This week on the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 we will discuss the ongoing attempts to ignore the painful history of systemic racism in America. Why the “Red Summer” a period of brutal, racially motivated violence in America has been largely forgotten and the need for America to redress the economic and emotional toll of these racist attacks via the payment of Reparations to the families and communities destroyed by this racial cleansing.
We will also look at the GOP’s attempt at ignoring another violent and painful chapter in our more recent history as Republican Senators led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, blocked the establishment of a commission to review the 1/6 Capitol Insurrection and violent coup attempt by Trump loyalists who attacked our Capitol spurred on by Trump’s “Big Lie.”
History often repeats itself. I am sure many of you are familiar with the quote that is often misattributed to the Irish statesman Edmund Burke. He is misquoted as having said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” The Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, is also credited with the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Perhaps the problem starts with the concept of “learning from history.” I would argue we are failing American students and the public writ large if we don’t teach the history of racism in the United States. Not just limiting it to discussions of the great stain of slavery and the Civil War and the fight for Civil Rights and social justice with the Black Lives Matter movement. What we as a country have never closely looked at and reconciled is our nation’s history of forgetting from the facts around white America’s numerous attempts at racial cleansing, attempting to literally whitewash and remove the stories of brutal violence against both indigenous native Americans and African Americans. Having studied European History from World War I to World War II, I was vaguely aware of the heroic roles that African American and Native Americans played in winning both wars. I also recall that little mention was paid of returning WWI African American soldiers and how they had begun to create vibrant and strong working neighborhoods building businesses, homes, churches and institutions that were lifting African Americans up. My history classes in high school barely touched upon the reality of the African American experience between the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery and the Civil Rights movement of Martin Luther King. Those stories were not delved into, partly due to lack of African American voices in my grade school, high school and college. I am ashamed to admit that I wasn’t even aware of the Tulsa Race Massacre until last year and had never heard of the years of racial violence that wiped out major African American communities, referred to as the Red Summer until I started looking into it last year.
More on the stories of Red Summer.
Red Summer isn’t really just one Summer, it refers to the period from late winter through early autumn of 1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots took place in more than three dozen cities across the States. The actual term "Red Summer" was coined by the civil rights activist and writer James Weldon Johnson, who was a field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1916. In 1919, he organized peaceful protests against the racial violence which had started that summer.[1][2]
In most of these racially motivated attacks, white-on-black violence occurred. African Americans resisted, most notably organizing in Chicago and Washington, D.C. race riots, resulting in 38 and 15 deaths, respectively, along with even more injuries, and extensive property damage in Chicago.[3] In Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 hundreds of resident were killed more than 1250 homes were burned and destroyed erasing a thriving and prosperous Black community that was often referred to as the Black Wall Street. To read more I would suggest reading the interactive New York Times feature. You will find a link to it on our blog post for this week below just copy and paste into your browser.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/24/us/tulsa-race-massacre.html
What spurred the Tulsa Race Massacre and other violent racist attacks grew out of racial tensions in after the First World War. Troops served in segregated infantries and units during their military service. The anti-black riots developed from a variety of post-World War I social tensions, related to the demobilization of both black and white members of the United States Armed Forces following World War I; an economic slump in the 1920s was hitting Americans hard as poverty and joblessness disrupted American society; there was increased competition in the job and housing markets between ethnic European Americans and African Americans.[4] The time would also be marked by increasing labor unrest, for which certain industrialists used black people as strikebreakers, further inflaming the resentment of white workers against African Americans.
The riots and killings were extensively documented by the press, which, along with the federal government, feared socialist and communist influence on the black civil rights movement of the time following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. They had feared foreign anarchists, who had bombed the homes and businesses of prominent figures and government leaders were somehow underpinning the nascent civil rights awakening of the 1920s.
But we weren’t taught this in school and today’s Republican party is attempting to erase any curriculum that delves into the United States racist past.
Trumpist parent groups backed by a former Trump appointee in Loudoun County, Virginia is trying to recall school board members for doing teacher training on is ‘systemic oppression and implicit bias.” 39 Republican Senators refer to history education on these topics “activist indoctrination.”
I just call it American History. In all its ugly, brutal truth, America and Americans have never reconciled themselves to addressing the inherently racist nature of our history and how white supremacy has destroyed generations of black communities, inhibited generational wealth accrual in African American families, and created persistent, systemic racist policy that touches every aspect of African American lives - from health care, to education, to property ownership, economic development every dimension of African American’s lives have been in response to racist barriers put in place by an inherently racist and privileged white America.
As I have mentioned before, I studied European History as an undergrad at Northwestern University my focus being on the period from World War I to the post War II reconstruction. For Republicans to ignore the painful history of racist white on black violence, from slavery to the Red Summer to the Civil Rights movement, from the War on Drugs that disproportionately affected communities of color, to the current fight for social justice and police reform in the wake of the murders of Trayvon Martin and George Floyd. We have witnessed white America unwilling to confront the reality of the systemic racism and violence perpetrated against African Americans. The economic and political violence unleashed and the legacy and impact this brutality has had on generations of African Americans and their once vibrant communities.
Is Reparations the answer to begin to redress hundreds of years of systemic inequality and orchestrated violence?
Historically, Reparations were a fine or levy placed upon a losing country to reimburse for the costs of waging the war that were paid to the winning parties. But what happens when there is no formal declaration of war and the injured party is not a winning nation but instead are generations of African Americans who have suffered the lasting impacts of racism, economic disparity and institutionalized inequality? One American city has started the payment of reparations and it could become a model for financial restitution that could be a first step in addressing the stains of racism and racial violence.
Evanston, Illinois became the first city in America to make reparation payments to eligible back households. In March of 2021, the Evanston city council voted 8-1 to distribute $400,000 in cash payments to qualifying black households. Each household would be given $25,000 to be used for home improvements or for down payments on homes. In order to qualify residents must have either resided in the city from 1919 to 1969 and, have suffered discrimination in housing during this period. It is an attempt to redress discriminatory housing policy. The program is limited providing 16 residents these cash payments. Some have criticized the program as little more than a new housing program and that it doesn’t go far enough. Other supporters said that it directly addresses the most significant issue facing African Americans who were subjected to discriminatory housing policy and city ordinances. Many critics claim it will have very little impact on the 12,000 African American residents who have been victimized by racist housing policies in the city. Advocates of the program say that direct payments vs these subsidies would incur tax penalties and this approach would ensure that these payments were not subjected to added tax burdens.
While this program in Evanston, Illinois is imperfect, it is a start. We have a long, painful history of having destroyed African American communities and direct payments to the legal descendants of slaves and communities that were destroyed and decimated by decades of white supremacy and violence need to be confronted, understood, internalized and society needs to make an honest financial redress for violence, racism and discrimination that African Americans have lived through.
Last week we saw the GOP continue it slow descent into authoritarianism and autocracy as they blocked passage of the bill to establish a commission to review the 1/6 Capitol Insurrection and Trump supporter’s coup attempt. Brian Sicknick’s Mom, the Washington Capitol Police officer who died from a stroke brought on by the stress and strain of the coup, visited Senators on the Hill in advance of the vote. Her pleas to Republican Senators fell on deaf ears. It was reported that Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell was personally calling GOP Senators begging them as a personal favor to vote “No” on the commission. It is clear that the GOP has much to hide given that the commission was bipartisan and the terms of the commissions running were jointly negotiated providing Republicans with substantial joint power sharing in the conduct of the inquiry including subpoena issuance. Given McConnell’s full court press, it has become clear that what Republican fear most is the truth about the Insurrection and coup attempt that occurred at the Capitol on 1/6. It is clear that there is significant collusion before, inaction to respond to the violence on the day and substantive participation in planning by numerous Trump Administration, political appointees in the DOD and DOJ as well numerous members of the House and Senate. The GOP doesn’t want the truth to come out because it will clearly show their active complicity in the violence from the extreme right of their party. The same part of the party that continues to perpetuate the “Big Lie” while pursuing aggressive voter suppression and egregious attacks on voting rights at the state level.
This is a part of the stain of white supremacy and is a significant reason why the Democratic party must move to abolishing the filibuster and passing both HR 1 and HR 4 to protect and legally expand voting rights and provide for impartial redistricting eliminating gerrymandering in upcoming district map drawing. We are running out of time and it’s clear that the GOP wants minority rule. If you haven’t already, please make it known to Senators Manchin and Sinema that you expect their support for passing both senate voting rights bills – the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Get it done.
And one final note - I am encouraging everyone to get the Covid-19 vaccine. I received my second Pfizer vaccination and had absolutely zero residual issues to either vaccine. So please remember to maintain social distance, wash your hands often and finally when in indoors or close crowds, “Wear a Mask to Save a Life.” Thanks for reading this week’s post at POLITICAL MOTIVES. Until next time this is Barb Kittridge.