Oklahoma Supreme Court denies retrial for Tulsa Race Massacre survivors

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court has denied a request to reconsider its decision to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the last two known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.

Without comment, seven members of the court earlier this month rejected a request by Viola Fletcher, 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, to reopen a June ruling that upheld a judge’s decision in Tulsa to reject. the case.

Judge James Edmondson reportedly reheard the case, and Judge Richard Darby did not vote.

Fletcher and Randle survived the massacre, which is considered one of the worst acts of violence against black people in US history.

About 300 black people were killed; over 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches were destroyed; and thousands were forced into internment camps overseen by the National Guard when a white mob, including some deputies, looted and burned the Greenwood neighborhood, also known as Black Wall Street.

Damario Solomon-Simmons, attorney for Fletcher and Benningfield, was not immediately available for comment.

Solomon-Simmons, after filing the rehearing motion in July, also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into the massacre under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.

“President Biden sat down with my clients. He promised them he would see that they get justice,” Solomon-Simmons said at the time.

“He then went into the next room and gave a robust speech in which he told the nation that he stood with the survivors and descendants of the Tulsa massacre … we call on President Biden to fulfill his promise to these survivors, face by this community and for people of color across the nation,” Solomon-Simmons said.

The Emmett Till Act allows for the reopening of cold cases of violent crimes against black people committed before 1970.

The lawsuit was an attempt under Oklahoma public law to force the city of Tulsa and others to return the destruction.

The attorneys also argued that Tulsa appropriated its historically Black Wall Street reputation “for its own financial and reputational benefit.” They argue that any money the city receives from promoting Greenwood or Black Wall Street, including proceeds from the Greenwood Rising History Center, should be placed into a compensation fund for victims and their descendants.

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Oklahoma Lawsuits