OK Supreme Court closes door on survivors. Will Biden reopen it?

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GREENWOOD Dist.–Days after the Oklahoma Supreme Court made a final decision to bar 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre survivors from seeking justice, the lead attorney for the 110 and 109-year-old plaintiffs renewed calls for President Joe Biden to launch a federal investigation.

“By denying the petition brought by the last two living survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma doubled down on one of the biggest miscarriages of justice that this nation has ever seen,” national civil rights attorney and Justice for Greenwood founder Damario Solomon-Simmons said in a statement.

He’s calling on Pres. Biden and VP Harris to “heed the survivors’ plea” by launching a federal investigation into the Tulsa Race Massacre under The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act. 

“Now is the time for the federal government to step up where Oklahoma has failed. I know that Greenwood’s quest for justice is close to the hearts of President Biden and Vice President Harris, who have met with the survivors and heard their stories firsthand.”

To date, not a single person or government entity has ever been held accountable for massacre, which killed upwards of 300 Black men, women and children, according to the Tulsa Historical Society.

The attack resulted in the annihilation of the once-wealthiest Black district in the nation.

Biden promised justice for Tulsa Race Massacre survivors

Biden traveled to Greenwood during the 100-year anniversary of the massacre, when the City of Tulsa and other local and state government entities sanctioned a white mob to burn, bomb, beat and shoot bullets into the bodies of Greenwood residents.

In a historic first for any sitting U.S. president, Biden stepped foot on Greenwood soil and demanded justice for the domestic terror attack that has impacted Black Tulsans across generations.

“My fellow Americans, this was not a riot. This was a massacre. Among the worst in our history but not the only one,” Biden said in a televised address from inside the Greenwood Cultural Center.

While he unveiled plans to advance racial equity across his administration, expand government contract opportunities for minority-owned businesses, and promised record funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Yet, he stopped short of calling for reparations or a federal investigation into the massacre.

How did we get here?

In April, the state’s highest court for the first time heard an appeal from attorneys for the survivors of one of the worst instances of racial terror against Black people in U.S. history.

Justices were tasked with deciding whether to uphold a previous dismissal from Tulsa District Court or to reverse it and allow the case to go to trial for the first time in 103 years.

Ultimately, the Justices ruled 8-1 in June to uphold the dismissal of the case, and on September 11, they rejected a request from plaintiffs to reconsider their decision. The case can no longer be tried in Oklahoma district or state courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a similar lawsuit in the early 2000s.

Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, as a young lawyer working under the late famous Charles Ogletree, watched the highest court in the country deny justice to survivors in 2000. Roughly 24 years later, after watching dozens of survivors die over the years, he’s not giving up.

With hopes that Biden will take action before he leaves office, attorney Solomon-Simmons says the survivors, descendants and the community of Greenwood aren’t giving up, either.

“This phase of the legal battle is over. But the fight is not. At 109 and 110, Mother Randle and Mother Fletcher are deeply disappointed in the abject failure of Oklahoma’s judicial system, and they have made it clear they intend to keep fighting until justice is served,” Solomon-Simmons stated.

Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act?

The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Act created a joint partnership between the FBI and the Department of Justice to “identify and investigate racially-motivated murders committed decades ago,” according to the DOJ.

First signed into law in 2008 and reauthorized by Congress in 2016, the law has been used to investigate over 100 civil rights crimes.

The list of opened cases range from those as early as the 194o police abduction and murder of NAACP member Elbert Williams to the 1978 Utah stabbing murder of NAACP member, socialist and gay rights activist Anthony Adams.

As of January 24, 2024, the most recent update of the list shows the Tulsa Race Massacre case isn’t among them.

Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons hopes Biden will change that.

“Support from the Biden-Harris administration is needed more than ever to address the radical attacks on truth, history, and the Black citizens of Oklahoma,” he stated. “We hope that the White House will meet the moment.”

For years, Greenwood residents and supporters have accused the City of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma of waiting for the survivors to die. Hughes Van Ellis, a massacre survivor and World War II veteran, died in October 2023 at 102.

“Time is fleeting, but I have faith that Mother Fletcher and Mother Randle will see the arc of history bend toward justice while they’re still alive,” Solomon-Simmons said.

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• Oklahoma Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit from survivors of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
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