Oklahoma Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit from survivors of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Written By: Archiebald Brown

(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled to uphold a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit from the remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, still looking for some form of reparations.

Read the full story on The Black Wall Street Times here. 

In an 8-1 opinion, the court ruled while the survivors of the worst acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history have legitimate grievances, they don’t fall under Oklahoma’s public nuisance statute, nor do allegations of sufficiently support a claim for unjust enrichment and unauthorized use of name and likeness.

“Expanding public nuisance liability to include lingering social inequities from historical tragedies and injustices runs the risk of creating a new ‘unlimited and unprincipled’ form of liability wherein both State and non-state actors could be held liable for the predecessors’ wrongdoing, in which current actors played no part," Vice Chief Justice Dustin Rowe wrote in the decision. 

Defendants in the case include the City of Tulsa, Tulsa Regional Chamber, Tulsa County Board of Commissioners, Tulsa County Sheriff, and Oklahoma Military Department.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court upholds Tulsa County District Judge Caroline Wall’s dismissal of the suit last year brought by the survivors, Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, Viola Fletcher, 110, and Hughes Van Ellis, who died last year at age 102.

The city of Tulsa released a statement respecting the court’s decision and stating it “affirms the significance of the work the City continues to do in the North Tulsa and Greenwood communities.”

“Through economic development and policy projects, the 1921 Graves Investigation, and a renewed community vision for the Kirkpatrick Heights & Greenwood Master Plan, the City remains committed to working with residents and providing resources to support the North Tulsa and Greenwood communities,” the statement reads.

The effects of the massacre by a White mob that killed an estimated 300 Black people continue to impact the basic human needs of the surviving victims, the lawsuit argues, including jobs, financial security, education, housing, and health.

Petition for Rehearing to be Filed

In the 103 years since the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, no one has been held accountable.

Justice for Greenwood, the legal team representing the survivors of the massacre, released a statement expressing their disagreement with the decision. They argued that the destruction of 40 square blocks of Black-owned property should be considered a public nuisance under Oklahoma law.

“Faithful application of the law compels the conclusion that Mother Randle and Mother Fletcher have stated a claim for relief,” the statement read. “They are entitled to a trial.”

Justice for Greenwood also called on the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into the massacre under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007.

“The Massacre happened 103 years ago, but it remains a vivid memory of Mother Randle and Mother Fletcher, who, as young girls, saw their community destroyed in the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history,” the statement said.