Healing Past Wrongs

For John, BLUF:  We need to have a better knowledge of our past, of the wrongs inflicted, if we are going to move forward.  No flinching from the truth.  And, no placing blame on the people of today for what wrong was done in the past, if it has been renounced.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Possible Mass Graves Discovered From 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Massacre

From PJ Media, by Mr Rick Moran, 17 December 2019.

Here is the lede plus four:

It was the worst spasm of racial violence in the history of the United States. And it has been largely ignored in history.

The Greenwood district in Tulsa was the richest black neighborhood in the country, known at the time as "The Black Wall Street."  In 1921, a riot began over the Memorial Day weekend when a young black man was accused of assaulting a 17-year-old white girl.  Angry whites gathered at the jail while some black men, hearing rumors of a lynching, also headed to the jail.  At that point, history and myth merge and what happened to set off the crowd is unknown.

At one point, planes were employed to strafe the crowds of black women and children fleeing for their lives.  Property damage was immense.  More than 10,000 blacks were left homeless and an unknown number had been killed.  Official statistics put the number of dead at 36 with about 800 seriously injured.  Some believe the actual number of dead is in the hundreds.

The state established a commission in 1996 to investigate exactly what happened.  At that time, the commission found evidence of three possible mass grave sites, but the evidence had been inconclusive.

A more recent survey using far more sophisticated technology may have given state authorities enough evidence to begin an archaeological dig at some of the sites.

A blot on our history, and worthy of further investigation.

We need, as Americans, to make right what was wrong.  We need to acknowledge that the Tulsa Riot of 1921 was people, Caucasian American people, behaving badly.  Apologies are in order.  And good historic research to reveal all that really happened.  And, if we want to ever heal and unite, it includes acceptance of apologies.

If we are going to move forward as a nation, rather than breaking down into squabbling states, like we are the new Balkans, we have to unite going forward.  Please.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff