Greenwood Neighborhood of Tulsa after the Race Massacre of May 31-June 1, 1921
Over the last week, two important events from American history received national attention. Despite their importance, many white people were unfamiliar with them – Juneteenth and the Tulsa Race Massacre. Although they happened decades apart, they represent the cycle of progress and backlash that typifies much of our nation’s history. These events received attention when the President originally scheduled a political rally on June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Under pressure due to racial insensitivity, the rally date was changed to the following day.
Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger proclaimed that enslaved people in Texas were free. This was the last of the former Confederate states to receive the news of freedom. By the next year, local black communities started the first celebrations of Juneteenth. Eventually it became a well established holiday in black communities throughout the country. It is recognized as a state holiday in several states beginning with Texas in 1980. However it is not yet a national holiday even though it commemorates the time in our nation’s history when all people were free.
Progress toward racial justice is inevitable followed by a backlash violent opposition. One of the most horrific examples of backlash occurred on May 31-June 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. By the early 20th century, Greenwood was a thriving black neighborhood and business community in Tulsa known nationally as the “Black Wall Street.” Under suspicious trumped up allegations, white mobs attacked people in the Greenwood community leaving up to 300 dead, over 800 injured, and 6000 interned by the city for several days. The destruction of a 35 block area was virtually complete.
The current outpouring of protests around the country over the police killings of unarmed black people call us to face the deep pain of systemic racial injustice if we are to make progress toward greater levels of justice for all. Learning about the cycles of progress and backlash in the past and recognizing that cycle in the present helps us stay committed over the long haul to challenge injustice and to work to establish systems and institutions that truly honor the image of God in all people, especially those who have suffered from the dehumanizing impact of racial injustice.