The northeast oil rich town of Tulsa was developing in an alarming rate and by 1900, Greenwood district which was and still is predominantly African American had already been dubbed 'Negro wall street' due to the wealth amassed by the African Americans who were residents of Greenwood.
With an estimated population of 10,000 African Americans living in Greenwood who were largely working-class blacks, Greenwood was not only perceived as a black freedom colony, it was also the richest African American community in the entire United States of America.
As fate would have it, on Wednesday 1st June 1921, the dreams and prosperity of American Americans who called Greenwood home were totally shattered during the racially motivated Tulsa massacre that saw 300 plus African Americans killed, over 5,000 left homeless and over 6.7 million dollars black wealth in form of businesses and real estates burned to ashes churches notwithstanding.
The community which was once the richest African American district became one of the poorest town in United States of America. To this day, a century later, Greenwood hasn't recovered from the deadliest United States massacre and justice or reparations are yet to be served.
From slavery to segregation, lynching, police shootings and police brutality, racial profiling, prejudice and racism, African American have experienced it all for more than 400 hundred years. And if you think that a century later after the Tulsa massacre that things have changed, I beg you to awake from your slumber.
Even though you might not be aware of the most ten deadliest racial massacres that have seen thousands of African Americans killed, it's too soon to forget the racially motivated Wednesday June 17th 2015 Charleston church massacre in the state of South Carolina that led to the killing of nine African Americans in the hands of a white supremacist.
In his first day in office, the 46th president of the United States of America president Joseph Robinette Biden signed an executive order condemning the wave of racism towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islander community in reference to the covid-19 pandemic. On Tuesday 18th May 2021, both chambers of Congress overwhelmingly and unanimously passed the Anti Asian Americans hate crimes bill which was signed into law by the president two days later on Thursday 20th May 2021. This was exactly four months into Joe Biden's presidency.
I totally agree that the overwhelming bipartisan congressional effort to halt the rise in bias crime that has recently sparked fear among the Asian Americans which was evident during the recent shooting on Tuesday 16th March 2021in Atlanta Georgia where six women of Asian descent were killed was neccessary. All the same, my conscious force of reason begs the question: When will both houses pass one (not two) among the two hundred plus of the Anti lynching bills that for years have been introduced on the floors of both houses?
The fact that I am a humanist who wholeheartedly believes in egalitarianism compels me into citing the irony on the Covid-19 Anti Asian Americans hate bill which has a reference of one year of racism towards Asian Americans against the 400 years of African Americans segregation, racial discrimination, lynching, prejudice, racial profiling and the like and to this day, no executive order has ever been signed or a law enacted for African Americans.
With the knowledge that 4,742 people were lynched between 1882-1968, and more than 200 anti-lynching bills introduced to Congress since 1918 all of which have been voted down, it seems that the long awaited justice is far-fetched. Although I am not lost of the fact that on 19th December 2018 the United States Senate passed the anti-lynching bill, the 115th House of Representatives took no action on that bill. Later on February 26, 2020, the House of representatives passed a revised version of the bill namely: The Emmett Till Anti lynching Act, by a vote of 410–4. All the same, as of today, 100 years after the deadliest United States massacre (Tulsa massacre) no anti-lynching bill has been passed by both houses.
From slavery to segregation, lynching, police shootings and police brutality, racial profiling, prejudice and racism, African American have experienced it all for more than 400 hundred years. And if you think that a century later after the Tulsa massacre that things have changed, I beg you to awake from your slumber.
Even though you might not be aware of the most ten deadliest racial massacres that have seen thousands of African Americans killed, it's too soon to forget the racially motivated Wednesday June 17th 2015 Charleston church massacre in the state of South Carolina that led to the killing of nine African Americans in the hands of a white supremacist.
In his first day in office, the 46th president of the United States of America president Joseph Robinette Biden signed an executive order condemning the wave of racism towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islander community in reference to the covid-19 pandemic. On Tuesday 18th May 2021, both chambers of Congress overwhelmingly and unanimously passed the Anti Asian Americans hate crimes bill which was signed into law by the president two days later on Thursday 20th May 2021. This was exactly four months into Joe Biden's presidency.
I totally agree that the overwhelming bipartisan congressional effort to halt the rise in bias crime that has recently sparked fear among the Asian Americans which was evident during the recent shooting on Tuesday 16th March 2021in Atlanta Georgia where six women of Asian descent were killed was neccessary. All the same, my conscious force of reason begs the question: When will both houses pass one (not two) among the two hundred plus of the Anti lynching bills that for years have been introduced on the floors of both houses?
The fact that I am a humanist who wholeheartedly believes in egalitarianism compels me into citing the irony on the Covid-19 Anti Asian Americans hate bill which has a reference of one year of racism towards Asian Americans against the 400 years of African Americans segregation, racial discrimination, lynching, prejudice, racial profiling and the like and to this day, no executive order has ever been signed or a law enacted for African Americans.
With the knowledge that 4,742 people were lynched between 1882-1968, and more than 200 anti-lynching bills introduced to Congress since 1918 all of which have been voted down, it seems that the long awaited justice is far-fetched. Although I am not lost of the fact that on 19th December 2018 the United States Senate passed the anti-lynching bill, the 115th House of Representatives took no action on that bill. Later on February 26, 2020, the House of representatives passed a revised version of the bill namely: The Emmett Till Anti lynching Act, by a vote of 410–4. All the same, as of today, 100 years after the deadliest United States massacre (Tulsa massacre) no anti-lynching bill has been passed by both houses.
It goes without saying that; justice delayed is justice denied. Nonetheless, there is a dire need to keep fighting for justice as a way of correting the centuries old wrongs in order to sate the minds of African Americans with a physiological sense of liberty.
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