GREENWOOD, Dist. – On the 102nd anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Tulsa Community Remembrance Coalition honors unknown victims with a solemn soil collection ceremony at Standpipe Hill in the Historic Greenwood District. The gathered soil, collected from both Standpipe Hill and Oaklawn Cemetery, honors those whose lives were tragically lost during this dark and painful moment in history.

The exact number of victims who perished in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 remains unknown. However, estimations range from 300 to upwards of 500. The event, which took place over a two-day period from May 31 to June 1, resulted in widespread destruction and loss of life in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as “Black Wall Street.” However, due to the chaotic nature of the massacre, the destruction of records, and a lack of comprehensive investigations, an accurate and final count of the victims has never been determined.

Recent efforts to uncover the full extent of the tragedy continue, including through forensic investigations and testimonies from survivors and their descendants.

Greg Robinson, a member of the Tulsa Community Remembrance Coalition, emphasized the significance of gathering at Standpipe Hill. “It is amazing that we honor those unknown who were lost in the Tulsa Race Massacre. That we do it here on truly sacred ground – that actually represents the greatness of what Black Wall Street was, is and will be into the future,” Robinson shared. He then honored the American World War I veterans who lost their lives. “It is not lost on us that we honor veterans on this day as well,” Robinson added. 

During the ceremony, Kristi Williams, a member of the Tulsa Remembrance Coalition and a descendant of the massacre, delivered a poignant reading. Through her words, she reminded everyone in attendance of the historical significance of the Tulsa Race Massacre and shed light on the countless victims whose identities have been lost to time, emphasizing the need to remember and honor them.

“Less than two dozen victims have been documented by name, but research has estimated that hundreds of Black men, women and children died in the massacre,” Williams sternly explained. 

During Williams’ address, she shared an intriguing detail about the majestic hackberry tree standing tall on Standpipe Hill. She then revealed that this remarkable tree possesses a special ability to grow thick bark over the areas that were once damaged by fire, creating a protective shield against future harm, explaining that its resilient characteristic serves as a metaphor for the community’s ability to heal and endure in the face of adversity.

Williams proceeded to recount the heroic tale of Horace ‘Peg leg’ Taylor, a World War I veteran. She described how Taylor courageously positioned himself atop Standpipe Hill, wielding a gatling gun, and valiantly defended the hill for hours, providing a vital shield for the residents of Greenwood as they sought to escape from the violent White mob.

US Veteran Kenneth ‘K.Roc’ Brant, who works for the Terence Crutcher Foundation, shared a deeply personal reflection on the mental struggle he faced during the Centennial of the Massacre back in 2021. 

He recounted the challenge of honoring both the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre and the veterans during the centennial commemoration, which coincided with Memorial Day weekend. 

“That weekend weighed heavily on me. [I was] torn as a Black military veteran and a Black man living in Tulsa,” Brant shared. At the ceremony, Brant recited a poem he wrote called “Holding Space” to express the thoughts and feelings he experienced. “This weekend, we remembered that some gave all. Here in Tulsa, we remembered that some took all. How do I hold space for both?” Brant said.

Brant’s individual story sheds light on the emotional and psychological battle he endured during his time in service and while navigating the complexities of what Black soldiers experienced during the Massacre upon their return to Tulsa after WWI.

Freddie Gray should be celebrating his 33rd birthday today. Terence Crutcher should be celebrating his 46th birthday today. Their lives matter, and they deserved to grow old.

On fun-sized advice

By Coketalk/The Coquette, September 22, 2016

Existential crisis over Trump becoming president. Help. Anything. Answers… please? Even a “Trump will win” truth will help calm me down because at least I don’t have to strain on the mystery. You need to work on getting comfortable with uncertainty. Never forget, the entire human experiment is conducted on a knife edge. Security is an illusion, and the thin veneer of civilization could dissolve at any moment.

Are we doomed to repeat the roles of our parents in relationships? Patterns, not roles. And yes, you are doomed to repeat them. That doesn’t mean you have to keep repeating them all your life. You can always unlearn the patterns, but some repetition is inevitable.

So the destruction of Libya is of no account? Hillary’s support for catastrophic wars – or military intervention – in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria is of no consequence? Sorry, but Hillary Clinton is no better than her predecessors or Donald Trump. The US is ill-served by both main parties, by both candidates. How can you not see this? Or is it all about having a female President for you, no matter what her history or beliefs? You are a fucking child.

Betty Shelby deserves those charges and I hope she is found guilty. But am I in the wrong to feel slightly annoyed that they were so quick to charge a white female cop but failed to do the same for all those other countless dumbfuck white male cops? It’s okay for you to notice how eager the police are to disavow a female officer. Betty Shelby will go to prison for shooting Terence Crutcher, as well she fucking should, but your instincts are correct. She’ll end up being as much an example of institutional misogyny as she is of institutional racism.

Comment:

I’m so over the narrative that the trump presidency is going to bring death and destruction to all of mankind. Yes, he’s going to win the White House but we’ll survive.

Coquette's response:

You are wrong.

Welcome to the 2023 Organization Exhibition Area!

The UJC aims to amplify the work being done in our communities in the areas of justice reform, civic engagement, education, and more. We’re excited to welcome over 50 organizations from across the U.S. to our Organization Exhibition Area, designed to highlight their missions, programs, resources, and calls to action. Join us on 12/1 to meet our partners. Click the link to register! 1Hood Media American Probation and Parole Association Anti Recidivism Coalition Black Voters Matter Center For Employment Opportunities (CEO) Center for Policing Equity Due Process Institute Equal Justice USA Foundation to Combat Antisemitism Good Call Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison Innocence Project Last Prisoner Project LIFE Camp Inc. March For Our Lives National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers National Lawyers Guild-New York City Chapter National Sheriffs' Association PeacePlayers Brooklyn & PeacePlayers US Promise of Justice Initiative REFORM Alliance Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) Students Demand Action Terence Crutcher Foundation The Botham Jean Foundation The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth The Clean Slate Initiative The Gathering for Justice The LOHM The Opportunity Network The Sentencing Project Transformational Prison Project United Way of New York City Until Freedom Youth Justice Network

As we commemorate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend, I renew attention to David Byrne's American Utopia. The central idea is that the world depends on our individual, inner transformation of mind and heart, which we cannot accomplish alone. Our true selves are linked to one another through relationships.

Byrne covers Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout” to name African-American victims of American law enforcement and the systemic racism that continues to perpetuate this ongoing legal form of genocide. 

Say their names.

Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, Dante Parker, Michelle Cusseaux, Laquan McDonald, George Mann, Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Rumain Brisbon, Jerame Reid, Matthew Ajibade, Frank Smart, Natasha McKenna, Tony Robinson, Anthony Hill, Mya Hall, Phillip White, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, William Chapman II, Alexia Christian, Brendon Glenn, Victor Manuel Larosa, Jonathan Sanders, Freddie Blue, Joseph Mann, Salvado Ellswood, Sandra Bland, Albert Joseph Davis, Darrius Stewart, Billy Ray Davis, Samuel Dubose, Michael Sabbie, Brian Keith Day, Christian Taylor, Troy Robinson, Asshams Pharoah Manley, Felix Kumi, Keith Harrison McLeod, Junior Prosper, Lamontez Jones, Paterson Brown, Dominic Hutchinson, Anthony Ashford, Alonzo Smith, Tyree Crawford, India Kager, La’vante Biggs, Michael Lee Marshall, Jamar Clark, Richard Perkins, Nathaniel Harris Pickett, Benni Lee Tignor, Miguel Espinal, Michael Noel, Kevin Matthews, Bettie Jones, Quintonio Legrier, Keith Childress Jr., Janet Wilson, Randy Nelson, Antronie Scott, Wendell Celestine, David Joseph, Calin Roquemore, Dyzhawn Perkins, Christopher Davis, Marco Loud, Peter Gaines, Torrey Robinson, Darius Robinson, Kevin Hicks, Mary Truxillo, Demarcus Semer, Willie Tillman, Terrill Thomas, Sylville Smith, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Paul O’Neal, Alteria Woods, Jordan Edwards, Aaron Bailey, Ronell Foster, Stephon Clark, Antwon Rose II, Botham Jean, Pamela Turner, Dominique Clayton, Atatiana Jefferson, Christopher Whitfield, Christopher Mccorvey, Eric Reason, Michael Lorenzo Dean, Breonna Taylor.

This non-comprehensive list of Black people in the United States killed by police since July 2014 was compiled by National Public Radio’s Code Switch as part of an episode entitled “A Decade of Watching Black People Die.”

Its been 10 years since Trayvon Martin was murdered.

Its been 8 years since Tamir Rice and Michael Brown were murdered.

Its been 7 years since Freddie Gray was murdered.

Its been 6 years since Terence Crutcher was murdered.

Its been 5 years since Heather Heyer was murdered.

Its been 4 years since Stephon Clarke was murdered.

Its been 2 years since George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were murdered.

103 black men were killed by police last year in the US.

They protest peacefully with a sit-in. But sit-ins don't make the news, and so nothing changes.

Tomorrow another name will be added to the list of the dead as a result of state-sanctioned violence against their community.

They protest peacefully by marching on the sidewalk, so as not to disrupt traffic. But if you dont inconvenience the general public, you wont make the news, and nothing changes.

Another name. Another brother lost. Another beloved daughter. Another human being who's right to live was removed for no other reason than breathing while black.

They protest peacefully by taking a knee during the national anthem, and they are lambasted and mocked and the general public sets out on a quest to destroy anyone who is seen kneeling during their precious song. Still, nothing changes.

More names are added to a list that should never have started, let alone been allowed to grow this long.

Years go by. Then decades.

Thousands of names, thousands of destroyed futures, thousands of grieving families.

Grassroots community action and organization and peaceful protest continue, every single day, but go unnoticed. The general public doesn't think it's that bad. The general public claims that if people would just "comply" they'd be taken alive. Even when they see armed, violent white criminals attacking police and being taken in alive, they still say that unarmed black people must have deserved to die.

Because when your skin is seen as inherently dangerous, you can never be truly "unarmed" in the eyes of a racist system*.

So, they rise up. "You care more about protecting business and property than you've ever cared about protecting our lives!" And they burn down business and destroy property. "You protect your own from the hand of justice when they murder us for nothing!" And so they burn down police precincts.

Now the general public looks down from their privileged pillars and say, "how silly of them to burn down their neighbourhoods... that will never fix anything". They choose to remain blind and comforted in the knowledge that it's not their problem, while simultaneously believing that their understanding of the situation and necessary solution is clearer than the understanding of those on the ground, enduring state sanctioned violence against their own for generations.

The violence will only get worse as the powers-that-be refuse to change.

Maybe if you actually listened to peaceful protest, it wouldn't have had to come to this.

[* original quote "When the color of your skin is seen as a weapon, you will never be seen as unarmed" by #TaylorGriffin]

Tulsa Police Officer Who Killed Unarmed Black Man Won’t Face Civil Rights Charges

Tulsa Police Officer Who Killed Unarmed Black Man Won’t Face Civil Rights Charges

Betty Shelby during her trial in Tulsa, Okla., in 2017 in which she was acquitted of manslaughter in the death of Terence Crutcher.CreditSue Ogrocki/Associated Press

Betty Shelby during her trial in Tulsa, Okla., in 2017 in which she was acquitted of manslaughter in the death of Terence Crutcher. CreditSue

  A former police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man in Tulsa,…

View On WordPress

Rogers County Sheriff’s Deputy Betty Shelby is scheduled to teach a class on “surviving the aftermath” of officer-involved shootings next week at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, drawing criticism from a local activist group.

Shelby will inform participants about “many of the legal, financial, physical, and emotional challenges” that may arise after an officer shoots someone, according to a course synopsis on a state government website.

She is the former Tulsa police officer who fatally shot Terence Crutcher, an unarmed African-American, on a north Tulsa street next to his SUV nearly two years ago.

Eight months later a jury acquitted her of first-degree manslaughter. After returning to duty, she soon chose to leave the Tulsa Police Department and join the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office.

@vague-humanoid

Former Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby was uninvited from a homicide investigators' conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to a statement from the organization. Shelby, who jurors acquitted in the 2016 shooting death of Terence Crutcher, was scheduled to speak at the Southeastern Homicide Investigators Conference.

Betty Shelby uninvited to law enforcement conference after criticism | News | tulsaworld.com

This was ON CAMERA,

From TWO DIFFERENT ANGLES.

It’s as clear as day the guy was no threat at all.

Betty Shelby, officer acquitted of manslaughter in shooting of Terence Crutcher, resigns

Betty Shelby — the Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in 2016 — has resigned from the force, the Associated Press reported Friday. 

She had been serving in an administrative role in the police department since returning to work shortly after being acquitted.

“She’s just not meant to do a desk job,” her attorney, Shannon McMurray, told the AP. Read more. (7/14/17, 2:04 PM)

It’s so fucking infuriating to hear the comments from the jurors on the Terence Crutcher shooting. They literally say that they know Betty Shelby is a shit cop and didn’t do her job right but they still give her the benefit of the doubt. They say that she is a good person and would be better suited elsewhere. Like the fucking excuses they give to this woman for killing an unarmed Black man is just... uhg.

But you know this reminds me of the time I almost served on a jury in a case involving a cop. We got asked a bunch of questions about our availability to what was going to be a very long court case and about our bias when it comes to cops. So we get asked the questions about racial prejudice and the usual ones but they also ask if we have favoritism on the side of cops. Like, would we be less likely to convict simply because they are a cop and several people expressed this is true for them. 

One woman in particular was very quick to raise her hand with that question and then the judge asks you to explain and she went on about how her dad, brother, husband are all cops and whatever. So you’d think she would be one of those dismissed ASAP right? Nope. I was in the first round of dismissals so I never got to see if she made it to the final juror pick but I saw that she wasn’t dismissed and neither were others who raised their hands and explained they show favoritism towards cops. Convicting cops is not their fucking goal and it never will be.

PEACE

Please support the God, Wise Intelligent!!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NAUCPES/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp