Mass murder committe

sat out the corner, but b head, crushed the baby's mother. This place we sa We stand today, eyes toward the future. Some real sense, John Rogers here today, foremost businessman on Wall Street, Rainbow Cushman on Wall Street, 20 years ago in New York, near the Wall Street here. In a real sense, what was burned up here was the Stratford Hotel. John Rogers' great-grandfather.

America's most popular, most developed hotel back in the American's, and Weissman went and attended as well. And when you destroy a wall, you destroy things that build it, become a filter, a hoggin. When you destroy the businesses here, you destroyed the future. America's rule took place in the 30s, radio. The government developed the science of radio. They couldn't keep a station, so it all seemed to be about a lottery. They gave the stations away.

But blacks couldn't vote, couldn't win the lottery. It started on television in the 50s and 40s. The government developed the science by lottery. The government defense contractor built Silicon Valley. So the Gates and all that group, they benefited from the government must now build a development bank. So we need a second reconstruction development bank for Tulsa. So reconstruction, development bank, we need the Act. Checked it. We need full-vote housing

for all. Checked the right to vote. Quality of education for all. Training for trade skills. Access to capital. Development. The African American Bill of Hate. Bill.

It is appropriate for Jews and Latinos now to have, Asians not to have, but we need an African American anti-hate bill. Yes sir. Yes sir. The lynchings not yet, the lynchings must become. The lynchings must become a federal crime. It must be a coalition of killing and hope and destruction.

Not hurt and hate, destruction. Scripture says several times this morning, we, uh, how the blood keeps coming. On our suffering we lift it. If I cannot bring it, cannot erase the memory. Why can I drown lies and deceit will not end? We bless because our witness, so God will bless our witness,

but not our wickedness. Our wickedness will be rejected. If my people call upon my name, pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, devil will have him in heaven. Forgive their sin, Give them the land.

We pray and talk about it, it's not enough. We must face the wickedness of our time. Taking property is wicked. Selling homes is wicked. Killing inhabitants is wicked. Insurance comes out of plain time is wicked. Sounds of the white church is wicked. The white church is wicked.

The white church is wicked. The white church is wicked. Insurance companies are playing time is wicked. Silence of the white church is wicked. White business is wicked. The mayor of that city, of the city that day had nothing to say about this. The governor had nothing to say about this. The mayor of the city had nothing to say. The entire government in silence, in permissiveness, is crime against humanity. Racism, we're talking about racism as a disease.

You prove racism mentally ill. They're racist. Mentally ill. They believe God made a mistake. They're someone other than their own race. It's ungodly. It's ungodly. But not so. God did not make a mistake. Many people, one message.

We all want to have. We want to breath. We need joy. We need hope. We are God's friends. We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people.

We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people. We are God's people. joy. We need hope. We are God's children. Red and somebody. I am somebody.

Respect me. Protect me. Don't neglect me. We are God's children. Do not give up. Do not give out. Do not surrender. Keep hope alive.

Keep hope alive. A new Wall Street. A new Greenwood Avenue. A new Tulsa. A new Oklahoma. A new America Street. A new Greenwood Avenue. A new Tulsa. A new Oklahoma. A new America. This land is our land. Light will cast away darkness.

Light will cast away darkness. We have the light. Darkness must flee. Racism must flee. Gender bias must flee. We have the power. Gender bias must flee. We have the power. We have the faith.

God has the power. See us through. Nothing too hard for God. Amen. I say this to you all of you today. The power the victims have. Only the victims have the power to forgive. And therefore redeem. They don't have the power to forgive.

You have the power to forgive yourself, but barriers to give yourself as some of you can miss your semester no one who committed sin With people the power to give was the one forgiveness Then contract Their own secret been contrite. Admit their wrong. Seek redemption. Emmett Till was killed some years ago, Christmas 1955.

A woman who lied on him on a deathbed, she had to say, I made a mistake. And Emmett Till's mother had to forgive her. Let her go into hell blind. See, only the victims, the power to forgive, the power to redeem. Mother in suffering, you've redeemed. For the power to give, to redeem.

For the Lord's redemption, now we must ask for redemption. Seek. And try hard. There's some... We are proud successors and listeners of our forefathers who were brutalized. There are those who giants killed but their sons keep coming.

This legislature today the descendants of those who engaged in the wrong. Those who seek to limit the vote, they are descendants of that. Those who seek to deny women the right to vote, equality, to be the people of light, to fight the children of darkness. We seek renewal today, revival and redemption. God's grace shines upon us today, in Tulsa, in our lives. We need second Reconstruction Development Bank. We need

second Reconstruction Development Bank. When the World War II and the Marshall Plan, been bombed. With me, the Marshall Plan significantly was not the size of 50 loan, 2% government security. 50 loan, 2% government security. That bank, the light, people of appalachia salsa new york new york mississippi the whole nation can grow through its development for all in this pocket so few i am somebody i am i am somebody i am i am god's child i am god's child. I am God's child. I will not surrender. I will not bow down. Stand up. Fight back. Love matters. Hope matters. Healing matters. Keep hope alive.

Then Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. speaking today at the dedication of a prayer wall right across the street, Vernon AME Church, where African Americans 100 years ago went to seek refuge as a result of the white domestic terrorists who were attacking them here in Greenwood. Folks, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there were only two preachers who he ever personally ordained as preachers. Reverend Al Sampson is one of those two. He is a pastor out of Chicago. We caught up with him yesterday at the Black Wall Street Legacy Fest that took place just outside here of the Greenwood Cultural Center. Here is my conversation with Reverend Al Sampson. Remember the pathology of white people attempting to destroy our legacy, our history, and our economic strategy of liberation.

I come out of the Martin Luther King movement. His daddy and other ministers raised the money and built a bank called Citizens Trust Bank. It's still alive and well today. And the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, they did a—it was done by a black man named Herndon, in North Carolina, mutual life insurance company. So and then we came out of Birmingham with AG Gaston. So my point is that the genius of this particular day is that it has brought people from all over the world. They didn't come from particular cities. They came from all over the world in order to say enough

is enough. We now know that we are at war as Africans in America against the forces that would try to stop us from having an economic proposition. I'm the only preacher in black America that has a Department of Agriculture in my church. I met today with the brothers from Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri, where those brothers had started Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, where I give heirloom seeds to black farmers. What is our problem? Everybody feeds us but us. And we're looking now that I'm chaplain to the World Conference of Mayors.

Johnny Ford will be in here in the next 48 hours to form a mayor of Tuskegee, Alabama. But we're going to move with an economic proposition on behalf of our people because we cannot get off the case. That's the genius of Roland Martin. That's always been his epitaph. One thing to have a rap rap, but Roland gives you a map map because he's seen too much black leaders with a rap rap and Rowling gives you a map map because he's seen too much black

leaders with a rap rap and no map map and so when you hear him when you know when he makes his moves it's always methodical because he has a method with his eye and I appreciate him and have known him down through the years and he knows that he can issue the call to a group of us all over the world and we'll be there at his door so let's serve warning leave him alone he's ours I appreciate it baby always love you baby So that, of course, was my man, Reverend Al Sampson. It was always great to see him and talk with him there here in Greenwood. Spent lots of time chatting with him over the years, the six years I spent in Chicago. And as I said, somebody was right there with Dr. King talking about, of course, the need for a guaranteed income. And so we've been discussing that.

Folks, in a moment, they're going to be bringing in the survivors in here for this town hall. We're supposed to start at two o'clock. We're running just a little bit late. So what I want to do is I want to share with you another conversation that took place that we had with a lot of different people here. But one of the folks who was here yesterday is Congressman Jim Clyburn. And so we caught up with him as he was out and about as well here in Greenwood. And so let me share that conversation with you right now, Congressman Jim Clyburn. Here, we talked the other day. You understand the history.

What does this mean, finally having this told everywhere for the world to now know what happened here 100 years ago? I think this will open people's eyes to our real history. And this coming at the time it comes, under these circumstances, will allow us to open up discussions, not just about Tulsa, but we need to be talking about Rosewood down in Florida. Right. There's about 30 different massacres. Absolutely. All around the same time. Now, all of that started way back in the 18, after the 1870s, there in South Carolina called Hamburg.

The Hamburg Massacre was one of the worst things that ever happened. And so I think that we need to have a real serious discussion of all these things, and hopefully people will begin to understand. I think that a lot of people do not understand because they do not know. If they knew better, they would do better. I also think that what we're dealing with right now is, and I got a book I'm releasing next year, we're living in this age of white fear, fear of the changing demographics. The response of January 6th, that was a direct response to how black people were voting when Trump singled out Milwaukee, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. And so what are you seeing in your conversations to white Democrats who aren't fully understanding of this history and how those policies are still impacting black

people today? Well, you know what, believe it or not, and I'm going to call names, but you do a lot of interviewing and I can tell you, you are hearing some differences in the rhetoric today from people I've had some one-on-one with in the last several months. I can tell you that. Now, we'll have to wait and see the end result to see whether or not there's any significant impact. But people are already having some different comments to make. Their rhetoric is a little bit different. I don't know if they've been convinced or convicted, but we'll see. Texas voting law, same thing. I did MSNBC this morning.

And again, what we are dealing with and I keep saying this and I went real hard on Democrats this morning I said, these folks are not playing, they don't care about bipartisanship, they don't care about how can we all get along they are trying to drive power

they're trying to drive control they're controlling two-thirds of all state legislatures they're controlling governors' mansions. Right. And so, again, I don't know what Senator Manchin and Sinema are doing, but these folks want power. That's true. I agree with that.

I don't disagree with that at all. Now the question now becomes, how do we deal with that? We know exactly what they're out for. Trump was symptomatic, symbolic of that issue. Now, hopefully, not just Democrats, but Republicans will start losing their fear. But there is a lot of fear among them. But you look, you met your wife in jail.

And what I keep saying is there has to be constant pressure. Black voters matter. Going to be doing the caravan beginning June, June 19th, coming to DC. Senator Chuck Schumer said he's going to bring, bring up, uh, the voting bills by June 21st.

To me, we've got to put 50 to a hundred thousand people and not just black people and not just Latinos, but young whites as well. They're targeting them. They got to be in, to me, in've got to put 50 to 100,000 people, and not just black people and not just Latinos, but young whites as well that are targeting them. They've got to be, to me, in the halls of Congress, meeting with senators. They've got to, I say there are 48 Democrats who are ready to vote in that filibuster. They've got to feel it and see it and understand how real this is. Oh, I agree. I agree.

The only question is how do we get all of that done? You got your job to do. I'm going to help you do that. I've got my job to do. Please help me do that. And maybe together, you do your part, I do my part, and we'll win. Well, you know, Alphas, we used to having to help Omega, so I'll be more than happy. But luckily, you're a fellow Archon, so we can agree on something. Absolutely. Absolutely. Not much, but something. Not much, but something.

I appreciate it. Good to see you, brother. All right. All right. Profiteers, urban removalists, and gentrifiers. This is not a celebration. Ashe. This is a crime scene. We have to bring our own yellow tape to expose and expel that same spirit that murdered over 300 black bodies that we are still searching for today.

It's the same spirit that builds glass buildings to hide their guilt and hide our history, eclipsing the Oklahoma Eagle Building, one of the oldest black newspapers in this country to make way for a whitewashed, sanitized edifice that does not include repairing what you destroyed. You're not repairers of the breach. You are perpetuators of destruction, still making stacks off of our necks. Your hands are bloody, and our ancestors' blood is speaking from this grounds today. Our collective clarity is already awakened by this reality. Those who commit the murders also write the reports. This is no celebration, Cain. We won't be silent anymore. We've come today

declaring loudly and strongly the reclaiming, restoring, and repairing of our contract with ourselves. It's us who will heal us. It's us who will educate us. It's us who will abolish voter suppression. It's us who will restore alignment to love one another fiercely without break or secession in our communities. It's us. My brothers and my sisters, we have nothing to lose but our chains. We're unchaining ourselves from mediocrity and leaning into our collective genius. We're unchaining ourselves from mediocrity and leaning into our collective genius. We're unchaining ourselves from oppressors and becoming our own champions of economic domination in our own communities. We're closing our own wealth gap by continuing what our ancestors began, a first of being first and being all us, everything.

We may not all arrive at the same time. Some may require a pause, a break, or even rest from their labor. Trust and believe this city, this state, and this country has not seen the last of Rosa Davis Skinners, Dr. A.C. Jacksons, Mabel Littles, Fannies, Martins, Idas, Langstons, Terrences, Malcolms, Thurgood's, Shirley's or Banyard's, Big Mamas, Muzz, Granddaddy's, Nana's and Pawpaw's, and Ella's. We always have a remnant, an Afro future, always another resolute generation, another one and another one. They're here in this room taking up space, refusing to be unseen and unheard and undervalued any longer. You may not know our names, but you will. It's our time. Our eyes have seen the glory of Greenwood, the anointing, the oil, the essence of Greenwood. Black Wall Street is unretractable, unstoppable. It's unerasable, and it has left an indelible mark on this community and this nation.

One hundred years ago, there was a fire in what our oppressors called Little Africa. Today, 100 years later, standing where our ancestors' lives and livelihoods were obliterated, we're here to serve notice that we're unapologetic about the fire in our bellies to reclaim, restore, repair, and revive our green wood, our black Wall Street. It's the spirit of a thing. We embody that spirit today everywhere that black people are. My brothers and my sisters, it must always be courage over comfort for us.

We must deny access to our genius being weaponized against one another to further an agenda that denies access for all of us. God, the divine orchestrator, has always been our way out of no way, meeting us in hush harbors as we've always created our own upper room experiences to anchor us in tumultuous times and in times of great victory. In this moment, we honor our ancestors past and present and their descendants. We pay homage to these living survivors, Mother Viola Fletcher, Mother Leslie Randall, and Mr. Hughes Van Ellis, a.k.a. Uncle Red. Your tears are not lost on us. I am and we are because you have been. We honor the stony road that you've traveled. May our God continue to keep you is our prayer.

Amen, ameen, aho, and ashe. Aho and Ashe. It is my distinct honor to introduce the incomparable Dr. Tiffany Crutcher. Good afternoon, everyone. Y'all don't act like y'all believe in justice. Good afternoon, everyone. Y'all don't act like y'all believe in justice. Good afternoon, everyone. Let's get a little bit more hype. Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, you're in the right place at the right time. Now look across the room and say it a little bit louder. Say, neighbor, you're in the right place at the

right time. So as you know, my father is a preacher, so I had to get that out of the way. I'm Dr. Tiffany Crutcher. And on behalf of the Justice for Greenwood Foundation, I would like to welcome you into this sacred space. We are honored to have our survivors who you'll see in just a moment, our descendants who are here, and our community. Thank you so much. We believe that the most precious thing you can give anyone is your time. So thank you for your time. And to all of our family who's come home, this is homecoming.

Thank you so much for being here. Give yourselves a hand. Thank you so much for being here. Give yourselves a hand. So without further ado, it is my distinct privilege and pleasure to bring to the stage someone whom I have a tremendous amount of respect for, someone who I've watched from afar speak and echo the voices of not just her community in Seattle, Washington, but for communities of color all over this nation. Angela Rye is an award-winning host, social justice advocate, lawyer, and commentator. She is the host of the weekly podcast, On One with Angela Rye, and a politics and culture commentator.

I've known her for a little while now. Her dad, Eddie Rye, who is a longtime civil rights activist and radio host in Seattle, Washington, he's adopted me as one of his own. I call him Uncle Eddie. And so this moment right now is not coincidence. It is divine that we, she and I, that we've connected for this very moment, for a time such as this, to help us in Tulsa, Oklahoma, get justice for Greenwood. She's the real MVP. She is the reason why we are here today. Y'all can clap for that.

And you just can't ask for a better advocate, for someone to just have your back, someone to undergird your mission. And I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for what you've done for us this week. And so I need for you all to stand up on your feet and give it up for none other than Angela Rye. Good afternoon, everyone. I've been telling Tiffany and Demario all week I am not the real MVP. Yeah, you are. Truly. And I would like for a moment, I'm going to introduce you in a moment, but Demario Solomon-Simmons and Dr. Tiffany Crutcher,

please come stand right here and get your flowers and your applause. These are the MVPs, y'all. They're fighting every single day when people are not paying attention, when they are paying attention, if they have to scream, fight, cuss, kick. They are fighting every single day to ensure the survivors, your ancestors, you all get justice. Clap like you mean it. These people are doing the work. They're doing the work. Thank you. I love y'all. I mean that. So speaking of doing the work, you all have been called here today not to celebrate, not to grieve, but to do the work yourselves. I'm so excited about this particular town hall because it invites us in to do something that so many of your ancestors did. I know Tiffany said that it's not a celebration.

Oh, my goodness, two of my favorites just walked in, y'all. I interrupt this message to tell you that Mother Fletcher and Uncle Red are in the building. Yes. Now, those are the real MVPs. Got their jerseys on and everything. Come on. She told me the other day, she said she likes her Jordans. I got to send her some more.

I'm going to have Nike send a care package. And then Mother Randall said, well, I like them too. And those will not count as reparations. Those are just the J's, okay? Let's be clear. We're not so easily bought, but we'll take a care package. When I watched Uncle Red testify on Capitol Hill the other day, I'm sure many of you all saw it, the reminder he gave us as he stood in the face of people or sat down in front of people who haven't always been supportive of reparations, not even the idea of an apology.

And he reminded them after being a veteran that we are all one America. And it's a challenge. It's a promise we haven't fulfilled yet, right? Being one America means you see their humanity, you see their need, their fight for justice, and you acknowledge that. So that will be some of the work of the descendants today, you all today. So as Uncle Red takes his seat, I would like for those of you who are present and you are descendants to stand on your feet. If you're a descendant in the room, if you can stand up, please. If you're a descendant in the room, if you can stand up, please. Yes. Thank you all so much.

My next question is, descendants, you might not want to sit down yet. If you're here and you're not a descendant, but you know you carry the spirit of Black Wall Street in your heart, will you stand on your feet? Thank you all. I just have a couple of more formalities. What Tiffany did not say is I'm the former executive director and general counsel for the Congressional Black Caucus. And some of my former bosses and CBC family are here today, and I just want to take a moment to quickly acknowledge them. We have Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, who's joining us today.

And Congresswoman Lawrence represents Michigan, and she will bring opening remarks on behalf of the caucus in just a moment. You have Congressman Hank Johnson from Georgia's 4th District. Congresswoman Barbara Lee from California's 13th District. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas's 18th District. You have Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware, an Ed Lards member from Delaware. There she is. Did I miss any of my CBC bosses and family? I got everybody. I'm not in trouble. All right, we're good. So again, before we got, we had to acknowledge Mother Fletcher and Uncle Red. We were talking about the importance of the work today. This

isn't just a town hall conversation. This is a call to action to ensure that when we all leave the commemorative events this weekend, we understand the fight for justice continues. We understand that there's also work that we have to do. And so we will get to some prompts, but I will get to that in just a little bit. I now have the distinct honor and privilege of introducing to you all, again, it will be both Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, who is the second vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Attorney DeMario Solomon-Simmons. Congresswoman, I know you'll bring remarks on behalf of the caucus. I want to quickly tell you all, DeMario has been fighting for reparations since I first

met him in law school. We were a part of the National Black Law Students Association at the time on the executive board. Actually, it was on the regional board when you were on the national board. But Demario's title was, guess what, as a Navarra Executive Board member. I'll tell you, he was the reparations chair. So if you ever questioned his commitment to this cause, I hope that deads that. So DeMario, I know that you're following Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, but I do want to thank you again for your work. He's been talking about this issue

since law school. And now it's time for us to help lift up DeMario's arms, Tiffany's arms, so many of your arms in this fight. Some others have been fighting this for 100 years. It's time for us to not take the baton but help them carry that baton so we get a little bit closer to justice. It is past time, y'all. Congresswoman Lawrence, if I can have you now to come bring open your remarks on behalf of the caucus. Thank you, everyone. I want to thank Angela, who is my sister girl. I am just so proud of her. She shows up every time we need her present. And to fly here today from Detroit,

Michigan. Now, some of you, I know you got some relatives in Detroit. To come from Detroit, a proud black city, to come to the heart of our black community today to celebrate, to commemorate, and to empower, and to seek reparations is extremely important, and I'm so proud to be here with you today. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible work that you're doing in Tulsa. I represent Michigan's 14th Congressional District, which includes the city of Detroit. I'm a proud Delta. I saw one of my Delta sisters there. And we are here today as the Black Caucus.

You heard our members being acknowledged. And we're here joining you with what we stand on, on our 50th year in Congress, our power and our message. On behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus, I would like to commemorate you for fighting tirelessly on behalf of the three survivors, the descendants of the Tulsa-Greenwood race massacre, and the legacy of this incredible community. I also want to recognize the chair of the Black Caucus, who we're standing here strong today. She recently lost her husband, and she's home going through the grieving process. We love her, and she wanted to make sure that we stood up here today and that we were with you. So would you just join me in saying a prayer and giving applause for our chair, Joyce Beatty, representative from Ohio.

The Tulsa-Greenwood race massacre is one of the darkest chapters in American history, yet is largely absent from many of our history books. It's a story that is left untold in many quarters. I want to tell you, as a Detroit girl growing up, it wasn't until I was an adult that I actually understood and was told what happened here in this community. Walking the historic streets and standing here today in this cultural center that serves as a monument to that horrific event, I am reminded of the strength and the resilience of our black communities and how despite every challenge and every obstacle,

we manage to survive, and in most cases, we thrive. I tell you, growing up in a black neighborhood, having a community of support, having the legacy of being a black woman in America, you know what that feels like here. But today, we're going to make the world understand, even though it's 100 years ago, what happened in this community, what happened to my people is unacceptable, and you will remember it, and you will recognize the survivors and those who are the descendants. I want you to know you are the true heirs of an amazing history of the Greenwood District or the Black Wall Street, which at the time was the wealthiest black community in America.

So think about that. We are struggling now, 100 years later, with the wealth gap, where white people, just because they're born with a certain skin color, are projected and continue to out-earn us economically. But your ancestors found the answer. Economic self-determination, self-sufficiency, and black business ownership. Much can be learned from the example of Greenwood, and I'm here today and proud to say that the Congressional Black Caucus, the largest legislative caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives,

57 members strong, is committed to fighting to make sure that these historic wrongs are corrected. And the story of Tulsa and the Greenwood race massacre is never forgotten. And while sadly the congressional district that we're in today does not have a congressional black caucus representative but I stand here today our message and our power to let you know that you are now officially represented by the members of the black caucus Part of the resilience in the stories, if you ever look at the history of all of us in the Black Caucus, we went through struggles, and we understand, and we will not leave you alone. And you know we are family and we fight every single day and that's what makes

the black caucus so strong because we know when we're in Congress and we're being ignored or the policies are not one that's including us. I got 57 behind me pushing through and we will make a difference for Greenwood.

Two weeks ago, members of the Congressional Black Caucus who serve on the House Judiciary Community had a chance to hear from our beloved survivors, Ms. Fletcher and Mr. Hughes Van Ellis and Ms. Bennington Randall at a hearing continuing injustice the centennial of the Tulsa Greenwood Race Massacre now you'd think if the black caucus wasn't standing there saying we should have this hearing do you think it would have happened?

so I want you all to understand when you see black people showing up in a place you don't normally see a supporter, because when we're in the room and we get the mic and we get an opportunity to sit at the table that like Shirley Chisholm told, sometimes we bring in a folding chair, but But we're at the darn table. Most recently, my friend and sister girl, April Ryan, produced a segment for the Griot, which explored the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre and the continued fight for the justice for the victims of this horrific event and the survivors and all of you, the descendants. The segment was tragically named Genocide in the Heartland.

And I want you to hear what I'm getting ready to say. America is loud and strong when criticizing predators of genocide across the globe. We deem them war criminals and we denounce them on an international stage. Yet our nation's voice have historically and inexcusable been silent in the face of similar actions that occurred right here on our homeland to black people. Let me be clear. The tragedy that took place here in Greenwood 100 years ago was a genocide. It was an attempt to wipe out an entire community of families, homes, and businesses based on racism and hatred. And that's what genocide is.

Our national response must be equal with the act that happened to Greenwood. My CBC colleague, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, has introduced a bill, HR40, to create a commission to study reparations. I want you all to know that if you want a fighter, line up with Sheila Jackson Lee. That's right. Because she is not going to give up. We could be talking about finding money to plant trees, and she said, but you know, we need to vote on H.R. 40. And everybody's going like, what?

She is not going to allow Congress to go to sleep on this. And she's got 57 of us behind her doing the same work. It's an important and necessary step towards serious consideration of reparations and the Tulsa Greenwood race massacre must be a critical part of the discussion. The Congressional Black Caucus, we are 100 supportive of reparations and support and resources for this community. It is a debt that America owes, and we're going to make sure they pay it. The story of Tulsa Greenwood Massacre must be a focal point for our efforts to advance the critical priority of racial justice. You know, this whole country was awakened when George Floyd, we witnessed

him dying under the knee, being murdered under the knee of a coward wearing a badge, who took the life of a human being. And it shook the country. Well, that's why we are so woke this moment in the 100th year of what happened here in Greenwood. It's a battle that we at CBC wage every day, and it's a battle we will win. We all know that today is Memorial Day and communities across this country are rightfully honoring the heroic men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service to our nation and our families. But at the same time, it's also fitting that we also take the time to honor the memories, lift up the legacy of those lost 100 years ago here in Greenwood.

In their names, we honor you, their descendants, and commit to supporting you in the fight for justice. I remember when I was elected mayor a long time ago, a reporter walked up to me and he said, so you think you got elected mayor because there's more black people in your city? I said, sir, I got elected because I have earned the respect and honor of the people of this city. I said, but if you want to discuss my skin color, have a talk to God,

because he blessed me with this beautiful black skin. He made me equal. I don't sit down under anybody, because I have the right to stand up. My grandmother told me, Brenda, if you work hard, if you go to school and keep your faith in God, there's no door that you do not deserve to walk through. There's no table that you do not deserve to sit at. And as a black woman in America, as a member of Congress, I want Greenwood to know we are laying our fingerprint on this city, and you have us, we have your back, and I know you have ours. God bless you and thank you. This is beautiful. We've worked a long time to get to this point.

We got some more work to do. Is that all right? I'm attorney Demario Solomon Simmons. Law is my ministry. Law is my ministry. Justice is my passion. I won't be long, but I gots to be strong. Is that all right? I won't be long, but I gots to be strong.

What I want to do is really talk about the Justice for Greenwood Foundation, what we have set out to do, what we have done, and what we plan to do in the future. And so you can understand, you know, who's fighting for you and what we all collectively are fighting for. Is that all right? All right. So just our mission. At the end of the day, we seek justice and reparations for the survivors and the descendants of those who suffered the massacre. It's real simple. That is our guiding star. We have four major points. Number one, financial compensation for those who suffered the massacre. Number two, we want accountability. Right, Sarah? We want accountability for all those who perpetrated the massacre. We want to make sure we document and publicize the stories and the narratives of descendants all around what we call,

and I want you to start saying this word, Greenwood Diaspora. Say that. Say it one more time. Greenwood Diaspora. Because we were dispersed throughout the world, but we're one. And that's what we want you to understand when you leave here today. We are the Greenwood Diaspora. We are Greenwood. And then number four, we want to make sure we are able to tell the truth about what happened with the massacre. We don't really even understand exactly what happened with everyone in the massacre. We want to tell that

truth and we want to stand with our survivors and our community to make sure that resources continue to flow, start flowing into our community. Is that all right? Let's talk about a few of the things we've accomplished to date because we've been busy and we've had some great successes. First of all, we filed a historic public nuisance lawsuit that no one saw coming. Y'all want to give it up for that? I know. No one saw coming. I want you to know we worked on that case for over 18 months in silence. We pulled together a team of lawyers from around this country. You're going to see some of them today. You're going to hear from a few.

And we worked on that case and we worked on that case and we worked on that case. And we almost filed that case last Juneteenth when Trump was coming down. We said, no, we need to wait. And we finally got that case filed in September. I'm a little bit more about that case. We worked to get a congressional hearing that Representative Lawrence just talked about just last week and Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, who I want to tell you, when we got to D.C., they tried to make us park a mile away from the Capitol. And Representative Sheila Jackson Lee was on the ground. It was hot. She was on the ground. And she said, no, no, no, no. These people are going to come right to the steps of the Capitol.

And that's what we did. But we had a hearing. Yes. And more than a hearing, because of my frat brother, Representative Hank Johnson, we have a bill introduced on our behalf for Greenwood. Now, yes, give it up. We have a congressional bill that was introduced last week by Representative Hank Johnson and many of the CBC members have already signed on. We've created this descendant network that's never been created before.

So many, all these descendants in here, most of them we've talked to, we've interviewed, and we actually created a descendant hotline. And I'm going to give you that number here in a second. Because, again, we are the Greenwood diaspora. We are Greenwood, so we're bringing ourselves together to be a strong block. We are able, a little small, grassroot, North Tulsa organization was able to fundraise enough that we did something that no one had done before. We gave our survivors, each one of our survivors, $100,000. Now, it's not reparations. It's a gift of love. Because at the end of the day, Greenwood was a love story, and I'll tell you more about that later. But we've made sure that we've centered the survivors and descendants. We've made sure that this weekend is not about Disneyland and celebrations.

It's about the survivors and reparations. Now, our team, I'm so proud of the team that we've assembled, a diverse team. We're all over the country, lawyers, activists, academics, just regular folks. Some of these folks, if you're on the Justice for Greenwood team, please stand. Please, Sarah, for the team. Right. McKenzie, yeah, stand. The whole table of folks.

These are the people that's been working on the behalf of Justice for Greenwood. And look at this legal team. And you're going to hear from some of our other lawyers here. We are committed to getting justice for Greenwood. Because of the tireless efforts of these people you saw on the previous slide and this slide, we have the passion, the compassion, and the resources to fight this fight as long as need be. I hope it's not another hundred years, Michael, but we're going to fight it. Is that all right, Uncle Red? That's right. That's right. So our initiatives moving forward,

obviously the historic litigation, but it's not just one case. We have four cases going, and I'm going to tell you about those. Our descendant outreach, as I told you about our hotline, you're going to hear more about that. We have a full program, so when people call, we can get your information, and we can connect you with our group and with our network. We have an oral history project that's started. Some of you were interviewed today. If you were interviewed today, raise your hand. Okay, how did that go? Did that go all right? All right. That's just the beginning of our oral history project, where we're going to go across the nation throughout the Greenwood diaspora,

capturing these stories of our families. And we have a wonderful new website that will be launching in the next couple of weeks that will be the number one resource, all things Greenwood. And we have the developer here who's also a descendant who will talk a little bit about that. Now let's talk about this historic litigation. As you know, we filed the public nuisance case September 1st, 2020. And I want to clear up a few misconceptions about the case. The case is for everyone in Greenwood. It's for the entire North Tulsa community. It's for all those who were impacted by the massacre.

Yes, there are certain individuals who are named on the litigation. But when we are successful, when we are successful but when we are successful, when we are successful, when we are successful, it's going to benefit in our entire community. It's going to benefit survivors, descendants, and our entire community. We have two claims. One is the public nuisance claim, which simply says a nuisance was created in 1921 that has continued and gotten worse each and every year, Congresswoman Sheila

Jackson Lee. And we want that nuisance to be abated. That's the legal term, and we believe that the law is very clear that we should be able to move forward with our case and be able to prove to fix or abate the nuisance. That's why we don't have a dollar amount, because we don't know how much it actually costs. We don't know what all it takes to completely abate the nuisance that is here in North Tulsa. The nuisance that we see every day when we see that highway running through our community. The nuisance we see when we see on the south side of the highway it is a first rate city and on the north side of the highway where we live is a third world country. That's the nuisance that we see all the time.

I've just been informed, and I must stop here and recognize former State Representative Don Ross. Don Ross, Representative Ross, are you here? Will you please stand and raise your hand? Yes, yes. This is the man, along with Senator Horner, that had the 1997 Tulsa Race Riot Commission, who created the report in 2001 that said reparations were due. He's the man that's responsible for this Greenville Cultural Center that we're standing in here today. He's a man that when other people didn't want to talk about the massacre, didn't want to talk about reparations, didn't want to do the right thing, We love you, Don Ross. We thank you. We thank you, Don Ross. And we miss Senator Maxine Horner, who passed away just a few months ago. Give it up for Senator Maxine Horner. Who sent me an email less than a week before she passed away, just to say, Demarie, I want you to know I'm with you.

I'm with you. I believe in you. And I am hoping and praying that you never give up the fight. That's an email I will always cherish. We're also asking for unjust enrichment. We are tired of this city and others utilizing our names and our likenesses and your pictures of your relatives. What's all of that? Like your grandfather, your auntie, your cousin, your father's picture being utilized in movies and books and shows and museums while you get nothing.

That's your intellectual property. That's your family heirloom. That's your narrative. That's why we said, you're not going to build this $30 million history center and give our people nothing. You can build it on the backs of our people. In the litigation, we have seven defendants. Now please know, we looked at a lot of other

defendants. And my good friend, former Carver Middle School and Boogity Washington, my classmate Steven Terrell can tell you, we looked at a lot of different defendants. But we settled on seven defendants, obviously first being the city of Tulsa. The second being the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce. The third being TDA, Tulsa Development Authority. The fourth being the Tulsa Metropolitan Planning Commission. The fifth being Tulsa County. And then we had the Oklahoma Sheriff Department and the Oklahoma Military Department of the National Guard.

I was told today that during a ceremony at Standpipe Hill where those brave black men made their last stand, that the Oklahoma National Guard made an apology that actually stated for the first time in 100 years that we did not do our job, we did not protect the people of Greenwood. That only happened because of what we have done, because of all of you. Real quickly, what we're asking for, we're asking for a lot because we need a lot to abate the nuisance. You probably can't see that.

It's pretty small. But I will tell you, first and foremost, we're asking for a victim's compensation fund. We're asking for a Victims' Compensation Fund for all those who were victimized not just by the massacre, but the 100 years of continued harm. Absolutely, Representative Lee. We're asking for a scholarship fund for descendants, specifically for descendants. Not for anybody, but for the descendants. Specifically for descendants. Not for anybody, but for the descendants. For those descendants who still live in Tulsa, we're asking that your taxes be abated for 100 years.

For 100 years, you paid it to a city and a county that owed you money, so for 100 years, you shouldn't have to pay anything to that city or that county. We're asking for the establishment of a land trust and give our dang land back. We want our land back. My wife's in here, so I said dang. My mother-in-law's over there, too. We want our land back. Guys and ladies, this is reasonable stuff.

You took it. You still have it. Give it back. When they come to black folks, they just lose their mind. Like, what do you mean? No, we want it back. We want, in fact, this land right here in Greenwood Cultural Center, this is actually owned by the city of Charles.

I'm standing right here. We want this land back. We want this land back. And if you say, well, I can't get the land back, well, give me the fair market value of the land today. How much do you think that land with all those buildings they're building down on Greenwood is worth today? Don't talk to us about Greenwood rising when we don't own any of the land. Don't talk to us about Tulsa trying when we don't own any of the land. Don't talk to us about everything is all good when we don't own any of the land that made Greenwood Greenwood.

It was land ownership that made Greenwood. It was freedom of my state and wealth and wealth comes from land. And we want it back because it's ours. It is ours. It is ours. I said I won't be long. But I got to be slow. Look, I'm from 36th Street North. I go back to Gibbs, Chamberlain Park, Lincoln Park,

Heartthorn Park. All my life, we've never had a hospital in North Tulsa. All my life, we've had to go. People die on their way to Amherst because there's no hospital in our community. But guess what? Before the massacre, we had a hospital. So we want a hospital. We want the Dr. A.C. Jackson Memorial Hospital built in our communities so we can have first-rate health care right in our own communities. That's a part of the abatement.

So when these people talk about we're asking for money, we're asking for life. We're asking for liberty. We're asking for property. And yes, we're asking for life. We're asking for liberty. We're asking for property. And yes, we're asking for money. I'm going to move on because I also want to tell you real quickly, it's not just the public nuisance litigation. Because of the legal team, because of the people who are pouring in the resources, we also are filing several open records litigation because as the city was lying to the nation, saying they wanted to be transparent, they wouldn't even give us all the records that they have about the massacre. But we sued them for that. And we also sued Tulsa Development Authority. We also sued Tulsa Metropolitan Planning Area Commission.

And guess what? We're going to be suing a few others. We want all the information. Because we're tired of us having to always tell the story. We want to know who actually perpetrated it. We want to know the names of some of these people on these pictures with their rifles. We want to know who their grandchildren are, whose uncle was that, whose father was that that's now in power.

We want that information. It didn't just stop there because there was a lot of insurance companies that didn't pay. Did they pay our claims? Did they pay us fairly? We have researched because of our diligence. We actually found and reviewed hundreds of claims.

We know what was lost. We know where the people lived. And it's granular. And we have this outside on the counter. Some of you probably have this in your hand. It's so granular. It talks about people losing their encyclopedia sets, their mattresses, their silverware, their clothes, their family heirlooms. And we found through our diligent research these 13 companies that are still in operation today.

We found them. And we've reached out to them. We've sent them letters. And to date, only one company has called us back for a meeting. Is that right, Michael? That's Chubb Company. And we're going to have a follow-up with Chubb. But these other ones, and I had the great honor on Friday night to pick up our auntie,

our collective auntie, Representative Maxine Waters. I had the great honor to pick her up from the airport. And if you didn't know, she's the chairwoman of a thing called a financial services committee. And you know what the financial services committee is over? One of the things that they regulate is insurance companies. And Representative Maxine Waters told me that she's going to have a hearing with these guys to talk about what they're going to do about those claims that they never paid. That's what she told me. I think she told me. I'm going to do about those claims that they never paid. That's what she told me. I think she told, yeah.

Oh, I'm going to get to her. So maybe they'll talk to us. Maybe they'll return our letter after Auntie Maxine has a little hearing with them. Yeah. But it doesn't just stop with the insurance companies in the city, in the county. I want to show you just a quick video because it wasn't just the insurance companies that hurt us after the massacre. It was also the banks. You will see, if you go to Tulsa, in 1928 to throw the case out of court. Because if the insurance company had paid him, they would have had to pay all the other people who held policies.

And it wasn't only the insurance companies. The banks also took advantage of it. If you had lost your bank book in the fire, the bank claimed, as the Muscogee National of the bank unless somehow their records had survived. And guess what? We've done the research on those 27 banks that was here in Tulsa at the time, and we found about 17 of those banks are still in operation through Chase Bank and Bank of Oklahoma. And guess what? Who regulates the banks is this woman named Congresswoman Maxine Waters. And she told me that she's going to have a conversation with these banks who kept

and stole our money. So I told you I wouldn't be long, but I gots to be strong. I wouldn't be long, but I gots to be strong. Justice for Greenwood. Justice for Greenwood. Justice for Greenwood. There was a lawsuit that was filed, I believe, while we were still in, it might have been before we got to law school. DeMario has been working on this issue since then. And then it was with Charles Ogletree and Johnny Cochran. Baby lawyer.

What was baby lawyer? I was a Baby lawyer. What was baby lawyer? I was a baby lawyer. Oh, baby lawyer. He said, you weren't a lawyer yet. In 2004. Oh, yes, he was in 2004. That's true. Okay.

Fact-checking up here in real time. Okay. Y'all get to see we really are like brother and sister. So next we're going to introduce you all to the Justice for Greenwood Partners, although I feel like I should be saying the doors of the church are now open. Is there one that's standing for justice? But I believe there's a room full. So the introduction of the Greenwood Partners, we have Michael Swain and Sarah Sofinelli, who I had the –

y'all wrote that down wrong on here. I'm so sorry. Michael Schwartz, I'm going to put some respect on your name. It is right on this sheet. That's true. SRZ is one of the most prestigious international law firms in the United States to partner with DeMario and Justice for Greenwood. SRZ is committed to the fight for reparations and has more than 20 attorneys. You saw some of their faces up just moments ago working on justice for Greenwood initiatives, providing millions of dollars in attorney hours. They're demonstrating in practice what reparations should look like.

So thank you all. Yes. We have Jaya Rapp. Am I saying that right, Jaya Rapp, who is a descendant and hails from Commerce House, a member of the Commerce House team who has provided countless hours and resources of marketing and branding support for Justice for Greenwood. Jaya, will you stand? Thank you. And Nicole Austin Hillary, who I remember from the Brennan Center, has been a partner for over two years, working with DeMario and Dr. Tiffany Crutcher. The work began with police reform, which was sparked, of course, by the killing of Terrence Crutcher,

who is Dr. Crutcher's twin brother, by Officer Betty Jo Shelby. Human Rights Watch also wrote a damning, damning report on reparations and is responsible for exposing the commission. The commission. More on that later. More on that later. More on that later. But it turns out their biggest. We won't be seeing them much, but we've heard about them. They'll come. We'll come see them. Next and finally, not not least. Last, certainly not least, is Amanda Jackson from Color of Change. I'm sure you all have seen the Color of Change petition for Justice

for Greenwood that's been circulating. I learned just the other day that it's been circulating actually since 2019. So she's been in the fight with Justice for Greenwood for quite some time. And Amanda is bad, y'all. And I'm talking Michael Jackson bad. Sister, we thank you so much for all of your hard work and all that you've done to support justice for Greenwood. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to Michael and Sarah for an update, whatever. Okay. And now, after the preacher is finished, the reports will be five minutes because we have this great room of workers that we have to get started on building Greenwood 2.0. Isn't that right, y'all?

Okay. Five minutes. I'm going to cut you off, Green. Okay. Oh, he has one minute. Okay. Oh, can I do one more thing? I'm sorry. Y'all, if you don't know Roland Martin, Roland, can you just wave? Roland is a man that wears many hats. He was interviewing people in the back just a moment ago. Now he's a camera operator. Roland, we thank you for all of the platform you've given this issue. We are so grateful to you. We love you, good brother. Thank you so much. Sorry, that was not your time.

Hello, I'm Michael Swartz. I'm a partner at Schulte, Roth, and Zabel, and I'm chair of our litigation department. And it's an honor of a lifetime to join your community's fight for justice. It's just incredible. If I could invite my team up here with me. So my firm is a New York-based law firm. We have over 300 lawyers based in New York, Washington, and London. Our team is from New York and Washington. And the way we got involved was

DeMario reached out to Bryan Stevenson to get help on an intellectual property issue about the misuse of a likeness from the massacre. And so we've done a lot of work for Bryan's Equal Justice Initiative, and he reached out to the firm, and we said we'd be happy to help on that project, but we said, is there anything else we can do? And DeMauro found some things for us to do. You've seen them up there. To give you a sense of what our work has blossomed to, at this point in time, I think we're up to 30 lawyers, 20 business staff. We've donated 2,700 hours of time. And at New York billing rates, that amounts to over $2.5 million in donated legal services.

And up here is some of the people you saw. These people are working tirelessly, day and night, in fighting the seven defendants that you've seen up there. We have weekly calls with DeMario and his team. It's just been an amazing experience. It's an amazing lawsuit. Cannot wait to celebrate victory with you all. I'm just glad I didn't have to go right after DeMario. Thank you for the the buffer, Michael.

So I'm Sarah Sofno. You may ask why is a large corporate law firm from New York involved in this case. And not surprising, many of us never heard of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre until last summer. But we listened and we learned and we're still listening and we're still learning every day. And even though we are not from Greenwood and we are not descendants of the race massacre, we do believe that it is our collective duty, our moral obligation, our professional obligation as lawyers, as human beings, to use our privilege, our immense privilege, and the resources that we have to help Greenwood access justice through the legal system. And it's a system, a legal system that has failed far too many people for far too long.

It's a system that's part of the power structure in this country that has oppressed and silenced the survivors and descendants for 100 years. And not just survivors and descendants of the Tulsa race massacre, but black survivors and descendants of the ongoing state-sanctioned violence and systemic racism in this country. Our systems need to do better. Our legal system has to be better. And the system's not going to get better. It is not going to hold accountable the perpetrators of oppression and violence. And that's those of us with privilege, with the resources, and with the capability to access that legal system demand it. And that's why Sholter, Offen, Zabel, it's why our firm has put the full weight of the firm behind this lawsuit.

We know, Mr. Ellis and Ms. Fletcher and Ms. Randall, we can't give you back your childhoods, through restitution, through respect, and take a step toward eliminating the racial disparities that are pervasive and the persistent inequality of opportunity. And we do think this can happen through the courts. We're going to get there through the courts, but also outside of the courts, and it's why we are so proud. We're proud that we can be in a position to be advocates for you. We are so honored to be co-counsel with DeMario and the amazing legal team.

I mean, who we finally have met in person, LaShondra and Cordell and Eric and Stephen. There's so many. We're so proud to be part of that legal team. But we're also proud to now represent, also as our client, the Justice for Greenwood Foundation. There's so much to do. And as Michael said, our firm, not just lawyers, but non-lawyers, our entire firm has put our time and energy and our hearts into Justice for Greenwood, from doing estate planning for survivors and descendants to working very closely with Greta and DJ at Justice for Greenwood

on the oral history and descendant outreach projects and just providing general counsel on legal, business, operating, any advice that we can give to Justice for Greenwood Foundation, we are here to give it. So I will say I stand here incredibly humbled and awestruck of the survivors and all of you, your entire community, raising your voices, raising your voices, demanding justice. We are so grateful and honored that you are allowing us to represent you and, as I say, to play some small role, to be just one tool in your toolkit to accomplish that. As Representative Lee said yesterday, while we may be members,

thank you for giving us an opportunity to be part of the movement, to be moving. And you have friends that we are a large firm in New York. You have friends in New York. We are there for you. We are proud to be part of this. We cannot wait to see victory and justice for Greenwood and for black communities across the country. When you rise, everybody will rise. Thank you. This is a point of personal privilege. I've seen Sarah at work now, and I want to get her ancestry traced, because I think she might be related to John Brown.

She's ride or die out here in the street. That's right. Okay? Having DeMario's back, there's been an all-out attack and a character assassination, not just on the survivors, but also of their attorney. You've seen the commission busy at work with all the dirty tricks, and Sarah's been right there making sure that they get the facts right. A million dollars isn't enough for the survivors. A $50 million pledge is not too much.

You are right on, brother. They are worthy, and they're not going to demonize them. We didn't tell them to cancel the events. We just told them their priorities weren't straight. And so we'll just move right along. And as it turns out, you reap what you sow. So when you lie to people and try to get them to come here, they might not show up. Shout out to Stacey Abrams and John Legend.

We're moving along. Jaya, who is a descendant, and I'd like for you to come up and give just brief remarks. I think that she is a perfect example of how we're hoping all the descendants will decide to engage in this fight to recreate Greenwood. So thank you for your service. Thank you. So hi, everybody. I am Jaya Rapp, and I think as Demario or Angela mentioned, I work at Commerce House. So we're based in Dallas.

We're a brand, a full service branding agency, marketing agency. And this time last year, as our, I hate to say it, but mostly white marketing firm looked around to see what was happening in our society and our culture, realized they needed to do some work. And they took time to reflect and think through how might they make an impact. I think for many of you, you've probably been through diversity training or you've sat in sessions at work with your colleagues and you knew somebody was checking the box. Commerce House, and I think it really says a lot about our owner, Mark Denisek, who's not here with us today, but he is in Dallas, and I'm sure he's watching if this is streaming live. He really wanted us to make an impact. And so over the last year, we've had conversations about what is happening in this country, but more than just talking, we're actually doing. And so when I came to him and said, Mark, I don't know if you know what happened in 1921 in Tulsa.

And he said, no, I don't. Tell me. He actually listened when I told him about my family, my grandmother who was pregnant, my grandfather who owned a tailor shop and was trying to support his growing family. That shop was burned to the ground. And it was only due to a customer of his that they even made it out alive they went on to have six children in total I'm here with my half-brother Greg who is another grandchild of the Neal's I have my cousin and you know I think we were just so proud to be here today. We grew up knowing what happened

in Tulsa. And when we started to realize the world was learning, that was really important for us. But more than just what's happening and learning and educating, how do we compel change, right? How do we make the change happen? Demario is certainly doing so much of that work. At Commerce House, again, as a branding agency, there's a little bit we can do. We can't do any of the litigation work, but we can tell the story. So often, branding is about compelling someone to buy a pair of shoes, to compel them to buy a car, maybe to make a donation. But how do you compel someone to care? How do you compel someone to give their time, their energy, their voice to a cause? And that's what Commerce House is trying to do. So whether it's the website that we're working on, DeMario mentioned, it'll be

up in a few weeks. And we really want that to be the hub of information about how beautiful and thriving Tulsa was before the massacre. The Greenwood District was beautiful before these images. And these are the images that flood the world right now. So the website will tell the story of what it was like before. It will also tell the raw truth of what happened on that night and to the 300 plus, we know it's plus, men and women that lost their lives and the thousands that lost their property and the futures that they had before them. We will also tell the story on that site of what has happened since, the continuing harm and how it is not over. But as I think all

of you guys have this today, that continuing harm can end with us. And so coming back to the work that Commerce House is doing, it really is about telling that story, compelling people to listen and to act with their voices. And for those of you who want to tell others how they can also participate, it's on the back of this card. It's as easy as signing the petition. It's as easy as donating. It's as easy as being here, joining in the commemoration for all of the survivors, for the descendants. So I'm glad I didn't have to follow you, but I just want to say that those of us in Dallas, those of us who are part of the diaspora who maybe aren't here in Tulsa, and we haven't been here for 100 years, but as a part of the diaspora, first we say thank you.

But we also want to do our part, and so we're just so happy that everyone is here in this room today and hopefully will continue to be with us over the next 100 years as well. Thank you. hopefully will continue to be with us over the next hundred years as well. Next up is someone who is so powerful, and I had the opportunity to work with her when I was at the CBC, a voting rights champion, really a champion of all things for racial advancement for us and for all marginalized folks. Nicole Austin-Hillary is the director of the Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. If I can have you come up now, Nicole Austin-Hillary. Y'all know we got to have a sister girl moment, so just let us have it.

Thank you all. I'm so honored and privileged to be here with you. And let me just say this, because my mom, if she were here, would slap me if I didn't. So you know when we're in church, you got to dress right. But we went to the soil ceremony this morning, my team and I, and then we've been hanging out with our partners, Councilwoman Vanessa Hall Harper and Christy Williams. So we are dressed to do the work. So forgive me for not being in heels and pearls today.

But let me get to the substance. Human Rights Watch is here on the ground in Tulsa because the fight for justice is a human rights issue. And for anybody who tells you that it's not, you tell them they're lying. There are some folks who think about human rights as something that happens in other parts of the world. Some folks falsely think, well, human rights issues are things that happen in foreign countries. We don't have those issues in the United, on free labor, on degrading, on pillaging, on taking from and not giving voice to the people who have built this nation. And those are human rights issues. And that's why we're here with you all.

We started our work here. My colleague, John Raifafling who is out there with us today john rafling is our senior researcher for criminal justice and when brother terence crutcher lost his life john came here to tulsa and he said we're going to study this policing issue and we're going to figure out what is going on there what is wrong that black men like Brother Terrence Crutcher are losing their lives? Something's wrong in Tulsa. And my colleague, Brian Root, who is an economic statistician, magician with numbers, came with John and said, OK, we're going to figure this out and we're going to pull together the data because we need proof. We need evidence, Brother DeMario, Lawyer

DeMario. Lawyers need proof to show what is going on and what's wrong. And that's how our work started. And we came here because we wanted to be behind Sister Tiffany. We wanted to be behind the Crutcher family. We wanted to be behind all of the people here in Tulsa who needed to have justice. We wanted to empower them and serve as a voice for them to lift them up. And so that's all we are. We are a tool. And from that work, my colleague, Dreesen Heath, who is our racial justice researcher and advocate, who I'm going to let you hear from, said to me, and Dreesen came with me from the Brennan Center

when I came to Human Rights Watch, and Dreesen said to me a long time ago, she said, Nicole, we cannot be here doing this work on race and not talking about reparations. You cannot talk about justice. You cannot talk about race without having a real honest discussion and doing something about reparations. And so Dreesen, through her work, is doing that. That report that you talked about, Angela, that's bad, that tells the truth, that's Dreesen's work. So I want you all to hear from Dreesen so you can hear more about that work. And I'm just going to leave you with this.

We are going to be here with you in Tulsa. We are going to be your ride or die until we seek reconciliation and justice for you all. And we are working at all levels. We are with you here in Tulsa. We are with our leader, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, pushing for H.R. 40 because it has to be from the top to the bottom and everything in between to get the justice that you all deserve and that you all must have if we are going to be a country that is true to our principles and values on race

and on providing equity and justice for everyone. So I want you to hear from Dreesa next. Thank you, Congresswoman. This podium is still hot from Brother DeMario. Right. This podium is still hot from Brother DeMario. It's always a privilege and just honor to be in this space, to walk the streets of Tulsa, to walk the Greenwood District. So many people refer to this space just as Black Wall Street. And there were 40 square blocks of people living their lives, people succeeding, people thriving.

Let's not narrow this space to the maximum prosperous space that it was, and still is. All of that richness lies within all of you in this room. We may not see it materially yet, but we will soon. But the richness lies in each one of us here absorbing each other's energy and, you know, continuing this outlasting journey towards justice. Growing up here, so I was born here, did not grow up in Tulsa, but my parents would tell me stories, haunting stories as a child, but they would not explain exactly what happened.

They just said some bad thing happened. I was a child in a New Haven public library, just started discovering pictures, pictures of black bodies burned, pictures of homes destroyed. And ever since that moment, it was like my discovery of that at like seven years old, haunts me to this day. And to be in the presence of Mother Fletcher, Uncle Red, to then testify in Congress alongside you all, to just be in that energy knowing all that you've been through, knowing the many people that have died waiting for the very thing that you had to go to Washington, D.C. and plead for.

It's not right. It's not just that you had to do that. But all these people in this room are committed, are committed to fighting on your behalf, to fighting for this community, right? And reparations is not a bad word. Can I get a reparations now? Reparations now. We cannot wait. We can't wait any longer.

We've waited too long with this trauma and pain. We cannot wait to recover. And we can't wait for the perpetrators to totally admit. We have to continue to raise hell because our lives have been put on the line for centuries, for generations. And that means the harm is compounded in generations. If we don't get it right in Tulsa, we cannot accomplish reparations at the national level. And I truly mean that. We're talking about one of the grossest human rights violations in this country. And the compounded racist discriminatory policies thereafter. Okay? It doesn't just matter that, you know, people dying, people being killed in the massacre, being shot, being burned, being lynched, that's no different from how people are dying today. Right?

You don't have to be shot, burned, and lynched to experience black death in this country at the hands of white supremacy and at the hands of systemic racism. So we need to be committed. Everyone in this room, so many cameras are going to go off after June 1st. Everybody in this room has to make a commitment to stay. The light cannot go off in Tulsa. Keep the light on. This community has been shining. Keep the light on. So, reparations now. All right, guys, our survivors are getting a little tired, so they're going to start making their exit.

Uncle Red, would you guys like to say anything? Yes. To the President of the United States, I'm pleading for justice and reparation. I have waited for 100 years for this. And it's my great opportunity to say this. We are one. We need this. We earned this.

So I'm waiting. That's all I have to say thank you so much applause applause applause applause applause applause

applause applause applause applause applause my brother spoke for both of us thank you thank you applause applause Mother Fletcher said, my brother spoke for both of us. Thank you, Mother Fletcher.

Thank you, Uncle Rev. Well, I know somebody else who speaks for them and has been for the last couple of years working diligently with Color of Change on this petition for justice for Greenwood, and that is none other than our good sister, Amanda Jackson, Economic Justice Campaign Chair at Color of Change. Thank you. Hey, good people. I just quickly want to highlight a theme I think that's important with what we call today as Memorial Day and why we're here. So I'll say color change came into this effort when I started in 2019. I sought to bring attention to the comprehensive nature of all of the Black Wall Streets in this country.

There is somewhere nearing a dozen that we've been able to unearth as we talk about Black Wall Street, what Black Wall Street has meant. And then all in all, just the pinnacle point of black economic success. And so I'll read some of those, but before we get there, I want to talk about today being Memorial Day and this day being the day that we've come to honor those who serve in the military. But the origins of this day are rooted in black Charleston, South Carolina. When the Union soldiers who fought to ensure that the freed blacks would in fact would be freed black people were murdered and, South Carolina, that gave them a proper barrier and sought to commemorate what they fought for. And the narrative of what today is in terms of service, how that has been stripped from that community, from those people, from those black people who wanted to lift up everything that has

happened. And that is incredibly synonymous with the way we talk about Tulsa and how Tulsa, too, has lost, or some of the stories, some of the narrative around how we talk about Tulsa has been stripped away and in our efforts of wanting to control and own who and what we are. And so as we talk about Black Wall Street, I think it's incredibly important to lift up this Black Wall Street, the Tulsa Black Wall Street. And as has been named throughout this weekend, Tulsa is America.

What happened here in Tulsa happened everywhere. In Durham, North Carolina, the all-black neighborhood of Haiti, because much of the folks who resided there came from Haiti. In the same way the first black insurance company was there, the building is still there, still owned by black people. In Wilmington, North Carolina, we had an all-black elected government. Also all-black things, black theaters, black libraries, in the same way that we know Tulsa also had, also faced the same fate as Tulsa in that a mob and a sanctioned white-led massacre also burned Wilmington in the same fashion that it burned Tulsa.

In Columbia, South Carolina, there were black-owned grocery stores, again, black-owned libraries, right, black-owned boutiques, black-owned shops. In Birmingham and Bowley, not too far from here, in Mount Bayou, the stories go on. And so when I started, my third campaign here at Color of Change in 2019 was to lead this effort. And that effort carried us through the spring of last year until we connected with our partners at Human Rights Watch. You've just heard from them, but I want to say their names again. You know, Dreesen Heath, Jerry Johnson, Jerry Somewhere. Yes, I must lift up our comms expert in the back. Yeah, wait, you know, Jerry, me, Jerry. And of course, the Nicole Austin Hillary. And then in our effort in wanting to tell the story of our Black Wall Street's work together with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee on HR 40.

And so in this effort, like our partners, we are partners. We are here simply to tell the story, to push the story forward, and to support what that is for you all. We are equally a tool, and we're here to listen, receive, be a sponge, and then whatever we get, we take. We're going to wring it out. We're going to make sure that what we wring out of that sponge flourishes, nourishes, and revives in a way that only this community sees for it to be. And so my last two bits as we talk about reparations here at Color of Change, we are a digital organization, the largest online racial justice organization. We always leave with a call to action.

So we talked about H.R. 40 with the congresswoman. If folks could take out their cell phones. Some of you might have already done this, but we're going to try again. There are two things I'm going to ask you to text. And I believe the number, yes, here we are. So to 55156, I'm going to ask you to text the word reparations. And I'm also going to ask you to text the word Tulsa. Two separate texts?

Yes, two separate texts, 55156. And both of those texts will support our mobilization efforts. And in talking about our mobilization efforts, I want to lift up my colleague, our senior campaigner, Phylicia Day Pine, and all the work that she does. Yeah, Phylicia Day is another critical important here in this effort. But as we again seek to revive the spirit of our Black Wall Streets with this continual celebration, we, like I said, will only amplify these voices. I personally am so incredibly full. I'm so full from all that I've just been able to allow myself to be steeped in. I'm full from the generosity, the warmth, and, of course, the spirit of the ancestors who are absolutely here.

So thank you, Tulsa. Thank you for offering that. And we are with you. And like we say, a color of change until justice is real. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Amanda. Okay, now the work begins. It's going to be a brief workshop. Somebody preached and got us ready, so we know our marching orders in advance.

So the small group discussions will be with your tables. You're going to answer where you're from, what brought you here today, your connection to Greenwood, and if you are a descendant, who is your ancestor. So again, for some of us that don't have great memories, write it down. I know I have to. I'm looking at notes right here. Where you're from, what brought you here today, your connection to Greenwood, and if you're a descendant, who is your ancestor? Okay. Now, here's the thing I asked

Demario if we could do. You guys got to do this quickly. What's your role in rebuilding Greenwood? Right? Again, we have Jaya as a great example demonstrating whether or not you work in a large place, you have your own place, you want to do something new. What's your role in rebuilding Greenwood? And so you all can break out into these discussions now. Am I doing the conversation with the members up here? So the CBC members who are still with us, I believe it's Congressman Johnson,

Congresswoman Jackson Lee, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee will join me up here for a discussion for the folks watching the live stream. It will also be brief. But did we lose Sheila Jackson Lee? Where'd she go? Sheila? Okay, okay, she's coming back. Okay.

Oh, everybody's leaving me. Well, dang. Okay, well, Congresswoman Barberley, you're going to have to talk to me about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission idea you have and some others. And we can get started. You all ready to break out? Got about 15 minutes. It is 343. My math is bad. What time is that? 3.58? All right. 3.58 will return. Thank you.. I'm sorry. I do have like multiple addresses, but I don't have any evidence of an active property was involved.

But I would guess that most of the people who live here are not property owners. You know, I think that's actually part of the history that bottles have been made. And oftentimes we're talking about the history of Greenwood. We only talk about the people who own property. We only talk about the people who own businesses. Does that know that this is an opportunity? Yes. Yes, it does. Yes.

And you live over here? That's cool. Her dad was a part of this. My mom is 90. And she brought her information for... I remember you. And we brought her information for, we've been talking to Mr. Mercer over the phone, but we brought information about her dad, which has the barbecue place here in Toto. That's awesome. That's awesome. So where do you live now? I live in Toto.

Okay. Three rooms. Okay. Three rooms. Okay. I'm really excited about my grandfather having a party here and my mom being a descendant. I guess I'm a descendant as well. And a lot of the siblings do have their own business. We have our own business. And so what do you do?

I have a job. Okay. Okay. Okay. And he was going to be here in the conference room. And then he said, I think he's going to be here. So his name is Neil Cornish. And I guess last week said. Oh, I don't know. I can't remember. I can't remember.

I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. What would you encourage a state legislator, a city councilor like Vanessa Hall-Harper to do to ensure that process occurs here as well? For me, I got here late, so... Yeah, yeah. We're hoping. So bad.

Most of them are not here. That's what she's on the other side of the table. And that's important that the truth be told. Because the truth in America as it relates to African Americans has really never been authentically told in a way that promotes not only healing but restitution and reparation. And so what we have to do in America is finally have a come-to-Jesus moment, have a day of reckoning where the truth be told. And I think what has happened in Tulsa, though, really sets us on the right course

because, in fact, now, I truly believe that we're going to pass H.R. 40, because this is a moment of reckoning. This is the truth being told, and this is going to help us move forward and get H.R. 40 passed. So the truth shall set you free. Yeah. I love that you referenced H.R. 40, Congresswoman. Of course, our lead sponsor of the bill is Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who's sitting right here. The favorite or my favorite moment of you introducing this bill was knowing that you were carrying on this legacy from now pastpast Congressman Conyers, who introduced H.R. 40 every Congress since 1989. What led you, Congresswoman, to really keep this fight going

and having the faith after all this time that Congress would really consider it, not just hold hearings, but consider it, pass it out of committee? What's giving you the hope that it will make it past the House floor and maybe to the Senate? Reparations time is now. Yes. And to my dear, beloved friend who did carry it, but what most people don't know is that 1988 was when a Republican president signed reparations, the Civil Liberties Act for Japanese Americans.

And African Americans were stand-up people. They were right there supporting, right there agreeing. And then this bill was written in 1989. And I do want to thank the Japanese American community. They are front and center with us, as are the rabbinical, the Episcopalians, and just an array of organizations, of course, from Human Rights to Urban League to NAACP. But as he was retiring, I was very honored to be able to be given this honor. And it was, I think, a duty.

It was an obligation. It was payback. And so those early years were pretty dark years because for some reason, Americans have a hard time saying that word when it's us. And so we decided to take a different approach as we grew. One, my sister, our names are similar, and we became in partnership with the idea of truth and reconciliation, but with the idea that HR 40 moves to create that pathway. We were in a church yesterday, and the Reverend, I have to call his name, Dr. Fezon, said, there is no reconciliation without justice. So HR 40 represents that. But in any event, there is no reconciliation without justice. So H.R. 40 represents that.

But in any event, we begin to look at human rights. We begin to look at being more bold about saying, rather than, you know, ask the question that we have always been asked, why, we say why not. We try to get over this hump of I didn't have slaves. I didn't brutalize anyone. I don't have any money to pay of I didn't have slaves. I didn't brutalize anyone. I don't have any money to pay. I didn't do anything. And so we began to focus in, Angela, and thank you for your leadership.

You got us where we are today, right in this room. But I begin to say government-sanctioned action, which is what is here in Tulsa. Government-sanctioned slavery. Government-sanctioned action, which is what is here in Tulsa. Government-sanctioned slavery. Government-sanctioned the black codes. Government-sanctioned Dim Crow. Government-sanctioned the lynching. Government-sanctioned the whole 20th century of segregated America. Government-sanctioned redlining.

Government told states, oh, you handled the GI Bill. So when the people came, when the soldiers came back, if I was in Mississippi, I'm just using an example, or in Texas, I didn't get the GI Bill. Maybe somebody else in another state might have, but I didn't get it because I was black. My grandmother didn't get Social Security because she was a domestic. And they wrote in the bill that domestics were not eligible because that means those employers would have to pay. And so this began to grind and grind. And I said, why are we embarrassed? Why do we have a paper bag over our head? It is just for there to be compensation, but there to be relief.

And so we began to coin the phrase, take from the Martin's book and say why we can't wait. Now we've got another phrase saying we've done our part. We paid our taxes. We've died. We've gone to war. And then, tragically, we become the fodder for the mass incarceration and the fodder for black men on the streets with police misconduct. And so that's where I came to say that this is a moment in history.

This year, this year we must pass H.R. 40. Now, that is in tandem with justice here in Tulsa. And we just feel that we have been catapulted right into the national fabric to say that there is no moving forward without justice for Tulsa reparations and to pass H.R. 40, which is legislation, which is a bill, which is a commission, and we have obviously modified so it is more than what John said, and he welcomes that. It is to develop reparation proposals reported back to the United States Congress to act on. And I know leaders like Angela Rye will not let us sit on a reparations bill that we should be acting on. And we thank you all for that. And we just think that we have just been overwhelmed by the wonderment of where we've been over these last couple of days, that we really do have to act and act on H.R. 40.

Thank you, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee. It has been so encouraging to watch you work around this. I think Ms. Lawrence said it best. We're like, we're planting trees. And Congresswoman Jackson-Lee is like, reparations, though. So thank you for that as well. Congresswoman Blunt-Rochester, I want to turn to you because we were just sharing space yesterday, and you said

something so profound about filling the spirit of the ancestors even during the January 6th insurrection. Filling the spirit of the ancestors in a positive way to let you know that you're resilient and powerful. But there's another kind of thing that's hovering around this reparations discussion and that is the questioning of our humanity, right? The reason that we're not worthy. Congresswoman Jackson Lee just hinted at that. And I think it's really the reason that people felt like they could go back to Capitol Hill, tear it up, and take their power back. What are some of the things that the Congressional Black Caucus, state and local elected officials here,

need to be working on to deconstruct that mentality so when we fully embrace the black Wall Street mentality, we have the ability to really implement what was destroyed. Thank you, Angela, so much for that question and thank you for your leadership. I mean, first of all, I want to acknowledge that this moment is a moment of urgency and that it is the collective that's going to make the difference. And so what's really pushing this across the country, even being in this room, seeing people from Dallas, Texas, seeing people from all over the diaspora coming together at all ages from over 100 years old to the young people. A young boy named Preston came to me this morning and he said, I'm afraid to ask this question. But he said, in my school, I heard they just passed a law that they can't teach us about Tulsa. And so what I committed to that young man was that when we go back, in addition to talking about reparations, we're talking about education. I'm on the Energy and

Commerce Committee in Congress. We focus on health care. We focus on commerce and trade. It's got to be all hands on deck. Every single person can play their part. And that's all we're called to do. And so being here for me, having been up in that gallery during the insurrection, I could feel the spirit of our ancestors. I could feel all of them from Jim Crow to slavery to Tulsa saying for us to do our part right now. So if you're a legislator, legislate, appropriate, get the monies directed. If you've never run for office, I never ran for anything in my life until I ran for Congress. Never ran for anything. We've got to stand up for ourselves.

We've got to run for office. We've got to help and support each other, and we've got to support our legal teams as well. So I'm just glad to be a part of Tulsa. The one line that came out, keep the light on. Keep the light on. We cannot let this day go by. And we've committed that we're going to pass H.R. 40. We're going to pass H.R. 40 this year, this year, this year.

Thank you so much to Congresswoman Jackson Lee, Congresswoman Lee, and Congresswoman Blunt Rochester. I know Congressman Johnson had to step out, but as the primary sponsor of the Tulsa Claims Act, I also want to just acknowledge that also was the work of Congressman John Conyers, and again, to see you all carrying that on and making it stronger. That's what this is all about. So as you all begin to wrap up, because it's time, it's 3.58, and I would love for you all to come back from the red carpet and from your table conversations as you all are developing your calls to action.

Let's give the congresswoman another round of applause. Thank you. We're not quite at the benediction, but we're close. It's almost my benediction because I have to go try to catch a flight. And my brother left me up here. Demario, come back. Well, can I just shout out to the people from Texas? I know you're in the room.

Paul Davis, I know AME members. I know they're all around. Thank you so very much. Thank you all so much. I'm so grateful. I love y'all. And can we give a shout out to Angela Rye. Miss Angela Rye, who's keeping the light on. I wonder, did you know my uncle Kenneth Simmons?

Yes, right, yes, yes, yes, yes. He was my great-uncle. In fact, there's a movie set back there where he passed right down there. I just gave Angela a book about the Senate standing in college. I know you've got to go. That's right. I should be in here. Yeah. about the Senate's business in college? I know you gotta go to the... I tried, they were nice to me. Yeah. Son, Ken's businesses, I wouldn't visit them back in 2001.

Right down at South Valley. So I'll tell Ken that we need to... I'll just do it, check it out. But I'll just follow through. Okay, I will. My father really needs to go to the Senate somewhere. You can't think you can't trust him. Okay, I will. No, you're okay. All right, people. So we're having a good time and we're going to try to get things going around. If we can get everybody to your seat. We have

three individuals. Go ahead. Yeah, okay. We have three individuals who are going to talk for one minute about what they learned at their table. But one more time, let's give it up for Angela Rahr. One more time.

Okay, DJ. Is Raven one of them? Okay, let's get the first one. Okay. Okay. Oh, you can go right there. Hello? All right. Hello, everyone.

My name is Deandra Aware. I am a graduate of Langston University and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. At our table, we were filled with people that had backgrounds in education and other African-American enthusiasts. We've chosen as our mission to educate ourselves to educate others. All right. Hello. My name is LaShondra Houghton, and at my table, I had a whole group that was from California to North Virginia, Ohio, Florida, and right here in Oklahoma. I was so proud to be with these people because most of them I had never met, but they are my ancestors. They are my descendants. They are my relatives.

Yeah. It's a proud moment to meet my family that I have never met before. This has been a blessing here. We came here for Justice for Greenwood, but I realize that we also came here to join our families back together. It is time. It is now. And it is time for us to take advantage of it. So now I ended up meeting a lot of our family that was from our Holloways that actually owned the Holloway ice cream parlor as long as the dental.

We had a dental shop. We also had the Ramsey Drugstore with the boarding house. We had the Holloway, the siblings had their boarding homes. We had the Ramsey Drugstore that actually housed many things in there, including a jewelry store, a barber shop. There was many things. And then we had our great-grandmother, who was Jenny Jenny Holloway who actually lost a lot of property at this event. So we are here to support the initiatives that are going on. We're here to make sure that we tell the truth.

We're here to support our people. We're here to put the people that are living here, because I am from Florida, but there is education that needs to be done. There is mental health that it's time to start healing our hearts and our minds so we can start to build our Greenwood back. Thank you. All right, all right. Hi, I'm Pam Butler. I'm from Tulsa, and I was a part of a group that represented people from Houston, from

Indiana, from Oklahoma City, as well as from Tulsa. And to pick up on what she said, most of our focus was wanting to know the truth, what really did happen, and also to know the truth of what's happening now because we've heard so many conflicting stories with why what was canceled and whose fault this was and why that got built over there and how it's really for our community. So we really wanted to know the truth of it. And then many of us said, who were from Tulsa and Oklahoma City in particular, we want to get involved.

We want to stop being on the sidelines. We want to get involved. Yes, yes. We don't want to keep talking it. We want to actually do the walking with it to make a difference. All right, great.. We got one more. When are you speaking? OK, real quickly, we have Raven Williams, who is the great granddaughter of A.J.

Smitherman. A.J. Smitherman, one of the leaders of Greenwood. He had the Tulsa Star, which is considered the first African-American newspaper to have a national publication. Thank you. Demario also represents my father, who is a plaintiff in the motion. So I wanted to I wanted to thank him. I asked him if I could just come up here and thank all of you who are working tirelessly to help our family get justice and all of the families and the descendants get justice. I have done seven years of research about what our family lost and who A.J. Smitherman was and his contribution to this community. And I want to make sure that he's honored, he's respected, and that his story is not exploited. Because most of what you will see and find out there about with everybody telling this story, so much of it comes from his newspaper, so much of it comes from his poem. So much of it comes from his intellectual property.

And the lawyers in the back who are helping with the intellectual property case, that was on my behalf, too. Because I called to Mario. I said, I need to know what our rights are as a family. Because we are being exploited. People are making money on this story. I shopped this story to Hollywood, and every single production company that's putting this story out right now turned our family down and did it behind our back, and now is making money on it.

And I'm not happy about it, and I'm really not having it, because I'm A.J. Smitherman's great-granddaughter, and you wouldn't be having it. So here we go. I want to give shouts out to my sister, who's here from Oakland, and she's an activist in Oakland. My cousin Seth, who's an activist and a lawyer in New York, has a minority corporate law firm. So we have taken our roots when we lost everything and just used the blood and sweat and lots of tears.

Because that congressional hearing, let me tell you, I haven't cried that hard since my sister was murdered years ago. I had so much pain in me. It was cellular. It's genetic. It's post-traumatic. And that's why you should be compelled to care. It's not just the money. We will never, ever have enough money to repair.

Our family was torn apart. Our grandfather had to move from Oklahoma and the weather here to Buffalo to be close to the Canadian border because he died a fugitive. So as you can see, I'm very passionate about this. And I'm not happy about how it's going down. And no, we are not here to celebrate. We're here to demand. I'm demanding. I would like you all to help. If you want to stay in touch with demanding, and I would like you all to help. If you want to stay in touch with the things we support, you can go to ajsmitherman.com. And if a project is not on that website, it hasn't gotten our endorsement, and there's not very many on there. The OWN project is coming out tomorrow, June 1st, the first episode.

That will be on OWN and Discovery+. I'm in that. And they came and they showed enough due respect that I participated in that. But I'm just telling you, everybody's not doing that. And the commission certainly isn't doing that. No, no, we got to keep going.'ve got to keep going. We've got to keep going. Okay. If everybody could get to your seats. We are way over on time because of the secret service. We have to be out of here by six. But I just wanted to let you know as we wrap up, do you feel the power in this room? Do you feel the spirit in this room?

Do you feel the ancestors moving in this room? We want you to understand that this Greenwood diaspora is us. We are Greenwood. And before I get to my closing remarks, I want to make sure I do recognize our city councilor, our fighter, the first African American to be chair of the city of Tulsa City Council, District 1, Vanessa Hall Harper. Give her some love. She's fighting for us every single day down at that racist city hall. And we appreciate you.

We appreciate you, Vanessa. I also saw he may be gone, but we had Hill Harper was here with us, and he may be gone. We definitely appreciate him stopping by. He's gone. OK, he's gone. Well, listen, as you prepare to leave here, I want you to understand that Greenwood was a love story. You have heard about Dick Rowland. We know the story of Dick Rowland, a shoeshine boy. Now, what was he? What was he, a lawyer? Was he a doctor? What was he? He was a shoeshine boy. He was a shoeshine boy that we've been told he got on an elevator with a young white woman named Sarah Page. And this young white woman, Dick Rowland, was falsely accused of sexually

assaulting her. And we all know how many countless black people and black communities and black businesses and black everything have been destroyed because of these false accusations. But that's not the love story I'm talking about. The love story is that Dick Rowland was a shoeshine boy. He was not a lawyer. He was not a doctor. He was not an important, high-ranking official in Greenwood. But the community loved Dick Rowland as much as they loved A.J. Smitherman. The community loved Dick Rowland as much as they loved J.B. Strafford. The community loved Dick Rowland, a shoeshine boy, as much as they loved the great Dr. A.C. Jackson. Because that's what it was about in Greenwood.

It was about the community loving each other. And as you leave here, we are Greenwood. We are Greenwood. We are Greenwood. We are Greenwood. We have to have the love that Greenwood had for a shoeshine boy. If you're from Detroit, if you're from New York, if you're from Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Denver, it does not matter. We must have the love that they have for Dick Rowland for all of us. We must work together.

Join Justice for Greenwood. Sign up for Justice for Greenwood. Call our descendant hotline. Donate your resources. Stand with us as a block as we fight for our rights and our dignity. As we fight for representation. As we fight for our rights and our dignity, as we fight for policy change, as we fight for resources, as the Biden administration pumps resources into Tulsa. We want to have a seat at the table to make sure for the

first time those resources come. We are what? We are. We are. We are. We are. Thank you. Have a great evening. Thank you. All right, folks, Roland Martin here. We, of course, have been covering this Justice for Greenwood Town Hall, and you've been hearing the stories come right on in. If you were watching the live stream when they announced that a former state official, Don Ross, was in the room.

And so I had to let him know he was not coming to the town hall. He was actually coming here to chat with me. And that's why he's here. And he joins us right now on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Doc, how you doing? I'm fine. I'm fine. My back hurts, but I'm old. How old are you? You'll know what I mean when you get there. I'm 80.

You're 80 years old. I'm old. I've talked to your son. I've talked to your daughter, and they said growing up this was the thing that you were focused on, getting justice for Greenwood. Well, you know, I don't know what justice is anymore. You know, there were a lot of things we didn't have, and we tried to get them. Just as I don't know if we ever got that, still ain't got it.

Right. You know. So now... So... This is my... My focal point on Greenwood, was to create this facility here. Right. And that's what I'm proud of.

To take us back, I mean, how difficult was it to get, how difficult was it to get this commission even approved? To take us through that, I mean, you actually- That's an interesting question because it was a trick. It was a trick? Yeah, it was a trick. See, in the legislature, they don't give you half of what you want,

but they'll let you study it. All I wanted was a study because I could open the door from there. Right. So when I presented that I demanded this, this, and this, he said, now we'll give you a study. And so it all came out of the study. But that was part of my plan.

I've been there 20 years, I know what they do. Right, it's like gang recognized gang. Yeah. Now when you were in legislature, 20 years I know what they do right you as a gang recognized game yeah now when you win legislature how many other african-americans were there five was total five of y'all let me count them one two three four five yeah Had to be a little lonely. Huh? Had to be a little lonely. Oh, oh yeah, oh yeah.

They isolated us. They treated us like step children, you know. Sometime they make you not like white people. I mean the way they treat you. They just don't. They don't treat us right. What do you make of So first of all, I've heard people who not here don't know. Has the state of Oklahoma

or the city of Tulsa ever actually formally apologized for what happened in Greenwood? That's the interesting thing. During the anniversary, I forget which one, we had all these politicians on the stage. The governor was there. The U.S. senator was there, Boren, and all of them. And they're all talking about what a great job I was doing. I said, well, I haven't done anything because I hadn't been able to provoke you into an

apology for what you haven't done. So it took a number of years for them to apologize for what they did to my community. I still haven't forgiven them. I'm still a little bit bitter. I hope it isn't detected. You say you're still bitter. Why? Yeah. Well, there's so much that could have been done that should have been done, that should have been done.

But white people and some of their black lackeys hid behind that. And we never did get done what we could have gotten done yet. You know, that's just the work that's just gone on in this building that would never be done now. You know, so, yeah, I'm a little bit bitter. How do you feel about, you know, City of Tulsa builds this $30 million museum, Greenwood Rising. You know, they are trying to create this sort of this tourist thing around Greenwood. And, you know, you've got the lawyers fighting for the survivors and the descendants. And truth be told, I mean, I've covered stores all over America.

Fifty million dollars is not a lot of money to create a victim's compensation fund. The federal government created a multi-billion dollar 9-11 fund. That's not a lot for an oil-rich state. Well, it's interesting you say that because one thing you have to recognize is we are a wealthy state. We are wealthy. We've got money. Right. And you can't squeeze a dime out of them white folks.

You can't get none of it. And anybody say we're getting it, you're lying. You know, the Chamber of Commerce, all of them, lying. They're not right. And this building's a fluke, you know. They needed me, and I needed them. So that's the only reason it's here. If they didn't need my vote, it never would have been built. So I'm trying not to be bitter, because you're such a nice person. But every time I get talking about some of those shit, I get bitter, man. I understand.

Yeah. I know it went down. And, you know, they're patting me on the back and all that shit. Hell, when I need them, I couldn't even find them. You know? So let me tell you. When I put out the call for reparations, not one sorority, not one fraternity, not one church or any group stood with me. I stood by myself. By myself. And as soon as it looked like I was going to get some attention,

everybody was for it. They come out of the woodwork, man. So I'm glad I retired, but I'm still a little bit bitter at my community. Right. You know? So we had them. We could have got a hell of a lot more. We could have got a lot more. We could just band it together. But that's, I just think, I know it's not just Northwest, everywhere.

Right. That's just us. Well, because there are folk, there's a lot of folk who's scared. Look, I mean, look, people come up to me and they're like, man, Rollins, did you really say that? I mean, you know no aren't you scared i said look if i said the white folks ain't giving me nothing now i said why am i going to be quiet and uh in the hopes that i'm not going to get something tomorrow yeah i said hell i might as well say something then i actually might get something I mean, what's the Billy Presley song? Nothing from nothing leaves nothing?

Yeah. Well, then you know how I feel, don't you? I understand. I understand. Yeah. In many ways, I'm proud of my community, but more ways than not, we've been disappointed ourselves because so much we could have done, man. So much.

But all that jealousy, city councilmen fighting the state reps and they're fighting the statesmen and the egos are all around. So finally I just quit. Where did you retire? In 19... I've been in... Why'd you ask me that? In 19...

I've been in it 21 years. Okay. 21 years I was in it. Well, you figure that. My math ain't that good. So you wrote a book, Pillage of Hope. This is the book right here. Because you wanted your story on paper.

Not so much my story, but a story of how things evolved. Right. I think I'm not in there much. But how it evolved, the ride and all that stuff evolved was in there. And that's what I was writing for, really. I was reading the tweet from Jelani Cobb earlier, and he's

been going around Tulsa, and he said he shocked a number of white folks today who actually believe the massacre never happened. Oh, I believe that. I believe that. I believe you can go 30 feet outside that front door and find something.

You know, man, this is a racist town. I know we say that about Chicago. We say that about everywhere. But I think if we compare records, we got it. You said you compare notes. Yeah. You ain't never had no ride to kill. They say 300, could have been a minute of 1,000.

Right. Threw them off in the river in Samoa and Pitch. No. It's a tough time. I've run into a lot of young brothers. We've been here since Thursday. I've run into a lot of young brothers. We've been here since Thursday. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah.

You might want to move in. We've been covering stuff all over. I've run into a lot of young brothers and sisters. A lot of them are starting businesses, and they really are taking hold of Black Wall Street. I hope. I hope. Don't get fooled by this affair.

Tomorrow they won't know shit. I'm telling you, man. Well, in fact, I told Demario and I, we were at dinner, and that was last night. And I said, Demario, I really believe that this can become an annual four-day event. I said, but, but, I said, like I did a panel called Reimagining Wall Street. I said, I appreciate being asked to do it. I said, but there should be actual business workshops on how to build the business, how to market, do financing.

I go to a lot of business conferences, but this could really become an annual four-day deal that is a grassroots business conference, teaching our folk how to build and sustain businesses. They started that, started off well. Then Black Eagles got in the middle of it. And I just quit. I said, no.

I mean, I didn't knock at anything. I just got away from it. Got to keep ego out of it. Yeah. But, man, I love my community. Don't get me wrong. I got you. I know how you feel.

But I just don't know what can... Oh, look, I get black folks who come on my YouTube channel, dogging me, talking to me, you not down for black people. And, in fact, I had some cats yesterday yelling and screaming, channel, dogging me, talking to me, you not down for black people. And, in fact, I had some cats yesterday yelling and screaming, you ain't do, you a disciple of the white man. And I laugh. And I just tell them, you young and dumb, just move the hell on. Yeah. You know, I don't want to sit here and worry about these fools because I know the folk

who I've talked to who've impacted, who we've helped. And so it's going to always be a new food yeah I just kind of share when I became ill I just kind of take it away from everybody because I I don't want to argue anymore. Right. Man, you don't know. I spent 20 years arguing with these new girls. Oh, yet you would know. I do know. I do know. I was trying to hide it from the white boy, but it's too late. He black.

Oh, really? Man, you could press. Lord, Lord. But, uh, I don't know where I... I don't wanna leave a negative... If you ask me if I'm proud of the facility, Oh, absolutely.

Because I pretty much single-handedly did this. Mm-hmm. Tell you how cold-blooded my people are. I hid the funding numbers for eight months until I got it all locked down. Really? Yeah. They wanted to make this a gym. I got a gym across the street.

Got a gym over there. Every time I get open space, they want to put some goals on the basketball now we got about five games I know about oh yeah so you said you hid the money I hid the money they didn't know what was coming up with me and Senator Horner when they find out, it was half-ass built. Yeah. We hired our own architects, the whole bit. But they were, oh, I mean, tell them what this would have been if I turned them loose for a community meeting.

Mm-hmm. So you kept it quiet, kept it to yourself? Silent. Nobody knew. They kept seeing stuff going, so to yourself. Silent. Nobody knew. They kept seeing stuff going. I said, well, I wonder what that's going to be. I said, man, I don't know. Man, you got to know these brothers.

These are co-brothers. And we had a couple of brothers, and I ain't going to call their names because they might be on TV. But they cut my throat every chance they got. Every chance they got. You know? So I wasn't about to let them have a edge on me but but but then all of a sudden it get built and you sat back and said see i told y'all i was going to do this how'd you know i could tell yeah i picked it up in your spirit

i thought it named jack henderson and Henderson and what is the other boy's name? Oh, I forget his name. I'll think of it. Yeah, it was two of them that brought me down the line, man, lied on me. Man, we had a chance. And on my mama's grave, hear me? Uh-huh. We had a chance to get $30 million.

Really? To develop this whole area. The two black city councilmen killed it. Are you serious? My mama's in her grave and I hope she come up and die again. The two black, not the white ones. White ones for what? Wow.

Cold Town, man. Jack Henderson and what's the other boy's name? I guess I ain't gonna hear him. I forget his name. And then he just got beat by that girl, the city president now.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that was wonderful. Well, see, I know she's something, because she keeps her gun on her hip. Oh, does she have a gun? Oh, she stood up in here. Vanessa had a gun. She said, I don't go nowhere without my gun.

Well, she's special. She a bad sister. Yeah, and the boy we beat is one of the guys who's always after my ass. But it's a cold town, man. Cold town. And it has so much it could be proud of. But our leadership, including me, we're so thin. Indifferent.

I can include me in there because I'm tired now. No, but you, no, no. No, let me be real clear. But you did your job. When I'm on the board of National Association of Black Germans. We went after CNN.

They had no black top executives. So I called Bernard Shaw, longtime anchor at CNN. This is what he told me. He said, Roland, every generation has had to do their part. It's now your time. So you ran the race. You passed the baton. You ain't supposed to run the race forever. Thank you for saying that. Because even my kids ask me, Teddy, why don't you go do this? You got a name. I ain't got no name you know i did what i swore to do

and i'm through you do something right you know that's my kids i'm talking to right they want to demand to me before they're demanding themselves Mm-mm. Yeah. No. My parents are 74. They did their job. That's right. That's right. So I'm not as bitter as I appear to be, but I'm also not very comfortable. Mm-hmm. You know. Because you know what it could have been.

Oh, God, man. And that's what's... Yeah. When I... And I know how that feels. I ran the Chicago Defender, and I knew the vision I had. And I was adding podcasts and magazines, and we were going to do events. And they came to me, and they were like, what's up? And he had this historic black newspaper. B.

And I'm talking about, I mean, I had the vision. And I said, man, look, these are all black millionaires. I said, look, if y'all would just get out my way and let me do what I've been trained to do, this is going to be one of the biggest black-owned media companies in the country. Absolutely. They sat there and said, we just want to be a small community newspaper. I said, I got to go. Yeah.

I left. I sold that newspaper and the Black Dispatch when I was a kid, or I guess 18. No, younger than that. Younger than that. I don't know how old I was. Yeah. I've been gone 14 years. And it still hits me what could have been. You know what I'm talking about.

You know what I'm talking about. Oh, I'm telling you. Look, I've done a lot of other things. I got my own company now. But I'm sitting there like, if y''all would just gotten the hell out of the way And to let a young brother do what he was destined to do What it could be for our people so no, I never jealous of you They were jealous of you

yet the vision and energy and I'm saying I'm tell you I know it because I feel that's the way they treated me you know you had the vision and the energy to do it right you're creative right yeah what what are you last question just visually, what would you like or hope for this place to look like in 20 years? I'm going to say this, and I don't mean to be negative, but I just have to be. I don't see, including my kids, I don't see any creative energy coming up that are willing to invest. It takes a lot of time and energy.

That's right. A lot of time. Right. And I don't see, see, as long as my son is driving his Mercedes, he could give a shit less. You know what I mean? And the other one got him one of those big-ass trucks where he could give a damn. My daughter, it probably cares the most that she got the lease. She's a teacher. She's a teacher. How'd you know? She told me. I interviewed her. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. The rest of them, they don't care. She really does care. And she stays on my ass to keep me

cared. But, uh. Well, I've talked to a lot of cats. I've talked to a lot of them. And it's some young folks. They got the vision. They got the heart. Oh, I hope you're right. I think what has to happen is you're 80. I'm 52. Some of these cats are 20s and 30s.

And so we got to be able to have these intergenerational conversations, sharing knowledge, sharing expertise to be able to help them. I think you're right. I don't know if I have the energy anymore, though. No, but you did. That's what I'm saying. See, you're 80. I'm 52. It's a 28-year gap.

And so the reality is my job is to operate as an elder to the person who's 25. That's a 25-year gap. So the responsibility is, it's like, hey, you enjoy your life. Go have fun. It's like, no, we got it. Boy, you got a vision. Boy, I wish I had more Negroes like you. Well, the reason I launched this digital company,

because we're streaming this all over the world right now, is to be able to reach somebody who's watching. And they listen to you, and they listen to me, and we're teaching every single day. We're broadcasting every day to create a bunch more media, a bunch more use. Oh, you sell advertising on it? Yeah, we do that as well. Okay.

Absolutely. Yeah. But the fan base also gives to help us. They gave last year $672,000 for us to keep broadcasting. Oh, good. You have arrived. You have arrived, my man. Well, we would like to give a million, but look, we're going to take every single dollar.

But the point is to use it and to teach and to give information. Information is power. And then we do that. Look, all I can do is give it. They've got to be able to take it. But you've got to have somebody who gives it for you to take. Boy, you understand it. You sure do give it. They got to be able to take it. But you got to have somebody who gives it for you to take. Boy, you understand it. You sure do understand it. You do, man. Man, you give me hope. It's a lot more me out here. Trust me. Man, I haven't met him. But I'm locked up in this country town here.

And he said, ain't that country? I can't even stand it now. Well, we're going to stay on this wall. We're going to keep hitting them. I asked your daughter, I said, well, is he coming? Is he coming tomorrow? She said, no, he's not coming. And she said, well, he might come talk

to you. And then when she told me, she says, they called me this morning and said, he coming just to talk to you. Oh, you talking about kicking me in my ass. I didn't want me to come to something. I got a run. My back still hurts. She was kicking me in my ass hard. Well I'm glad you did. I am too. You know I watch you all the time and had it not been you I wouldn't have come I know it. Cause I didn't feel like it. I didn't. Well I appreciate that you did. Yeah.

And I'm glad that you signed the book. Yep. I'm definitely going to read it. And let me touch on the man's hand. Yeah. All right. He lives here. He's a videographer here in Tulsa.

We hired him. Have we met before? What do you do? He's a video guy. Oh, okay. And he's on my team from D.C. Oh, yeah. Big shots, yeah.

He's on my team from D.C. Okay. Team D.C. Yeah. And you're a my team from D.C. Oh, yeah. Big shots, yeah. He's on my team from D.C. Okay, hey, team D.C. Well, I'm going to ease him out of here, good man, and let you go do what you got to do. Everybody who's watching, the book is called Pillage of Hope, A Family History from the Trail of Tears, Slavery, Segregation, the 1921 Race Massacre and Beyond, Memoir by Don Ross.

Don, brother, I appreciate it. My pleasure. My pleasure. I appreciate it. Y'all can take him away. Your chariot awaits. Well, I was wondering who was going to be long-winded, you or him? He ate it, but he still got it.

He was dragging him here, kicking and screaming. He told me. He said his can go. He was dragging his kick and his scream. He told me. He said his back still hurting because y'all dragged him here. I appreciate it. You be well. I appreciate it. I told him. I told him I want to talk to him

yeah you did the right thing I appreciate it I can wear them out you can't wear me out I was the one on your case you gotta take credit that's what you would do I appreciate it my brother

you be well you take care yo I appreciate it, my brother. We appreciate you. You be well. All right. You take care. Yep. Y'all. I want something to eat, but I don't know what. Got it. Folks, y'all get it.

Bookstores, Amazon.com, former state legislator Don Ross. Oh, my God. That was one of the more interesting and insightful conversations I have had. That's probably, out of all the interviews that we've done since I've been here, that probably has been one of the best conversations that we've had here. We've had lots it is, uh, it, it is not just, uh, this event is not just, uh, Tulsa where you've had, uh, these, uh, these, these race massacres yesterday when we were at the black wall street legacy fest sister walked up to me and she said, I want to tell you about my work.

And I said, okay. And then she told me about a project that she's been working on for a year and a half where they're focused on the 100 race massacres that have impacted black people all across the country. Here's that conversation. An independent research center that explores all of the many black massacres that have taken place historically here in the United States, starting in 1866 all the way up through World War II. And so there are about 100 plus of these very similar incidents that occurred here in Tulsa. Now, where is it based and how long has it been in existence? So we are based in New York City and it has been in existence for approximately a year.

And what caused you to start it? What was the impetus? Was there one in particular? Yeah, absolutely. So I am an attorney by trade and I teach and study crime and state-supported violence, but I'm also from Wilmington, North Carolina. So I'm a native of the place of the only successful insurrection in the United States today. And so there's a lot of history wrapped up around Wilmington, North Carolina and the ways that the black folks in Wilmington, North Carolina had these types of atrocities perpetrated against them. But like many people here in

Tulsa, I didn't learn about it until I went away to college. And so it's something that I've been studying for about a decade now. I have been teaching in that area. And then just last year decided to not only start the center but to go on a research trip and so I've been driving across the United States going into archives talking to descendants and community members about the impact but in my work as an attorney we're also laying the claims for reparations not only for you know slavery but also these very specific incidents that took place across the country. Earlier, I talked to Attorney Ben Crump, and that was one of the things he talked about.

He said that we have to pursue the legal remedies in talking about you had these businesses and homes, insurance companies wouldn't pay, and that folks have to broaden this thing beyond the city or the state or the federal government should be paying? Absolutely. Absolutely. When people think about reparations, they think about reparations for slavery, and that's very important work. But what people have to understand is that there were some very particular harms that took place in these communities. And it wasn't just Tulsa. Like I said, there were about 100 of them where black folks were resilient and thriving and creating social power, political power, financial, economic wealth.

And so those, you know, those harms need to be addressed and they need to be addressed within our court systems. But isn't it also important for folks to understand that what you're describing, I'm not saying it's easy, but the reality is it's easier because you can show a direct, you can direct link to these incidents and actual survivors and survivors and or descendants. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. As in Tulsa, there are survivors that exist today, But there are also descendants who are where there's a tangible harm. And so we're talking about property and harm. Which is a, again, the phrase you're using is a legal phrase. Yes, absolutely. Because here's the thing.

Unless they can do some things in Congress to address the statute of limitations, we have to rely on legal claims to make these cases. And so something that happened 200 years ago, if you don't have that legislative or congressional support, you may not be able to make a claim for that. And you really are relying on the goodwill of our Congress and of our political leaders. But if you're talking about the specific harms that took place because of incidents like Tulsa, then we can tie those directly back to a particular harm, to a particular farm,

to a particular bank account, to a particular family that very likely has descendants that are walking around the streets today. All right, then. Where can people get more information on the Black Massacre Project? So if you want to learn more on the Black Massacre Project? So if you want to learn more about the Black Massacre Project, you can go to blackmassacreproject.org. We're also on Instagram and Facebook at Black Massacre Project. All right. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Take care. We straight right. About the project that she's working on or

what's happening behind us, they're breaking this whole thing down. President Joe Biden is going to be here meeting with the survivors and three survivors as well as the descendants. There's going to be delivered deliver remarks right here in the Greenwood Cultural Center Secret Service is actually putting a clamp on this place at 6 p.m., so we're breaking it down. Dr. Tiffany Crutcher told us that they have submitted our name along with the black newspaper here, the Oklahoma Eagle, as well as the Black Wall Street Times, to be a part of the press pool to cover the president's remarks tomorrow.

We have not heard from the White House. I've already emailed them to emphasize that black-owned media needs to be a part of that press pool when the president comes here tomorrow. And so hopefully that will all be taken care of as well. Folks, here's another conversation that we had yesterday. And this, of course, was with Attorney Ben Crump. And we were discussing the very issue of a legal strategy when it comes to dealing with these various issues of these race massacres. So here's my discussion with Attorney Ben Crump. We are standing literally and we've heard this described numerous times. We're standing on the largest black crime scene in American history.

We're standing on sacred ground. 36 blocks just destroyed. Yeah, really, Roland, when you think about all the cases you and I have worked on over the years, whether it be George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon, Terrence Crutcher, any of them, this is a hundred times worse because not only did they kill and murder those individuals, they murdered the community. And in many ways, they destroyed the black culture that was the foundation for black prosperity. And it's impacting us 100 years later. So thank you for always being on the spot, first of all, when it comes to uplifting our people.

But thank you most importantly, Roland Martin, as we take a page from our Jewish brothers and sisters, when they talk about the Holocaust, this was a Holocaust situation. And they say, never forget and never again. Absolutely. And the thing is, well, I keep trying to explain to folk. First of all, it was destroyed, rebuilt. Those black folks, the insurance company wouldn't pay, but they were paying on those insurance payments. We got no assistance. Rebuilt it.

What I keep trying to explain to people is where would this community be had those white domestic terrorists not done it? That's the thing that I'm constantly trying to explain to people. We are always building, rebuilding, building, rebuilding. We don't have a continuum of two, three generations without having to rebuild because of white supremacy. Absolutely. And Roland, Attorney Monique Pressler and I were talking about this, you're really talking about a legal case because when you think about being able to transfer wealth to your children and your descendants, well, that's what they would have been able to do in the Greenwood community.

I mean, they have some of the most prosperous businesses in the United States, and they were not able to leave their children anything after they dropped bombs on this community. And it goes back to, you know, slavery. The reason white people have all this wealth, generation after generation gave houses, businesses, bank accounts, land. Exactly, land. And what do we have to give our children?

Clothes. Yeah. A watch. Clothes, a watch give our children? Clothes. Yeah. A watch. Clothes, a watch, or something along those lines. Yeah. And so that's what we're fighting, and that's why we make the case for reparations, because they have never tried to repair the harm. America, you owe a debt, as Dr. King said, to black people in America.

And Black Wall Street here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, exhibit one. Let's say going forward, let's say what, and I keep asking people this here, we're commemorating, but what should we be doing and talking about June 2nd, June 3rd, June 4th? Because it's one thing to do this on an annual basis. But my deal is, what do you do in between the commemorations? That's an excellent point. We need to go ahead and file lawsuits, legal documents, because this is America. We're supposed to be a nation of laws.

So we believe we have the legal right to get reparations. H.R. 40 that Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is sponsoring. We need to be working, talking to all our congresspeople. Because right now, Roland, whether it's George Floyd, Justice and Policing Act, or reparations, this is our time. This is our summer. If we don't seize this moment before America move on to infrastructure, before they move on to what they're doing

with Putin and everything, we will lose the opportunity. So everything we can get in this month of June, it is crucial. This is the battle. That's why what I'm framing this is that this should be considered the third reconstruction. And we should be looking at this as a 20, 30 year thing. The first reconstruction was 10 to 12 years. The second one, 14 to 20. This should be seen in that same vein. Now that's profound, Roland Martin, a third reconstruction. And when you think about reconstruction, what is it about? After you survive a war,

that's when you have reconstruction. Well, nobody can say that this wasn't a war that devastated this black community, that impacted all black America. So this is the perfect catalyst to start this third Reconstruction here in America for black people. After the Civil War, you're right, it only lasted 10, 12 years. And then we didn't get our four acres and a mule. They went back on all the promises just like they did with the Native Americans. But right now, with black

media, black media owned companies, being able to hold them to account, we have to start this black reconstruction. All these young activists out there who are on social media and everything, no, no. You need to gear that towards this black reconstruction idea

and put all your intellect, all your diplomas, all your strategy to this effort that will last beyond a tweet. Absolutely. Ben Crump, always a pleasure, man. I appreciate it. Hey, thank you for being there with George Floyd family. We went to the White House and covering it live. You know, people as far as Germany took your live feed and put it

on their newscast. Only you rolling. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. All right brother. That was attorney Ben Crum folks. There are a lot more conversations that we've had. We're going to share more of those tomorrow. We'll still be in Tulsa tomorrow covering President Biden's visit to Tulsa and the Greenwood District. But we could not on this day. This was this today is the actual anniversary. The massacre started after sundown on this day and went through a sunrise. And so on this day, we wanted you to hear from two of the survivors. One of them is one hundred and seven years old. She was a seven year old hear from two of the survivors. One of them is 107

years old. She was a seven year old girl when all of this happened. The other, he was only six months old. They are two of the three survivors. They are brothers and sisters. We had an opportunity to catch up with Big Red and Viola on yesterday at the Survivors and Descendants Luncheon that took place 100 years ago today, where 36 blocks of blackness was utterly destroyed by white domestic terrorists. Listen to their conversation. This week from folks and photos and interviews and all kind of stuff uh are they running your racket now i have to start with a little harder here and on that side i said i said folks have been sitting here uh taking pictures and a lot of uh energy uh of having y'all in the parade and other events are they running your racket oh yes oh yes yes'all in the parade and other events. Are they running your racket? Oh yes,

oh yes, yes, but I love the parade. The horse, we had a chance to ride in a horse and wagon, yes sir. That was my, really enjoyed that and I'm sure he did too. I enjoyed this, This is exciting to me. This history. I'm just overwhelmed with this. I didn't think this would ever happen to me in my life. So my life has been good, but this is special. And I just, I love attention. I love attention. Yes, I do. So I'm so overwhelmed with just, I can't get over it. I'm just so happy about this. How does it make you also feel to see a younger generation, you know, learning the history and really now wanting to understand what happened here 100 years ago. I think it's wonderful. But I don't think enough history has been said about it throughout the years.

Because I've met so many people that said they've never heard about it. So I think more history is what we'll have to have, you know, to make everybody realize that it happened. I have a niece. She's 70 years old. She says she didn't know about it. Just right up that Martinsville. She's 70. Yeah.

So I hope more history. And every year have a little celebration like this, you know. It would be not this big. Oh, this is too big. But you should always, you know, recognize it. No, I say have one every year. Make it bigger. Yeah, make is too big. But you should always recognize it. No, I say have one every year. Make it bigger. Yeah, make it bigger. That's right.

I tell the young people, look up. Don't turn back. I tell them, you are number one. So it's only one. We only live, all of us is the same. Racist, preach, we are Americans. And I want you to believe you are number one. So that's what I tell the young people.

Yesterday at the parade, I was glad to see mixed kids, you know, black, white, green, all colors. So that brings us so close together. We are only one. That's all we got. My nephew out there, he said, Uncle Reed, tell them what it's all about. You are number one. We are in there, all of us. So I want to speak to you like a miracle. I want justice. That's what I'm looking for.

So many people got a chance to listen to y'all's testimony before Congress. And I must say, to listen to you speak, talking about remembering what happened, and painting a picture of that night, of the terror, was just so hard to listen to. And folks don't understand the pain and agony that black folks have had to experience in this country. I know it. I know that we still have some of that pain and action. Like, I don't sleep all night in the darkness and any little sound. All these years later? Oh, sure. Every day. Why not? Every time of day that it happens, look like you think about it. It's something that

will never pass with me. No, sir. Describe for folks what that community looked like and felt like and what it was like. Well, the folks that I saw was falling, being shot and killed and bleeding, houses burning, and hear, smell smoke, and seeing fire, and heard airplanes raining, and just a rumor, you know. And it's wondering how you had to be gathered up and moved out of the community, my parents was told, to save our lives. So that's the part that I can remember hearing. Where did y'all go afterwards?

I think to a little town called Claremore, Oklahoma, from here. We lived someplace up there out on the north end of town, and, you know, so I don't know the name of the highway or anything, but that's where we went and stayed, lived for. And that was the pleasure of me and the parade today is having the chance to ride in a, drawn by a horse. I don't know what, what was the name of the wagon we rode in? But it was so nice. I thought that was really nice, you know, for, to represent them. Because I think then most people was using horse and wagons.

Thus, my family didn't own a car, and that was our way of transportation. How old were you when the massacre happened? Six months old. Only six months old. I was born January 11, 21. That happened in June. So, where did your family, after the massacre happened, did your family stay here? Did they flee?

Where did they go? Well, we all went together. That's my sister there. We all went together. Gotcha. Got it. I'm sorry. Yeah.

We went to Claremont, Oklahoma just like my sister said. Now how far is that from here? I don't know. I have no idea. It took quite a while to get there with a horse wagon, you know. So you go there. How long did y'all live there? And did you return back? Not until then, no. My parents were sharecroppers and you know, you probably know about or heard about how we didn't plant the harvest where we would have to do it. And that was his way

of making a living for us. Now, as I've said, I never did see any money exchange, but the way of living, of housing and food is what to receive for that kind of service. Was it hard for you, growing up in Greenwood, having that experience, and seeing it destroyed and never being able to come back? Well, later in years I did, but not until I was a teenager. So being with the family, then, as I said, when we left there, that type of work, we didn't have a chance to attend school, the full school term, because if it was summer

you had to plant the crop or in the winter you had to harvest the crop. So we wasn't able to go to school. So all of my family, we got very little schooling. And that is a part of life that I miss so much too. Now you go into the U.S. Armed Services, and this is the thing that we always talk about. Black folks loved America more than America loved black folks. And so to fight for a nation knowing full well what it did to your family and your community. It was a segregated army. It was a black army and a white army.

Well, it was. We had two black officers, a first lieutenant and a second lieutenant, the rest of them, the captain was white, the colonel was white, the major was white. And that's the way it was and to later on up in years you know the thought listen but we had it was just like you living at home you are you were separated from the other army but you still served we still served. We still served, though. We still served. Well, may I say, you know, I had two brothers, two sons, and two grandsons in service. So what he's saying, you know, I've heard that three different generations of times, and they served on different terms.

And each one of the three was in the with the army or the Navy and I've learned from their testimony it's a life that well you just don't you don't have your idea you have to do what you're compelled to do and And it's pretty rough on them, really. You have now this reinvigorated emphasis on Greenwood. You have folks talking about, emphasizing Black Wall Street in businesses. It's 100 years later. Think in the future, what do you hope 100 years from now Greenwood and Tulsa will be like for African Americans?

What do you hope it will be? I hope it's being able to get back to normal like it was before. But it's going to be some help because if everything that I raised on then, they should be in burst for it before Greenwood can get back like it was. But now maybe it might be different, but that's why I thought about it. What do you hope for 100 years from now Greenwood will look like? I hope't think. I hope it will get back to like it was. Like people own their own business, their own jewelry stores, their own banks,

funeral homes, police stations, tailor shops. They work hard to get that. They're one of the people in Oklahoma that didn't lend them the money. They had to go to different states to get that money to build that building. I'd like to see that again. Now, I've got to ask you this. I've met him before coming here. How you let this man go on the Tom Joyner cruise every year,

dancing with all those young women? I got video of him on the dance floor late at night having a good time. I think I was present at that time. I've been with them. You've got to plan. You don't have to have a lot of money. You plan it for a year, then you decide what you want to do. You save a few dollars every month, and when time comes to go, you can go.

Yeah, well, I went with him, and I think I was with him during that time when he was dancing. But they invited me. It was 99 years old when she went on. Well, it was about 1 o'clock in the morning when I ran to him at the party. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Oh, he was out late. That's it.

You see, when I went, I had to be pushed in a wheelchair. Tom Johnny and his son would take care of me. They said, where's dad? I said, we got him. So I didn't worry. I had people that looked after me on the floor. He was taking tequila shots. Oh.

Oh, he was on that dance floor just getting it. Oh, I'm sure. I love life. Huh? I love life. I love people. What did he say? He was shots.

I had to think twice what kind of shot that would be. Now, what kind of shots are they getting? What's this little herb that's growing? Oh, they're taking all kinds of shots now. I mean, but it's a... What are they? That's a lichen shot. That's my trouble.

I can't think sometimes of the next word i want to say it's all good it's all good so you absolutely you absolutely love life and you live it i tell people all the time my look my hashtag is live life love it you got one you know since him going through life being sad yeah and i think being active like that, you know, because he had a large family and everything, and he and the family was always together. I think you dance more with your little granddaughter than, you know, and so that makes a difference, you know. I love to dance, just love it. It's part of my life. Well, my philosophy is if my legs still work, let's go. Well, sure, sure.

I know. I wish mine did. But my knee, this knee don't go very fast for me. Well, that's why I said people ask me all the time. They say, man, you always dancing and stuff. I say, look, there's every day I can't dance, there's going to be some video of me getting down. So I can always say just play the video or you see the evidence oh no I can move up the upper part you

got the show the dance it's taking a pleasure with the people. It's not going to be like it used to be. See, you like when you wake eight hours a day, you want to come home, you like to have a nice dinner weekend. You like to go somewhere. You like football, you like to go to football or baseball or basketball. You can't do that no more. Well, hopefully if folks take their COVID shots, we'll be able to get you can't do that no more. Well, hopefully if folks take their COVID shots,

we'll be able to get back to normal as fast as possible. That's what I'm hoping. Well, we have enjoyed being here. Greenwood is sacred ground. More than 300 folks lost their lives. But our mission is to keep speaking truth and keep the story going and not relying on somebody else to tell our story and we're gonna make sure that folks always aware of your story what happened here. Well I appreciate you digging me up and pulling me in on this. Well I appreciate it. Well like I say I'm always running to him late at night on the dance floor.

So, see, I didn't see you late at night on the dance floor, but I got video with him. Oh, really? Oh, yes, yes. Well, I appreciate it. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend. You get that Hollywood attention with all the photos and all the love they've been showering on you all. We will. We will. I'm sure we will.

It's something just special, you know, to be honored, to be telling a story about history. That's what I like. I bet you didn't mind that $100,000 check presentation up there, huh? Oh, man. Oh, my goodness. I didn't think this would ever happen to me. I haven't seen that much money. Huh?

I haven't either. Say it again. I haven't seen that much money. There you go. We never had no money. Get this back on you. There you go. I used to work 10 hours.

I'd get 10 cents an hour. 10 hours, $1. Yeah, that's what it is. For me, I've done the same. But this was an honor. I appreciate you folks including us. We've all enjoyed it. It was 5 o'clock in the morning, and you quit your job. My grandson, freezing.

My grandson, Ike. Ike's right there, so he's about to come get you. Yeah, well, that's all right. If it wasn't for him, now I couldn't be here. Well, we're glad Ike hooked you up. Oh, yeah. Well, that's what I'm depending on now, my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Well, that's what they job.

They'll help me enjoy. You took care of him. Their job is to take care of you. Whatever that check is, well, we'll all enjoy that. Like I tell them, well, I won't be here much longer to help you all do it, but we're going to have fun. But you're going to enjoy it while you can enjoy it. Well, I'm sure.

I mean, there's so many things we need, you know. So just getting things that you need makes you feel better and be able to live longer and be satisfied. Folks, an amazing conversation with two of those survivors. That is it for us. We've got to clear out of here, y'all, because the Secret Service has got to lock this place down. We've got more interviews. We're going to actually restream this in our normal time. We normally go live at 6 p.m. Eastern, and so we're going to do that. Hope you enjoyed all of this.

We are so glad to be here to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Black Wall Street, here in the Green, here in the Greenville District, folks. It has been amazing just talking to the people here, the history, but also important how we move forward and then rebuilding our black infrastructure and our black community. That is it for me. Follow the team here in Tulsa. We thank you so very much, folk. We will see y'all later.

We'll be broadcasting here tomorrow. As I said, President Joe Biden will be here meeting with the survivors and the descendants and be giving remarks here from this cultural center. And so we look forward to that taking place on tomorrow. Until then, I'll see you. Holla! A lot of times big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it.

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