[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                  CONTINUING INJUSTICE: THE CENTENNIAL
                  OF THE TULSA-GREENWOOD RACE MASSACRE

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL 
                       RIGHTS, AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

                                 OF THE

                       COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2021

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-22

                               __________

         Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
         

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               Available via: http://judiciary.house.gov
               
                              __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
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                       COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                    JERROLD NADLER, New York, Chair
                MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania, Vice-Chair

ZOE LOFGREN, California              JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Ranking Member
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas            STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee               LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas
HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,      DARRELL ISSA, California
    Georgia                          KEN BUCK, Colorado
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida          MATT GAETZ, Florida
KAREN BASS, California               MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana
HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES, New York         ANDY BIGGS, Arizona
DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island     TOM McCLINTOCK, California
ERIC SWALWELL, California            W. GREG STEUBE, Florida
TED LIEU, California                 TOM TIFFANY, Wisconsin
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland               THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          CHIP ROY, Texas
VAL BUTLER DEMINGS, Florida          DAN BISHOP, North Carolina
J. LUIS CORREA, California           MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania       VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
SYLVIA R. GARCIA, Texas              SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
JOE NEGUSE, Colorado                 CLIFF BENTZ, Oregon
LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 BURGESS OWENS, Utah
GREG STANTON, Arizona
VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas
MONDAIRE JONES, New York
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina
CORI BUSH, Missouri

       PERRY APELBAUM, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
              CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Minority Staff Director 
              
                             ------                                
                             

            SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL RIGHTS,
                          AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

                     STEVE COHEN, Tennessee, Chair
                DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina, Vice-Chair

JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland               MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana, Ranking 
HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,          Member
    Georgia                          TOM McCLINTOCK, California
SYLVIA R. GARCIA, Texas              CHIP ROY, Texas
CORI BUSH, Missouri                  MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas            BURGESS OWENS, Utah

                       JAMES PARK, Chief Counsel
                           
                           C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                        Wednesday, May 19, 2021

                                                                   Page

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

The Honorable Steve Cohen, Chair of the Subcommittee on the 
  Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State 
  of Tennessee...................................................     2
The Honorable Mike Johnson, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on 
  the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the 
  State of Louisiana.............................................     4
The Honorable Jerrold Nadler, Chair of the Committee on the 
  Judiciary from the State of New York...........................     5
The Honorable Jim Jordan, Ranking Member of the Committee on the 
  Judiciary from the State of Ohio...............................     7

                               WITNESSES
                                Panel I

Ms. Viola Fletcher, Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race 
  Massacre
  Oral Testimony.................................................     8
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    10
Mr. Hughes Van Ellis, Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor and World War 
  II Veteran
  Oral Testimony.................................................    13
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    15
Ms. Lessie Benningfield Randle, Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor
  Oral Testimony.................................................    17
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    19

                                Panel II

The Honorable Regina Goodwin, Oklahoma State Representative and 
  Descendant of the Massacre
  Oral Testimony.................................................    22
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    25
Mr. Damario Solomon-Simmons, Founder and Executive Director, 
  Justice for Greenwood
  Oral Testimony.................................................    26
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    29
Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, Founder and Executive Director, Terence 
  Crutcher Foundation
  Oral Testimony.................................................    82
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    85
Mr. T.W. Shannon, Chief Executive Officer, Chickasaw Community 
  Bank and Former Speaker of the Oklahoma House of 
  Representatives
  Oral Testimony.................................................    87
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    89
Mr. Clarence Henderson, National Spokesman, Frederick Douglass 
  Foundation
  Oral Testimony.................................................    92
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    94
Chief Egunwale Amusan, President of the Tulsa African Ancestral 
  Society and Descendant of the Massacre
  Oral Testimony.................................................    97
  Prepared Testimony.............................................   100
Ms. Dreisen Heath, Researcher/Advocate, US Program, Human Rights 
  Watch
  Oral Testimony.................................................   104
  Prepared Testimony.............................................   106
Mr. Eric Miller, Professor of Law and Leo J. O'Brien Fellow, 
  Loyola Law School, Loyola Marymount University
  Oral Testimony.................................................   188
  Prepared Testimony.............................................   190

 
                  CONTINUING INJUSTICE: THE CENTENNIAL.
                  OF THE TULSA-GREENWOOD RACE MASSACRE

                              ----------                              


                        Wednesday, May 19, 2021

                     U.S. House of Representatives

            Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights,

                          and Civil Liberties

                       Committee on the Judiciary

                             Washington, DC

    The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 9:55 a.m., in Room 
200, Capitol Visitor Center, Hon. Steve Cohen [Chair of the 
Subcommittee] presiding.
    Members present: Representatives Nadler, Cohen, Raskin, 
Ross, Johnson of Georgia, Garcia, Bush, Jackson Lee, Jordan, 
Johnson of Louisiana, and Fischbach.
    Staff present: David Greengrass, Senior Counsel; John Doty, 
Senior Advisor; Moh Sharma, Member Services and Outreach 
Advisor; Priyanka Mara, Professional Staff Member; Jordan 
Dashow, Professional Staff Member; Cierra Fontenot, Chief 
Clerk; John Williams, Parliamentarian; Keenan Keller, Senior 
Counsel; Merrick Nelson, Digital Director; Kayla Hamedi, Deputy 
Press Secretary; James Park, Chief Counsel for Constitution; 
Will Emmons, Professional Staff Member; Betsy Ferguson, 
Minority Senior Counsel; Caroline Nabity, Minority Counsel; 
James Lesinski, Minority Counsel; Andrea Woodard, Minority 
Professional Staff Member; and Kiley Bidelman, Minority Clerk.
    Mr. Cohen. [Presiding.] The Committee on the Judiciary, 
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil 
Liberties will come to order.
    Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a 
recess of the Subcommittee at anytime.
    I welcome everyone to today's hearing on ``Continuing 
Injustice: The Centennial of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race 
Massacre.''
    Before we continue, I want to remind Members that we have 
established an email address and distribution list dedicated to 
circulating exhibits, motions, et cetera, to Members who might 
want to offer them in today's hearing. If you would like to 
submit such, [email protected], and they will be 
distributed.
    Finally, I would like to ask all Members and Witnesses, 
both those in person and those appearing remotely, to mute your 
microphones when you are not speaking. This will help prevent 
feedback and other technical issues.
    For those in the room, I would like to ask you to keep your 
face masks on at all times, unless you are speaking or unless 
you are over 100 years old. For those in the room, that will be 
our protocol.
    I now recognize myself for an opening statement.
    Mr. Van Ellis and Ms. Fletcher, welcome and thank you for 
coming. We appreciate it.
    Our hearing today serves two primary purposes. First, it is 
a commemoration of a milestone anniversary, the centennial of 
the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre of 1921, one of the most 
painful episodes in our nation's long and tortured history of 
race relations.
    Sadly, many Americans today are not even aware that this 
massacre took place, and I hope that this hearing can serve to 
educate the public about what happened. I, myself, was not 
aware, but Chair John Conyers had a hearing early in my term in 
Congress, probably about 10-12 years ago, and edified me and 
many in Congress. John Conyers needs to be recognized today for 
his commitment to justice and to the memory of the race 
massacre and for improvements in Tulsa.
    The second purpose of this hearing is to highlight many 
ways that the Black community of Tulsa continues to suffer from 
the effects of the massacre. Indeed, as the hearing's title 
suggests, the injuries inflicted on the Greenwood community 
have continued to compound through the succeeding decades since 
the massacre, often directly because of actions taken by 
government officials.
    Over the course of May 31 and June 1 of 1921, a White mob 
burned to the ground the Greenwood community of Tulsa, one of 
the most prominent and thriving Black communities in the 
country at the time, often referred to as the ``Black Wall 
Street.'' The White mob, consisting of thousands of people, 
murdered Black residents, looted their property, and burned 
more than 1,000 homes, churches, schools, and businesses. At 
least one credible estimate put the number of those killed at 
300 people. Recently, the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, 
visited Tulsa, visited the memorial, and you could see the 
emotion in him as he toured it.
    Worse still, that mob, fueled by racial fear and hatred, 
was aided and abetted by some of the very government officials 
who were supposed to be protecting the innocent residents and 
property owners of Greenwood. In other words, the massacre did 
not simply represent a negligent failure by government 
authorities to maintain order, but, rather, agents of the local 
and State governments were active participants in the crime. 
This happened too many places and too many times in our 
history, but never as significantly as it did in Tulsa.
    In the massacre's immediate aftermath, local authorities 
placed thousands of Black residents into internment camps out 
of fear of what the authorities characterized as a so-called, 
quote, ``Negro uprising.'' Indeed, this narrative of the 
massacre, a misrepresentation of what happened based on racial 
fear, was ratified by a grand jury empaneled by Oklahoma's 
Governor after the massacre. That grand jury issued a report 
less than a month after the massacre that placed the blame for 
the massacre entirely on the Black community. This grand jury 
also indicted Black persons with massacre-
related offenses, while no White person was ever held 
accountable for crimes committed during the massacre.
    This was 1921 America; 1921 Oklahoma; 1921, when the Ku 
Klux Klan was again reasserting itself and ``The Birth of a 
Nation'' had just been shown a little bit prior to that in the 
White House.
    Meanwhile, the Tulsa massacre resulted in property damage 
estimated to be anywhere between $25 and $100 million in 
today's dollars, representing a tremendous loss of wealth for 
Tulsa's Black community--a loss that was compounded with each 
succeeding generation.
    As the descendants of the White mob that looted Greenwood's 
businesses and homes have had a chance to build on the wealth 
of their ancestors, including stolen wealth, many Black 
survivors and their descendants have not been able to recoup 
the wealth that the White mob destroyed or stole during the 
massacre.
    In the massacre's immediate aftermath, the city passed a 
restrictive local ordinance to block rebuilding efforts. While 
this ordinance was ultimately struck down by the Oklahoma 
Supreme Court, in the decades since, practices like redlining 
and urban Rule policies have prevented Black Tulsans from 
reestablishing a thriving community. Expressways funded by the 
Federal government literally cut through Greenwood, further 
displacing Black families and businesses--a grievance upon a 
grievance. Looking to the courts for relief, Greenwood's 
residents were denied justice in the 1920s because of rank and 
racial prejudice, and in the 2000s because of a technical legal 
hurdle.
    Meanwhile, the survivors and descendants of the massacre 
remain without compensation for the harms inflicted on them, 
and neither the State of Oklahoma nor the city of Tulsa have 
provided direct compensation to massacre survivors and their 
descendants. The massacre has exacerbated government actions 
that over the decades have disproportionately burdened Black 
Tulsans, preventing many from rebuilding their community and 
regaining stolen wealth.
    Predictably, this has led to racial disparities and adverse 
outcomes for the Black residents of Tulsa. This is clear from 
the fact that north Tulsa, which has a higher concentration of 
Black residents, is poorer, has fewer businesses and large-
scale employers, has the fewest jobs, has more than double the 
unemployment rate, and has the lowest life expectancy when 
compared to the rest of Tulsa.
    In short, present-day racial and economic disparities in 
Tulsa can be traced back to the massacre. In America, Tulsa is 
a microcosm of what has happened to the African American 
community in this country.
    In light of the foregoing facts, Congress needs to step up. 
Many of our Witnesses have called for some form of reparation 
for the survivors and descendants of the massacre. One 
potential remedy that I find of particular interest is the idea 
of a victim compensation fund. This Subcommittee has 
jurisdiction over such compensation funds. For example, last 
Congress, we held a hearing to permanently reauthorize the 9/11 
Victim Compensation Fund, which one of our Witnesses suggested 
is a model for compensating potential Tulsa claimants. I would 
be interested in hearing from our Witnesses more details as to 
how such a fund would be structured and funded. As Chair of the 
Subcommittee, I pledge to work with you on legislation on this 
front.
    When the Subcommittee last held a hearing on this topic 
back in 2007, we heard from the late, distinguished historian, 
John Hope Franklin, author of ``From Slavery to Freedom,'' a 
book I had as a classroom text at Vanderbilt. John Hope 
Franklin was here. He was also a survivor of the Tulsa 
massacre. He testified about the culture of silence surrounding 
the massacre among the White community of Tulsa in the years 
following the massacre, a culture to sought to erase the 
massacre from historical memory. He also emphasized the 
importance of confronting and dealing honestly with historical 
truth.
    What John Hope Franklin, a historian of eminent success and 
acclamation, said then is true today: We must deal with 
historical truth. We must heed Professor Franklin's 
admonitions; keep the memory of the massacre alive; deal 
honestly with the truth and ensure reparations for the century 
of suffering that the survivors and descendants of the massacre 
have endured.
    I look forward to hearing our Witnesses' testimony today, 
and I thank them for being with us today.
    I now yield time to the Ranking Member, Mr. Johnson of 
Louisiana, for his opening statement.
    Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Thank you all for being here.
    First, I want to especially thank our Witnesses. I know it 
took some effort for you to be here, and we deeply appreciate 
it, particularly this panel, our first panel of two, because 
you are survivors of the Greenwood massacre.
    I am going to briefly repeat the history of that again 
because, as you say, Mr. Chair, not enough Americans remember 
this sad chapter. In 1921, Greenwood was a thriving commercial 
and residential district in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was home to the 
city's African American residents, as was said, and Greenwood 
hosted restaurants and churches, and grocery stores, and 
entertainment venues, clothing and jewelry stores, the offices 
of professionals, like doctors and lawyers. It led some to 
refer to it as the ``Black Wall Street.''
    Unfortunately, the story of Greenwood is not just one of 
success, but the other side of that coin is it is a terrible, 
tragic story of violence and destruction. Between May 31 and 
June 1 of 1921, as many as 100-300 people were estimated to 
have been killed in the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre. 
Approximately 35 blocks of Greenwood, amounting to more than 
1,200 homes and dozens of businesses, were burned, and as many 
as an additional 400 homes were looted, but left standing.
    This violence was perpetrated by a mob of the city's White 
residents, and it took place during an era when racial violence 
was all too common. It is one of our nation's darkest chapters, 
indeed.
    As I have said many times before, in America we recognize 
that each of us is made in God's image and that every single 
person has inestimable dignity and value. Our value is not 
related in any way to the color of our skin, where we are from, 
what we do for a living, what zipcode we live in. All of us are 
created equally before God. Racism and racial violence violate 
the most fundamental principles of our great Nation and the 
will of our Creator.
    While our country has its faults, we have, obviously, come 
a long way since the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre, and we 
believe our best days are still ahead of us. While it is 
important, obviously, that we recognize these terrible events 
that occurred 100 years ago, we also, at the same time, need to 
acknowledge that, thankfully, this event is not indicative of 
the broader reality that is present in our country today. Thank 
God for that.
    We must continue to move our country forward; to remain 
cognizant of the past, because we learn from our history; work 
to create a unified America that honors the value of every 
single citizen, regardless of their race, and provides a path 
of opportunity for those who work hard and seek it. America is 
a great country, and we are still on our way, as the 
Constitution's Preamble says, to forming a more perfect union.
    In 1862, President Lincoln famously said, ``In giving 
freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free--honorable 
alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly 
save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.''
    More than a century later, in his ``Time for Choosing'' 
speech, Ronald Reagan echoed that sentiment, and he said it 
this way, quote: ``You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We 
have a responsibility to preserve for our children this, the 
last best hope of man on earth.'' unquote.
    That remains our great challenge still today. We are 
working through that. The testimony that you provide helps us 
because it gives us context and history, and things we have to 
consider, as we try to preserve this last best hope of man on 
the earth. I pray, and all of us do, that we remain faithful in 
that challenge.
    I, again, thank our Witnesses for being with us this 
morning. We really do look forward to your testimony. I will 
tell you, we don't have many centenarians testify before our 
Committees. So, I would suggest that we may be making history 
here today. We are really grateful you are here.
    I yield back, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
    I appreciate Mr. Johnson's comments.
    I now recognize the Chair of the Full Committee, who is, of 
course, responsible for the actions of this Subcommittee as 
well, Mr. Nadler of New York.
    Chair Nadler. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Today's hearing is an important opportunity to commemorate 
the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre of 1921 and to consider what 
legal and policy measures might be enacted to compensate the 
survivors, their descendants, and Tulsa's greater Black 
community.
    Nearly 100 years ago, in what the late historian John Hope 
Franklin described as ``a firestorm of hatred and violence that 
is perhaps unequaled in the peacetime history of the United 
States,'' a White mob looted and destroyed nearly 40 square 
blocks of Tulsa's Greenwood district, a segregated, yet 
vibrant, Black enclave whose prosperous businesses made it 
known across the country as the ``Black Wall Street.'' The 
reportedly 5,000-10,000-strong mob destroyed many of those 
businesses, along with the district's hospitals, churches, and 
private homes, leaving almost 9,000 Greenwood residents 
homeless.
    According to a 2001 report by an Oklahoma State commission 
to study the massacre, one credible contemporary source 
estimated the death toll at 300 people, far higher than the 
official record made at the time. The 2001 commission also 
found credible contemporary reports of mass burials. In 2018, 
the city of Tulsa began the process of locating these mass 
graves. It is only within the past year that State 
archeologists pinpointed the location of one potential mass 
gravesite. Authorities are now taking steps to exhume the 
bodies for identification and reburial.
    I have said so before, and I will say it again: The Tulsa-
Greenwood Massacre can be described as an Act of ethnic 
cleansing, which was subsequently wiped from the history books 
for many decades, despite having made national news at the 
time.
    We are honored to have with us today some of the last 
remaining survivors of the massacre, and I welcome them. I 
appreciate the fact that this Subcommittee can play a role in 
ensuring that this history is never lost again by hearing 
directly from those who experienced the tragic injustice that 
unfolded in Tulsa during the overnight hours of May 31 and June 
1, 1921.
    In addition to commemorating the massacre's victims, this 
hearing is also another opportunity to consider the massacre's 
long-lasting repercussions for the survivors, their 
descendants, and Tulsa's greater Black community, and what role 
Congress can play in remedying this historic injustice.
    The 2001 commission report found significant evidence 
demonstrating not only that local and State authorities failed 
their responsibility to maintain civic order, but also that 
government agents actually aided the mob in carrying out the 
massacre. Thousands of Black residents were interned for days 
and weeks after the massacre, under the justification that it 
was for their so-called protection.
    A majority of the 2001 commission Members declared at that 
time that, quote, ``reparations to the historic Greenwood 
community in real and tangible form would be good public policy 
and do much to repair the emotional and physical scars of this 
terrible incident in our shared past.'' It is now 20 years 
later, and neither the State nor the city of Tulsa has directly 
compensated survivors or their descendants.
    Survivors and their descendants have tried to seek legal 
redress from the city of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma for 
massacre-related harms. Unfortunately, these claims have never 
been decided on the merits. In 2004, a divided 10th Circuit 
upheld the lower court's decision dismissing Greenwood 
survivors' claims, holding that the plaintiffs' claims were 
barred by the applicable statute of limitations, and that no 
equitable tolling to the statute of limitations period applied.
    In 2007, when I was Chair of this Subcommittee, we held a 
hearing on legislation authored by the late former Chair of the 
Full Committee, John Conyers, that would have created a new 
Federal cause of action for Tulsa-Greenwood Massacre claimants 
that would permit their case to be decided on the merits. 
Similar legislation that helps address relevant statutes of 
limitation issues that have bedeviled these claims in the past 
certainly remains one potential avenue for survivors and their 
descendants to obtain compensation. The Subcommittee should 
also examine other proposals for reparations with particular 
consideration given to the massacre's contribution to the 
racial and economic disparities that exist in Tulsa today.
    I want to commend Chair Cohen for holding today's hearing. 
I also thank Congressman Hank Johnson for his leadership on the 
commemoration efforts, spearheaded by the Congressional Black 
Caucus, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for her efforts to 
secure a House vote on a resolution recognizing the centenary 
of the massacre.
    I look forward to hearing from all of today's Witnesses, 
and with that, I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Nadler. I, too, appreciate the 
work of Congresspeople Johnson and Sheila Jackson Lee for their 
work on this effort as well.
    I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Full Committee, 
the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Jordan, for his opening statement.
    Mr. Jordan. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Today's hearing, as the previous speakers have indicated, 
commemorates the 100th anniversary of the massacre that 
occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood district in 1921. We 
are honored to have survivors with us here today; in 
particular, Mr. Van Ellis and Ms. Fletcher. Thank you all for 
sharing your experiences with us.
    What happened in Tulsa in 1921 was as wrong as wrong can 
be. Today's hearing is important. It allows us to acknowledge 
the atrocity that took place in Tulsa in 1921 and learn from 
that tragedy.
    This hearing also allows us to reflect on our progress as a 
Nation since the Tulsa massacre. America, while not perfect, is 
an exceptional country. America is the best country in the 
history of the world. We are always growing, always learning, 
and always striving toward a more perfect Union.
    In this hearing, where we can take stock of what happened 
in our past and learn from it, shows just how exceptional 
America really is. In recent years, we have seen the lowest 
unemployment rate for African Americans in history, historic 
criminal justice reform, and expanded educational 
opportunities. As we reflect on the past, we must discuss how 
we can empower the community affected by this tragic event with 
improved employment and educational opportunities.
    I look forward to all the testimony today, but particularly 
from the survivors of this tragedy from 100 years ago. Thank 
you again for all being here today.
    Mr. Chair, I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Jordan.
    We welcome our Witnesses and thank them for participating 
in today's hearing.
    I will now remove my mask and I will introduce each of the 
Witnesses. After each introduction, we will recognize the 
Witnesses for his or her oral testimony.
    Each of your written statements will be entered into the 
record. We ask you to testify within 5 minutes, but we will 
understand. To help you stay within that time, there are lights 
on your table that switch to green, to yellow, to indicate you 
have a minute remaining. When it turns to red, it means your 
time, 5 minutes, has expired, but we will be liberal in the 
first panel.
    For our Witnesses testifying remotely, there is a timer in 
the Zoom view that should be visible at the bottom of your 
screen.
    I would like to remind all our Witnesses appearing on both 
panels that you have a legal obligation to provide truthful 
testimony, and that if you should not, you are subject to 
prosecution under the United States Code.
    Today, we have two Witness panels. On the first panel will 
be a very special group of Witnesses: The three known remaining 
survivors of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre. We are deeply 
honored that they have agreed to testify before us and eagerly 
anticipate hearing their firsthand accounts of those horrific 
days.
    We also note, for those Witnesses who traveled to 
Washington, about your difficulties with your flight and 
delayed luggage. So, we are even more grateful to have you here 
with us today.
    There has been agreement the Subcommittee will forego 
questions of the first panel, and we will simply, unlike most 
Congress-people, just listen and learn.
    Our first Witness is Ms. Viola Fletcher, also known, if I 
can, as ``Mother Fletcher.'' Thank you. I don't have a mother, 
so thank you.
    Mother Fletcher is the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa 
Race Massacre. She was 7 years old when she lived through the 
massacre.
    Mother Fletcher, you are now recognized to testify.

                  STATEMENT OF VIOLA FLETCHER

    Ms. Fletcher. My name is Viola Ford Fletcher. I am the 
daughter of Lucinda Ellis and John Wesley Ford of Tulsa, 
Oklahoma. I am the sister of Hughes Van Ellis, who is also here 
today. I am a survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
    Two weeks ago, I celebrated my 107th birthday.
    [Applause.]
    Today, I am visiting Washington, DC, for the first time in 
my life. I am here seeking justice and I am asking my country 
to acknowledge what happened in Tulsa in 1921.
    On May 31st in 1921, I went to bed at my family's home in 
Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa. The neighborhood I fell asleep 
in that night was rich--not just in terms of wealth, but in 
culture, community, heritage, and my family had a beautiful 
home. We had great neighbors and I had friends to play with. I 
felt safe. I had everything a child could need. I had a bright 
future ahead of me. Still, Greenwood should have given me the 
chance to truly make it in this country.
    Within a few hours, all that was gone. The night of the 
massacre, I was awakened by my family. My parents and five 
siblings were there. I was told we had to leave, and that was 
it.
    I will never forget the violence of the White mob when we 
left our home. I still see Black men being shot and Black 
bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I 
still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes 
flying overhead. I hear the screams. I have lived through the 
massacre every day.
    Our country may forget this history, but I cannot. I will 
not. Other survivors do not. Our descendants do not.
    When my family was forced to leave Tulsa, I lost my chance 
at an education. I never finished school past the fourth grade. 
I have never made much money. My country, State, and city took 
a lot from me. Despite this, I spent time supporting the war 
effort in the shipyards of California. Most of my life, I was a 
domestic worker serving White families. I never made much 
money. To this day, I can barely afford my everyday needs. All 
the while, the city of Tulsa has unjustly used the names and 
stories of victims like me to enrich itself and its White 
allies through the $30 million raised by the Tulsa Centennial 
Commission, while I continue to live in poverty.
    I am 107 years old and have never seen justice. I pray that 
one day I will. I have been blessed with a long life and have 
seen the best and the worst of this country. I think about the 
terror/horrors inflicted upon Black people in this country 
every day.
    This Subcommittee has the power to lead us down a better 
path. I am asking that my country acknowledge what has happened 
to me--the trauma and the pain, the loss. I ask that survivors 
and descendants to be given a chance to seek justice; open the 
courtroom doors.
    All of you know how easy it is to deny that a violent mob 
hurt your lives and took your property. For 70 years, the city 
of Tulsa and its Chamber of Commerce told us that the massacre 
didn't happen, like we didn't see it with our own eyes. You 
have me here right now. You see Mother Randall; you see my 
brother, Hughes Van Ellis. We live this history, and we can't 
ignore it. It lives with us.
    We lost everything that day--our homes, churches, 
newspapers, theaters, and lives. Greenwood represented all the 
best of what was possible for Black people in America and for 
all the people. No one cared about us for almost 100 years. We 
and our history have been forgotten and washed away. This 
Congress must recognize us, and our history--for Black 
Americans, for the White Americans, and for all Americans. That 
is some justice.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Fletcher follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you very much. We appreciate very much 
your testimony.
    [Applause.]
    Mother Fletcher, if we don't learn from history, we are 
doomed to repeat it. So, thank you for putting us on the right 
course to learn and to understand, and to do better.
    Ms. Fletcher. Thank you.
    Mr. Cohen. Are you the older of the two siblings?
    Ms. Fletcher. The older?
    Mr. Cohen. Are you older than your brother here?
    Ms. Fletcher. Yes.
    Mr. Cohen. You are?
    Ms. Fletcher. Yes.
    Mr. Cohen. Well, he is used to having a tough Act to 
follow.
    [Laughter.]
    Our next Witness is Mr. Hughes Van Ellis, known as ``Uncle 
Red.''
    Ms. Fletcher. Yes.
    Mr. Cohen. He is a World War II veteran, having served in 
the United States Army in the China-Burma-India Theater of 
Operations as a member of an all-Black unit. He is also a 
survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
    Uncle Red, you are on.

                 STATEMENT OF HUGHES VAN ELLIS

    Mr. Van Ellis. Chair Cohen, Ranking Member Johnson, and 
Members of the Subcommittee, my names is Hughes Van Ellis, and 
I am 100 years old. I am a survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
    Because of the massacre, my family was driven out of our 
home. We were left with nothing. We were made refugees in our 
own country.
    My childhood was hard, and we didn't have much. We worried 
what little we had would be stolen from us, just like it was 
stolen in Tulsa. You may have been taught that when something 
is stolen from you, you can go to the courts to be made whole; 
you can go to the courts to get justice. This wasn't the case 
for us. The courts in Oklahoma wouldn't hear us. The Federal 
courts said we were too late.
    We were made to feel that our struggles were unworthy of 
justice; that we were less valued than Whites; that we weren't 
fully Americans. We were shown that in the United States not 
all men were equal under the law. We were shown that, when 
Black voices called out for justice, no one cared.
    We still had faith things would get better. We still 
believed in the promise of America and in the cause of freedom.
    I did my duty in World War II. I served in combat in the 
Far East with the 234th AAA Gun Battalion. We were an all-Black 
battalion. I fought for freedom abroad, even though it was 
ripped away from me at home, even after my home and my 
community were destroyed. It is because I believed, in the end, 
America would get it right.
    When I returned home from the war, I didn't find any of 
this freedom I was fighting for overseas. Unlike White 
servicemen, I wasn't entitled to GI bill benefits because of 
the color of my skin. I came home to segregation, a separate 
and unequal America. Still, I believed in America.
    This is why we are still speaking up today, even at this 
age of 100. The Tulsa Race Massacre isn't a footnote in the 
history book for us. We live with it every day, and the thought 
of what Greenwood was and what it could have been. We aren't 
just Black and White pictures on a screen; we are flesh and 
blood. I was there when it happened; I am still here.
    Mr. Cohen. That is right, you are here. That is right.
    Mr. Van Ellis. My sister was there when it happened; she is 
still here.
    We are not asking for a handout. All we are asking for is 
for a chance to be treated like a first-class citizen who truly 
is a beneficiary of the promise that this is a land where there 
is a ``liberty and justice for all.''
    We are asking for justice for a lifetime of ongoing harm 
that was caused by the massacre. You can give us the chance to 
be heard and give us a chance to be made whole after all these 
years and after all our struggle.
    I still believe in America. I still believe in the ideals 
that I fought overseas to defend. I believe, if given this 
chance, you will do the right thing and justice will be served. 
Please do not let me leave this earth without justice, like all 
the other massacre survivors.
    Thank you so much.
    [The statement of Mr. Van Ellis follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir.
    [Applause.]
    Mr. Van Ellis. I want to say I appreciate being here, and I 
hope we all will work together. We are one. We are one.
    [Applause.]
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Van Ellis, aka ``Uncle Red.''
    The last Witness on our panel is coming to us through Zoom, 
or a reasonable facsimile of such, Ms. Lessie Benningfield 
Randle.
    Mother Randle was 6 years old when she lived through the 
Tulsa Race Massacre. Mother Randle will be joining us 
virtually.
    Mother Randle, you are recognized now.

            STATEMENT OF LESSIE BENNINGFIELD RANDLE

    Ms. Randle. Good morning, Chair Cohen, Ranking Member 
Johnson, and Members of the Subcommittee.
    Mr. Cohen. Good morning.
    Ms. Randle. I am blessed and honored to be here speaking 
with you today. It means a lot to me to finally be able to look 
at you all in the eye and ask you to do the right thing. I have 
waited so long for justice.
    My name is Leslie Evelyn Benningfield Randle. People call 
me ``Mother Randle.'' Today, I am 106 years old. A hundred 
years ago, in 1921, I was a 6-year-old child. I was blessed to 
live with my grandmother in a beautiful Black community in 
Tulsa, Oklahoma, called Greenwood. I was lucky. I had a home 
and I had toys. I didn't have any fears as a young child, and I 
felt very safe. My community was beautiful. It was filled with 
happy and successful Black people.
    Then, everything changed. It was like a war. White men with 
guns came and destroyed my community. We couldn't understand 
why. What did we do them? We didn't understand. We were just 
living, but they came, and they destroyed everything.
    They burned houses and businesses. They just took what they 
wanted out of the buildings. Then, they burned the buildings. 
They murdered people. We were told they just dumped the dead 
bodies into the river. I remember running outside of our house. 
I ran past dead bodies. It wasn't a pretty sight. I still see 
it today in my mind--100 years later.
    I was so scared--I didn't think we could make it out alive. 
I remember people were running everywhere. We waited for the 
soldiers to come, and when they finally came, they took us to 
the fairgrounds, where we would be safe. It felt like so long 
before they came.
    I survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. I have survived 
100 years of painful memories and losses. By the grace of God, 
I am still here. I have survived. I have survived to tell this 
story. I believe that I am still here to share it with you. 
Hopefully, now you all will listen to us while we are still 
here.
    The White people who did this to us were filled with so 
much hate. It is disgusting that they hate us for no reason 
except that we are Black people.
    We know most of the people who committed these acts are 
dead now. The three of us here today are the only ones left--
that we know of. Just because these men are probably dead, the 
city and county of Tulsa, the State of Oklahoma, and the Tulsa 
Chamber are still responsible for making it right, because it 
was they who caused the massacre. The Chamber helped ensure 
that we could not rebuild after the massacre, including holding 
us in internment camps.
    They owe us something. They owe me something. I have lived 
much of my life poor. My opportunities were taken from me. My 
community, north Tulsa--Black Tulsa--is still messed up today. 
They didn't rebuild it. They sure didn't. It is empty. It is a 
ghetto.
    They have raised more than $30 million and have refused to 
share any with me or with the other two survivors. They have 
used by name to further their fundraising goals without my 
permission, my message, and never obtained my support of their 
upcoming events focused on making Tulsa look good, and not 
justice,
    You can help us get some justice. America is still full of 
examples where people in positions of power, many just like 
you, have told us to wait. Others have told us it is too late. 
It seems like justice in America is always so slow or not 
possible for Black people. We are made to feel crazy just for 
asking for things to be made right. There are always so many 
excuses for why justice is so slow or never happens at all.
    I am here today, 106 years old, looking at you all in the 
eye. We have waited 100 years, no, we have waited too long, and 
I am tired. We are tired. Lastly, I am asking you today to give 
us some peace. Please give me, my family, and my community some 
justice.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Randle follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    [Applause.]
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mother Randle. Thank you, Mother 
Fletcher and Uncle Red. Your efforts to be here are 
appreciated. Your testimony is greatly appreciated.
    As I was affected in 2007 by the testimony of John Hope 
Franklin, I know my colleagues on the panel and those who are 
watching will be affected by your testimony.
    Thank you so much and thank you for your strength and 
perseverance in telling these stories for the record and for 
future generations.
    We will now take a brief recess for you to be able to leave 
the Committee room with our thanks and our appreciation. Then, 
we will go to our second panel.
    Thank you so much.
    [Applause.]
    [Recess.]
    Mr. Cohen. I think we are ready.
    Mr. Johnson had to take some personal business. He will be 
back shortly.
    Our first Witness on the second panel is the Honorable 
Regina Goodwin.
    Where is Ms. Goodwin? Oh, she is virtual. Okay, that is it.
    She is a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives 
and a descendant of the Tulsa-Greenwood Massacre. 
Representative Goodwin is a Tulsa native and currently serves 
as Chair of the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus and is 
assistant minority floor leader. Representative Goodwin 
received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of 
Kansas and completed Master's coursework at Columbia College in 
Chicago, Illinois.
    I understand that the Oklahoma House is in session today 
and that Representative Goodwin might have to briefly stop, 
step out during points in this hearing to cast votes on the 
house floor.
    Thank you for being here, and you are recognized.

               STATEMENTS OF HON. REGINA GOODWIN

    Ms. Goodwin. Thank you so much.
    First, I would just like to say it is a privilege to be 
able to hear from Ms. Lessie Benningfield Randle at 106; Ms. 
Viola Fletcher at 107; Mr. Hughes Van Ellis at 100 years old. I 
have the pleasure of knowing these folks and knowing that they, 
indeed, are deserving of justice.
    I will say, before I start my statement, that I think 
really for right-hearted, like-minded folks, we have heard 
enough. It is beyond question that a massacre occurred in 1921. 
It is beyond question that death happened, and murder happened, 
and bombs from airplanes fell on Tulsa. What holds us up for a 
century are those that would want us to just say, ``God bless 
America''; those that would want us to say that America is the 
greatest country that we could ever think of. What we fail to 
understand is that, as we are all American, we are not all 
treated as the best Americans should be. I think that we have 
had a marvelous example of those that have given their lives, 
that have served this country, and even today, they say, 
``Perhaps God allowed them to live this long just so they could 
see this day''--to make it for the first time to Washington, 
DC.
    We hope that the welcome is real, and beyond just 
understanding what happened, we get it. We have been saying it 
for a long time. Beyond saying it and beyond hearing it, where 
are the doers of God's work? So, we are just saying that beyond 
the ``Yeah, we feel sorry for you. You're nice senior citizens. 
Thank you for stopping by''--they stopped by for justice. I am 
just hoping that right hearts and minds will prevail. So, that 
the John Hope Franklin that has passed on, who we had the 
privilege of knowing--he died seeking justice.
    My great-great-grandfather, James Henry Goodwin, he was in 
Tulsa. My great-grandmother, Carla Marie Goodwin, she was in 
Tulsa. My grandfather, Edward Goodwin, and my aunt, Anna 
Goodwin, all Tulsans, all survivors of the 1921 Race Massacre. 
They went to the courthouse, the District courthouse, in 1921. 
They were not too late. The statute of limitations had not 
expired. They went saying that we had property, some 14 
properties. We had a building at 123 North Greenwood.
    My great-grandmother talked of her silverware and her 
linen, and she talked about her feather mattresses, and she 
talked about the piano, destroyed. She talked about the books 
in the library gone. She had the courage, when murderers were 
still walking the streets of Greenwood, when arsonists who 
thought that they should light curtains on fire and destroy 35 
square blocks--she had the courage in the midst of all that 
chaos and all that mayhem, to say, ``You took from me what was 
mine. We worked hard for what we had.''
    We had a tight-knit Black community because segregation 
would not allow us to interact with our other human beings who 
just happened to be another color, and we made a great 
community.
    When she went to the courthouse, she was rejected outright. 
So, you can't say the statute of limitations ran out. What you 
can say had run out, and what we did not have in supply, was 
justice.
    Then, I also think about my grandfather, who was in high 
school at the time, and he was a senior, just like anybody else 
who is privileged to get that far in school and to graduate. He 
was decorating a hotel at the time and preparing for graduation 
exercises. All they heard was that trouble is coming.
    How would they have known that trouble is coming to commit 
the worst racist, terrorist attack on American soil in history? 
How would they have known that the theaters that they would 
attend, all Black-owned, and the hotel that they were 
decorating, right, which would rival any White hotel in terms 
of its quality, in terms of its grandeur, how would they have 
known that trouble is coming; that the community was going to 
be consumed, first, by hatred, and then, with fire, and that 
airplanes would fly overhead and drop bombs?
    It is a history that we, as descendants, have known all our 
lives. I was blessed to grow up in that Greenwood community. It 
is somewhat disturbing to know that the incident set off that 
1921 Race Massacre was, basically, a lie. It was a lie that 
took lives. It was that same old story about the scary, savage 
Black man who somewhat was harming the White damsel in 
distress. We know that was not even the case.
    Mr. Cohen. Representative Goodwin, you are going to have to 
wrap up. Can you wrap up? You are a minute over.
    Ms. Goodwin. Yes, I will wrap it up.
    I will say this: Reparations are due. The harm is ongoing. 
Tulsa now, when you still have the same ownership as it was in 
1921, when the unemployment rate is 2\1/2\ times that of our 
White counterparts, when criminal justice reform is not 
happening in Tulsa--those same police, that same State, that 
same city that was complicit, it exists today. Reparations are 
due. Restoration is due. Restitution is due.
    Thank you so much for allowing me to go a bit over time.
    We have got three great examples staring us in the face, 
crying out for justice. All we have to do is answer.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Goodwin follows:]
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Representative Goodwin.
    If you see my friend Angela Monson, we served together on 
the National Conference of State Legislatures many years ago 
and I know she was a colleague of yours at one point--give her 
my best.
    Ms. Goodwin. Absolutely. I was just with her last week. 
Thank you. I will absolutely convey the message.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you.
    Ms. Goodwin. Thank you for the privilege.
    Mr. Cohen. Our next Witness is Damario Solomon-Simmons. He 
is the founder and Executive Director of Justice for Greenwood. 
He is an attorney with a nationwide practice that includes 
advocating for reparations for the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa-
Greenwood Massacre and citizenship rights of Black Creek 
Indians.
    He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of 
Oklahoma, teaching courses on African and African American 
history, culture, and other issues. He received his J.D. from 
the University of Oklahoma College of Law, holds a Master of 
Education degree and a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma.
    We welcome you, and you are recognized for 5 minutes.

              STATEMENT OF DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS

    Mr. Solomon-Simmons. Thank you, Chair.
    ``In Tulsa, the racial and economic disparities that we see 
today is a direct result of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.'' 
Those are not my words. Those are the words of the current 
mayor of Tulsa, G.T. Bynum.
    These disparities that we all know exist, some of these 
disparities that you have already heard, is that we live 11-14 
years less than our White counterparts in South Tulsa because 
we have no health care; we have no hospital in North Tulsa, 
Black Tulsa, is where I live, where I grew up. I am a son of 
Greenwood, a proud product of North Tulsa. We have no hospital. 
We are shot and beaten by the police 3-4 times more than our 
White counterparts in Tulsa. We have 35 percent of our people, 
Black people in Tulsa, living in poverty. We own our homes 2\1/
2\ less in Tulsa, Blacks, than White Tulsa.
    We have evidence after statistic after statistic. Yet, our 
mayor, our city, our county, our chamber, they oppose justice; 
they oppose reparations; they oppose Mother Randle, Mother 
Fletcher and Mr. Ellis, who you heard from today.
    I am here today because the city of Tulsa has failed us. 
They bombed us. They burnt us. They killed us. They looted from 
us. They destroyed not just our property, not just our 
livelihood and our lives, but our legacy, our generational 
wealth, the idea of Greenwood, a freedom mind state, 
landownership, and wealth concentration. They took that from 
us, and then, they put in a system of policy violence that 
continues to this very day. So much so that, right now, as I 
speak, the same perpetrators of the massacre--the city, county, 
chamber, and State--are utilizing the massacre to pad their own 
pockets.
    Are you allowing the branding of the massacre--the murders, 
the names, and the likenesses of people who suffered, who died, 
who was treated as refugees, who lived in internment camps for 
18 months, who had to be signed out by a White person with an 
ID card--these people who have raised more than $30 million in 
the name of the massacre for what they call ``culture 
tourism.'' Not one penny has been given to any of the 
survivors. Not one dime has been paid for the claims that are 
still outstanding, the claims that these sophisticated, 
wealthy, Black people had the wherewithal, the savviness to 
have insurance policies. Over 1,400 claims remain to date, over 
$50 million. We know who is owed this money. We know who made 
the claims. We know where they live. We know what was taken.
    We also even know some of the insurance companies that are 
still active today. I want to give you their names: C&A, AIG 
companies, the Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, Westchester 
Fire Insurance Company, the Hartford Great American Insurance 
Company, Insurance Company of North America, North River 
Insurance Company, California Insurance Company, and Phoenix 
Assurance Company.
    We have reached out to these folks asking them to engage in 
a conversation or how they can directly benefit those who they 
failed 100 years ago. Just like the city has refused, just like 
the State has refused, just like the chamber has refused, we 
have not got any of the insurance companies to engage in a 
meaningful discussion with us at this time.
    The banks failed us. Thousands of the survivors of 
Greenwood lost their life savings in the banks because the bank 
books burnt up and they couldn't get their money out. We have 
researched and found at least 17 of those banks we believe are 
still operating through Chase and Bank of Oklahoma. We want a 
conversation with them also.
    The courts failed us. There have been over 100 lawsuits 
filed on this issue, and not one has been heard on its merits.
    You heard from my clients. I have the great honor to serve 
as lead counsel for these three wonderful, amazing people you 
heard from today.
    We went through hell to get here. Mother Fletcher traveled 
yesterday from 6:00 a.m. in the morning, and we didn't get into 
our hotels until after midnight. This woman didn't complain. 
This woman didn't have anything to eat. She said, ``I've got to 
be here. I want to see justice.''
    Representative Cohen, Representative Nadler, and 
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, I was here in 2007. I 
appreciate your still being with us, but, as you know, we have 
lost so many since that hearing--Otis Clark, Dr. Olivia Hooker, 
and John Hope Franklin. Even we have lost my great mentor, 
Charles Ogletree. He is not gone, but he is not with us.
    People who have fallen--I am literally standing on the 
shoulders of so many people who have suffered so long. We are 
coming to you, I am coming to you in the name of my community, 
my people, my clients, asking that you do for us what this 
Congress has done for the Japanese internment victims, what 
this Congress has done for the 9/11 terrorist victims.
    We are asking to be treated as full human beings. We are 
asking to be treated--it is the belief in America that Dred 
Scott is not the law of the land, but the Black man does have 
rights that America must respect.
    I know my time is getting low, but let me just finish with 
this: Hal Singer, to show you how powerful this issue is, Hal 
Singer was a world-renowned musician. He was a Greenwood 
survivor. He was dying over the last summer, 2020, in France. 
He moved from America because of racism. He had a stroke, he 
was blind, and he was in hospice dying. I felt bad that I was 
communicating with his family. I said, ``You know what? Maybe I 
should stop calling you guys because of this time period.'' His 
wife admonished me, said, ``Are you crazy? Until he dies, Hal 
Singer is going to fight for justice for what happened to his 
parents and his community.''
    She sent me a letter that he wrote in 2007, and this is 
what he said: ``I've never had a lot of faith in the legal 
system of the Black man. That's why I moved to France. And I 
know we will lose a lot of battles, but we must continue to 
fight for our rights and our dignity.''
    I am fighting for the rights and the dignity of Mother 
Fletcher, Mr. Ellis, Mother Randle, and my community. I am 
asking you to help us fight. Grant us legislation that pays 
restitution, that gives us the ability to restore what was 
lost, so we can rebuild for the next 100 years.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Mr. Solomon-Simmons follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    [Applause.]
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Solomon-Simmons, and I appreciate 
your being here in a continuum from 2007 and remembering 
``Tree.''
    Our next Witness is Dr. Tiffany Crutcher. She is the 
founder and Executive Director of the Terence Crutcher 
Foundation and a descendant of the Tulsa Race Massacre. The 
foundation focuses on criminal justice and police reform, 
providing scholarships to African American students, community 
youth development, and policy advocacy.
    Dr. Crutcher's twin brother, Terence, was shot by a police 
officer in 2016 in Tulsa while holding his hands in the air. 
She has since dedicated herself to transforming a justice 
system that has long perpetuated injustice, dating back to the 
1921 massacre.
    Dr. Crutcher received a B.A. from Langston University and a 
clerical doctorate from Alabama State University.
    You are recognized for 5 minutes.

                 STATEMENT OF TIFFANY CRUTCHER

    Dr. Crutcher. Thank you so much, Chair Cohen, and to this 
esteemed Subcommittee, thank you so much for having us.
    My name is Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, and I am the daughter of 
Reverend Joey and the late Leanna Crutcher, who recently passed 
away of COVID-19 in January. I am the great-granddaughter of 
Rebecca Brown Crutcher, a survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race 
Massacre. As I sit here today in front of this body in the very 
seat of our democracy, I know in my bones that she is here with 
me in this fight for justice. Reparations is simply making 
amends for a wrong, and that is what we are asking for today.
    One hundred years ago, my great-grandmother was simply 
enjoying her life as a successful entrepreneur in Tulsa's 
Greenwood neighborhood, and she wasn't alone. You see, 
Greenwood, you couldn't go a block without passing a thriving 
Black-owned home or business. Ten thousand people called this 
place home. This was ``Black Wall Street,'' where people like 
my great-grandmother Rebecca had found safety and a rare refuge 
in the grim days of Jim Crow.
    This paradise, this vibrant place my great-grandmother 
helped to build, would soon be wiped away in a flood of racial 
terror, White supremacy, and anti-Black racism. On May 31st and 
June 1st of 1921, an angry White mob began their murderous 
rampage across Greenwood, turning the once thriving Black 
community into an apocalyptic pile of rubble, bones, and 
bodies. Homes were set ablaze with families trapped inside. Men 
fired guns indiscriminately into the street. For the first time 
in history, bombs were dropped on American soil.
    Rebecca Brown Crutcher hopped on the back of a wagon and 
fled for her life. She was one of the thousands of Black 
Tulsans forced to flee Greenwood and leave everything behind. 
Within hours, Black Tulsans--Black resilient Tulsans--and their 
Black neighbors began to rebuild Greenwood from the ashes, even 
as insurance companies, State laws, redlining practices, and 
urban removal would time and again seek to destroy this sacred 
place.
    What happened in Tulsa was perpetrated by our city's own 
government. Former Tulsa Judge William Kellogg said it plainly 
this week. ``There was no doubt that White Tulsa officials were 
largely to blame for the massacre.'' They not only failed to 
prevent the bloodshed, but had also deputized White civilians 
and Klan members who took part in the burning and in the 
killing.
    Tulsa's government failed its people. Tulsa's government 
failed these survivors. Tulsa's government failed Rebecca Brown 
Crutcher. Now, we are here asking our nation's government to 
see that justice is done in the form of reparations.
    The vestiges of the massacre are still found in Tulsa's 
criminal legal system, which has torn my family apart. In 2016, 
Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby shot and killed my twin 
brother. Terence Crutcher is his name. Terence Crutcher is his 
name. Police looking for weapons instead found gospel CDs in 
his car. My 40-year-old brother didn't get a fair chance to 
live. His children didn't get a fair chance to see another day 
with their father.
    For five years, I have fought for policing reforms like the 
very ones that each of you have debated and voted on. Just 
weeks ago, I was in this very building with the families of 
George Floyd, Eric Garner, and Botham Jean, asking our 
legislators to end qualified immunity--policing reform that 
could have saved my brother's life, and according to the Human 
Rights Watch and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, could save the 
lives of so many others.
    Black people aren't looking for a handout. We are looking 
for good legislation that recognizes our humanity. We are 
looking for justice. Because for centuries, injustice has cost 
our families an unspeakable price.
    Racial disparities are systemic, and they extend far beyond 
issues of policing. Compared to White Tulsans, Black people in 
Tulsa are far more likely to be relegated to poverty and 
neighborhoods that don't have access to fresh fruit or produce.
    As we speak, people in north Tulsa, a predominantly Black 
part of town, are celebrating our first full grocery store in 
over a decade. The grand opening the ribbon-cutting was just 
yesterday. I am having trouble celebrating finding crumbs in 
the food desert.
    We shouldn't have to live like this, and we shouldn't have 
to die like this. If you care about racial justice and racial 
healing, I am asking you to do two simple things: Support 
reparations for the survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race 
Massacre and bring reparations bill H.R. 40 to an immediate 
vote, and support ending qualified immunity as a part of any 
police reform legislation that leaves this House.
    The nation's government cannot sit on the sidelines as 
Mother Randle, Mother Fletcher, Uncle Red spend their twilight 
years fighting for justice 100 years after the massacre. Their 
health is dwindling, as they demand reparations, fighting time, 
and again, to convince elected leaders to treat us like we 
matter.
    I hope you see your loved ones in them. I hope you look 
past the division of politics and see our humanity. I hope you 
see why they are calling for reparations for the generational 
wealth, loved ones, memories, and opportunities that have been 
stolen from them, from us.
    I know most of you believe in justice. All we are asking 
for in Tulsa, and Black communities across the United States, 
is for repair, respect, and restitution. If Rebecca Brown 
Crutcher, Mother Randle, Mother Fletcher, or Uncle Red were a 
part of your family, would you want the same thing for them? I 
implore you to embody our nation's sacred promise of justice 
for all.
    As I close, I close with a quote of the late Ella Baker. 
``Those who believe in freedom cannot rest''--and we will not 
rest--``until justice comes.''
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Crutcher follows:]
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    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Dr. Crutcher.
    [Applause.]
    I am going to have to ask the next Witnesses to try to keep 
your testimony to 5 minutes. We have been most liberal, but we 
do have time constraints.
    Our next Witness is Mr. T.W. Shannon. He is the Chief 
Executive Officer of the Chickasaw Community Bank. He 
previously served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, 
where at the age of 34 he became the youngest speaker of the 
Oklahoma House of Representatives. He was both the first 
African American and the first Chickasaw speaker.
    Mr. Shannon holds a J.D. from Oklahoma City University and 
a B.A. from Cameron University, a Harvard University Fellow, an 
Aspen Institute Fellow.
    Mr. Shannon, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

                   STATEMENT OF T.W. SHANNON

    Mr. Shannon. Thank you, Chair Cohen, Ranking Member 
Johnson, and Members of the Subcommittee. I appreciate this 
opportunity to share this testimony regarding the adoption of 
House Resolution 398, recognizing the forthcoming centennial of 
the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
    While I am certainly thankful for the attention the 
resolution will bring to this reprehensible atrocity, much of 
the language leads me to suspect that there may be other 
motives for offering it. In my testimony today, I will express 
my disappointment that this sober occasion is being diluted by 
those who seek to further inflame racial divisions and foment 
animosity toward law enforcement.
    First, let me focus on the event House Resolution 398 
purports to commemorate. What is known today as the Tulsa Race 
Massacre occurred 100 years ago, and America should know of the 
brutality and atrocity of that day. History, however 
uncomfortable, should not be censored, nor in today's terms 
cancelled. History should be taught without political bias and 
without the intent to make any one group, gender, or ethnicity 
feel responsible for the sins of their ancestors.
    I don't speak of American history as someone who is 
unfamiliar with our country's many struggles. Both of my 
parents were history teachers, and they grew up in a segregated 
America, a segregated Oklahoma. My father is a veteran and a 
retired history teacher. They both had their share of racial 
discrimination but rose above it and both became college 
graduates.
    I learned not just from textbooks in schools, but from my 
parents their desire to educate me on a subject that they 
deeply love, Black history. In fact, it was my mother who first 
taught me about the Tulsa Race Riot, which is what it was 
called then.
    The event, as described by my mother, didn't sound like 
much of a riot to me, at least not on the part of the Black 
community living in the Greenwood district. It sounded more 
like an invasion. Yes, she told me about the atrocities that 
this Subcommittee knows well--the looting and burning, the 
lynching and killing, the utter destruction of an entire 
community that left hundreds dead and thousands homeless.
    She also taught me about the unparalleled prosperity of the 
Greenwood district. I can't describe to you how inspired I was 
by her stories of countless Black-owned businesses, all 
thriving in their segregated economic bubble, as a result and a 
symbol of modern capitalism.
    My mother, who grew up an hour away from Greenwood in 
Muskogee, another town with a thriving Black middle class 
during that time, also celebrated the entrepreneurship that was 
a byproduct of the strong families of Greenwood. She took great 
pride in teaching me how the fruits of capitalism took root and 
blossomed so enormously that the community was terms ``Black 
Wall Street.''
    The fact that the Black community in Greenwood was so 
successful really made the destruction all the more painful for 
me to imagine. All that prosperity, not even a full generation 
removed from slavery, completely wiped out. Hundreds of 
families mourning the death of someone they loved, thousands 
grieving a lost home or destroyed storefront. Many suffered all 
those things all at once.
    This is the tragedy that should be our focus. Instead, I am 
concerned the resolution that was adopted by the majority 
promises to stoke racial tensions by equating White supremacy 
with police brutality. It accuses law enforcement of a pattern 
of violence against Black people in the United States and 
State-sanctioned violence.
    This language, frankly, lands like a slap in the face to 
our honorable law enforcement officers and all who support 
them. As an American who appreciates the sacrifice and service 
of police officers across this country, I reject the false and 
divisive rhetoric found in parts of this resolution.
    Mr. Chair and Members, House Resolution 398 may mark the 
100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, but it does not 
honor the victims of that tragic day by seeking to further 
inflame racial divisions. The memory of those who suffered is 
not honored by generating animosity toward police officers. The 
families who grieve loved ones, who lost livelihoods, those 
families are not honored by divisive rhetoric calculated to 
appease the opponents of law and order.
    Instead, we honor those who suffered and died and families 
they left behind by simply telling the truth about what 
happened. We honor them by educating America about the tragic 
day. Above all, we can honor them by giving their descendants a 
land of freedom and opportunity. I can think of no greater way 
to honor the legacy of Black Wall Street than to foster a new 
generation of Black entrepreneurs and business owners, 
generating wealth and jobs that lift whole communities out of 
poverty. If the legacy of Greenwood teaches us anything, it is 
that, if we want strong communities and a strong nation, it 
first begins with strong families.
    Mr. Chair, Ranking Member Johnson, and distinguished 
Members, I thank you once again for the opportunity to be here 
today and offer my testimony on this important topic.
    [The statement of Mr. Shannon follows:]
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    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Shannon. As the former speaker, 
you recognize that time is important. Thank you for your 
testimony.
    Mr. Clarence Henderson, who I believe is going to be 
virtual, is our next Witness. He is the national spokesman for 
the Frederick Douglass Foundation. He was a participant in the 
sit-in protest at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, 
North Carolina, in 1960. He also served on the Advisory Board 
for Black Voices for Trump.
    Mr. Henderson, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

                STATEMENT OF CLARENCE HENDERSON

    Mr. Henderson. Thank you. It is, indeed, an honor to be a 
Witness before this Subcommittee.
    The previous testimony brought tears to my eyes from Mother 
Randle, Uncle Red, and Mother Fletcher. The 1921 Tulsa Race 
Riot was a dark and horrific time in America's history and 
should be recognized as such. It was a massacre that is 
virtually unmatched in the recording of history in America and 
should be acknowledged and recognized by Congress, so that 
history does not repeat itself.
    This is one of the great lessons of history that shows us 
of the past divide of America. It is an American past and not 
an American present. If we study American history in 
chronological order, we will see that our progress has not been 
a straight line. There have been detours. Nevertheless, we see 
the progress that has been made.
    We see the ratification of the 13th-15th, and also, the 
19th Amendment. If we look further, we see the various civil 
rights acts that have been implemented to recognize that we 
should judge people by their character and not the color of 
their skin. We see laws in place dedicated to the self-evident 
truth that is God-ordained, that we all are created equal.
    In every instance where Blacks have prospered and succeeded 
to the heights of business, academia, politics, and more, it 
has been accomplished not because the government threw money at 
perceived problems, but because our will to succeed was given 
the freedom to break down boundaries and remove obstacles.
    Given the atrocity of the Tulsa Race Massacre with lives, 
homes, businesses, and millions of dollars of Black wealth 
destroyed, as well as mass incarceration, the Trump 
Administration enacted policies that focused on building up the 
Black communities. The conservative policies instituted during 
the Trump Administration--namely, the First Step Act, funding 
for HBCUs, Opportunity Zones, and a $5 billion Platinum Plan--
is diametrically opposed with what occurred in 1921. Such 
policies led to a free market, options in education, lower 
taxes, entrepreneurialism, and the freedom to choose one's own 
path--a true attempt to level the playing field for Black 
America and restore some wealth that had been destroyed.
    Unfortunately, like what occurred in Tulsa, some would like 
to effectively erase from collective memory the strides made to 
improve the Black community under the previous Administration. 
As Frederick Douglass stated, ``The life of a Nation is secure 
only while the Nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.''
    When I look at our country today, I see a Nation that has 
chosen to be governed by the Rule of law and not the Rule of 
man. The United States is great not because it is perfect. I 
don't see systemic racism. I see systemic corruption. Yes, our 
past involved racial injustices. Yes, racism does exist. Yes, 
socioeconomic issues plague many of our communities. It is 
great, however, because of the freedom that all Americans have, 
bestowed onto us by our Constitution, which gives us the 
ability to improve on our imperfections, to evolve from our 
past mistakes, and to get as close to true equality in 
comparison to anywhere else in the world.
    I hope this resolution is used to recognize a horrific past 
injustice, so that it is not repeated, and not used as a 
political tool to promote systemic racism. I hope this 
resolution is not used as a political tool to cause legal 
enforcement law to cease and desist. I hope this resolution 
will not be used to politicize every facet of the nation's 
racial diversity for political gain, to further exploit and 
emotionally cripple the Black community.
    As a participant in the 1960 Woolworth's sit-in movement, I 
recognize freedom is not free. There is a price to be paid and 
it is continuous.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Mr. Henderson follows:]
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    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Henderson.
    Our next Witness is Chief Egunwale Amusan. He is the 
President of the African Ancestral Society, a nonprofit 
organization based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is a descendant of 
the Tulsa-Greenwood Massacre. He is the leading activist on 
behalf of massacre descendants.
    Chief, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

               STATEMENT OF CHIEF EGUNWALE AMUSAN

    Mr. Amusan. Thank you, Mr. Chair and esteemed body.
    My name is Chief Egunwale Amusan. I am the grandson of 
Raymond Beard, Sr., and the grandnephew of Matthew and Mary 
Beard, all whom were survivors of the 1921 Tulsa holocaust, 
massacre, or any other matching descriptor.
    I was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Today, I speak on 
behalf of those whose remains were dumped carelessly into the 
Arkansas River by the truckloads; those remains that cracked 
the concrete from beneath the highway built over them; those 
remains dumped in mass graves, like the one I stood in October 
of 2020 during the mass grave investigation at Oaklawn Cemetery 
in Tulsa.
    As a Member of the Mass Graves Oversight Committee, I stood 
in that trench with 12 coffins we uncovered. I couldn't help 
but to be drawn to a smaller box, which appeared to be the size 
of woman's hat box. It triggered the memory of something I had 
read in the Race Riot Commission report in 2001.
    I rushed home to look at that document again, and it stated 
that the remains in the trench were not embalmed, and the death 
certificates were not even signed by a medical examiner, a 
process undignified in every manner. The document stated that 
Tulsa County paid Stanley McCune Funeral Home to bury 16 bodies 
in the city cemetery. The report states that 4 of the 16 bodies 
placed in the mass grave were badly burned and one was that of 
a stillborn baby.
    When I returned, I looked again at the box in the trench. I 
walked away and wept for the soul of this child and the mother 
who would never know the whereabouts of her child, lost both in 
the womb and in the earth.
    Our family's journey to Greenwood actually started 139 
years ago when my children's fourth great-grandfather named 
King Blue co-wrote a letter submitted to Congress and the House 
of Representatives, just as I am doing today. King Blue was the 
former slave of the Chickasaw tribal leader Benjamin Colbert. 
He and other tribal representatives presented a document in 
1882 called the Memorial of the Chickasaw Freedmen.
    The intent of this appeal was to encourage the enforcement 
of the 1866 treaty that obliges the tribe to carry out the 
stipulations of the third clause which states, ``The monies 
given by the Federal government to the tribe requires the tribe 
to grant freed persons of African descent all the rights, 
privileges, and immunities, including the right of suffrage.'' 
The Chickasaw Nation refused to honor the treaty. So, my 
relatives were nationless for 40 years, until 1902, when, 
through an Act of Congress, thousands of forgotten enslaved 
Africans were made citizens of the United States of America.
    Around that time, my freedmen ancestors and those of my 
spouse migrated to Tulsa's Greenwood district. Greenwood 
brought a new sense of self-determination, restored dignity, 
one that would be short-lived, and the dreamland of Tulsa will 
become a nightmare. In just a few decades, my ancestors would 
experience enslavement, false freedom, Jim Crow, and a 
holocaust that would be hidden from the pages of history for 
100 years.
    Fast forward, it wasn't until 1997 that I became deeply 
aware of the Tulsa holocaust and its implications. However, I 
remained unaware of my family's involvement until my 
grandfather became a plaintiff in the reparation suit of 2003. 
I felt a full range of emotions and unanswered questions. 
Today, I regret that I asked so many questions because I was 
unaware of the trauma that I was invoking.
    The long-term implications of the Tulsa holocaust in urban 
renewal can physically be seen today. This is not a matter of 
past trauma; it is concurrent. It is concurrent trauma. The 
long-term implications, again, of this holocaust can be seen 
physically today.
    The plot to destroy the Black township of Greenwood was not 
a spontaneous Act caused by a rumor in an elevator. It was 
premeditated as well as racially and politically motivated. 
Many who discover the story of Greenwood cannot believe such a 
place was built, nor can they believe that this type of 
terrorism happened on American soil, on domestic soil.
    The violation of the 14th amendment was not the result of a 
crazed mob. This was a city-sanctioned violation. The event 
resulted in the deprivation of life, liberty, property without 
due process of law, as well as the failure to provide equal 
protection of the law.
    Greenwood was a cultural, social, and economic incubator, 
an environment that provided apprenticeship and other high 
standards. It is economic, political, and social stability. 
Most importantly, it provided a safe place to finally heal and 
detox individually and collectively from the effects of post-
trauma slave syndrome.
    According to the 2019 story in The Harvard Gazette, the 
property damage in today's numbers were estimated to be as high 
as $200 million. The highest form of devastation was the mental 
suffering that resulted in high rates of PTSD and other forms 
of psychological morbidity, such as depression, anxiety, and 
homelessness.
    Many of those who speak of Greenwood often reference the 
resilience of Greenwood's inhabitants because they rebuilt much 
of the district by 1925.
    I am winding down.
    As remarkable as it is, only an estimated 40 percent of 
those original inhabitants actually returned to Greenwood. My 
grandfather's eldest siblings were his caretakers. Both 
disappeared after the massacre, never to return. Their home and 
laundry business were burned to ashes. We later discovered that 
my Great Uncle Matthew Beard fled to Los Angeles, where he and 
his wife changed their first names to conceal their identity.
    One cannot imagine the trauma of not knowing if a family 
member is dead or alive. Now, I understand why my grandfather 
always said, ``No news is good news.''
    My grandfather would return to Greenwood in the 1940s to 
see it destroyed again in urban renewal.
    This is my last paragraph.
    In 2003, my grandfather passed away a few months after 
becoming a plaintiff in the reparations' lawsuit filed by 
Johnnie Cochran and Charles Ogletree. According to the Supreme 
Court, this case would not be heard because the statute of 
limitations had run out.
    Today, the same city responsible for the crimes of 1921 are 
leveraging the suffering of three living survivors and their 
descendants in the name of tourism. When I look my oldest son 
in the eyes, I wonder if the charred baton of justice will burn 
in the palms of his hands, or will it be cleansed and cooled in 
the river of restitution?
    [The statement of Mr. Amusan follows:]
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    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir. We appreciate your testimony and 
your work.
    [Applause.]
    Our next Witness is Dreisen Health. She is a research 
advocate at the U.S. Program of Human Rights Watch. She is an 
expert on reparations and reparatory justice and has authored 
reports and publications highlighting victims' rights to seek 
full and effective reparations that are proportional to the 
gravity of the human rights violations at issue, including acts 
of racial discrimination, as dictated by international human 
rights law. Previously testified before us on H.R. 40 in 
February. She had received a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan 
University.
    Ms. Heath, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

                   STATEMENT OF DREISEN HEATH

    Ms. Heath. On behalf of Human Rights Watch, it is an honor 
to be here today. Thank you to Chair Cohen, Ranking Member 
Johnson, and the Subcommittee, for this opportunity to testify 
at such a critical time in our nation's history, nearly 100 
years since the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
    I am a Tulsa native, born in Tulsa just miles down from the 
historic Greenwood district, where my young parents settled for 
several years among the loving and nurturing Black community 
that was still reeling from the White supremacist domestic 
terrorism that defined their lives forever.
    Growing up, I would hear stories from my parents describing 
the stark differences between neighborhoods in north Tulsa 
versus south Tulsa, the disappearance of Black Wall Street, and 
the constant fear that came with walking the same streets as 
the KKK. Black community members shared oral histories with 
them about the aftermath of the massacre. Many said that they 
never knew where their neighbors went and never heard from them 
ever again.
    I later learned that, after the massacre, Tulsa city 
officials promised full restitution and reparations to Black 
Tulsans, but, instead, turned their backs on them and worked to 
block financial contributions, including medical help, 
preventing rebuilding efforts, and even ordering Black Tulsans 
into poor conditions in concentration camps. No one was ever 
charged with a crime the violence or compensated for the loss 
of life and economic devastation.
    I never imagined that what would eventually bring me back 
to Tulsa would be the continuation of the massacre and the 
degradation of Black life. The research of Human Rights Watch 
brought me back home, and not because Tulsa's Greenwood 
district was restored to the prosperous Black economic hub it 
once was, but because abusive and unchecked police violence, a 
legacy of slavery, and the massacre stole the lives of Terence 
Crutcher, Joshua Harvey, Joshua Barre, and many others.
    According to our research, police violence in Tulsa occurs 
in the broader context of poverty, racial inequality, and the 
deprivation of key human rights. Because of the impacts of 
destructive anti-Black policies, like redlining, urban renewal, 
and highway construction, Tulsa today remains deeply 
segregated, and Black neighborhoods are underdeveloped and 
under-resourced, especially in north Tulsa. Black Tulsans live 
less than their White counterparts, have higher rates of infant 
mortality, and lower medians of wealth. Today's historic 
Greenwood district is just a couple of square blocks showing 
growing signs of gentrification and displacement.
    So, you see, time has not healed all wounds in Tulsa. Over 
the past 100 years, thousands of survivors and their 
descendants have died awaiting justice. The legacy of the 
massacre remains a bloody stain that will continue to define 
this country until reparations are paid.
    Under international human rights law, the city of Tulsa and 
the State of Oklahoma have a responsibility to provide full and 
effective reparations that is proportional to the gravity of 
crimes committed, as recommended in our May 2020 report. 
Reparations must be paid immediately to the three known living 
survivors of the massacre--Mother Randle, Mother Fletcher, and 
Mr. Van Ellis--to the descendants of massacre victims, and to 
the broader Black community that has not seen intergenerational 
wealth and economic opportunity. If we can't fully account for 
one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the United 
States, then who are we as a people and what does this country 
actually stand for?
    The plight of Black Tulsans is not their own will to 
survive, but the government's unwillingness to fully support 
their survival. There is a clear call for what is right and 
what is just, and that call is for comprehensive reparations, 
determined by impact to community members at all levels for 
which harm has occurred.
    Tulsa's Black community is not celebrating the centennial 
of the massacre. They are mourning the loss of their community 
and the loss of opportunity. By passing H.R. 40, the Commission 
to Study and Develop Reparation Proposal for African Americans 
Act, and by ministering full remedy at the Federal, State, and 
local level for the Tulsa Race Massacre and its continuing 
impacts, this country can finally recognize the full humanity 
of Black Tulsans and avoid perpetuating human suffering 
indefinitely.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Heath follows:]
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    Mr. Cohen. Thank you very much.
    [Applause.]
    Our final Witness is Mr. Eric Miller. Mr. Miller is a 
Professor of Law and Leo J. O'Brien Fellow of Loyola Law School 
of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he teaches 
courses on evidence, criminal procedure, and jurisprudence. He 
has written extensively on policing, drug courts, and 
reparations. He received a Masters of legal letters from 
Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Laws from the University 
of Edinburgh. He was a law clerk for the Honorable Stephen 
Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and 
the Honorable Myron Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the 
Middle District of Alabama.
    Professor Miller, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

                    STATEMENT OF ERIC MILLER

    Mr. Miller. Mr. Chair, Members of the Committee, we have 
heard that today's hearing on justice for the Tulsa massacre is 
racially divisive. We heard that in 1921. We heard that in 
2003, when Professor Ogletree and Johnnie Cochran filed a 
Federal lawsuit for the survivors. We heard it in 2020 when 
Mayor Bynum, the mayor of the city of Tulsa, said he would not 
support payments to the survivors of the massacre, including 
Ms. Fletcher, Ms. Randle, and Mr. Van Ellis, who you heard 
testify today.
    The victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre and their 
descendants have still not received a penny from the State of 
Oklahoma or the city of Tulsa. Even some direct payment is not 
enough. They need transformational justice to remedy the 
systemic, ongoing wrongdoing still suffered by the victims, 
their descendants, and the current residents of the Greenwood 
and north Tulsa districts of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    To provide an appropriate remedy, we must understand the 
nature and scope of the wrongdoing and its impact on the 
residents. The massacre not only destroyed the Greenwood 
community, its infrastructure, and human and social capital; it 
created a diaspora of people driven from their homes or 
families and their support networks.
    Here is what the State of Oklahoma said about their role in 
the massacre in a statute it passed in 2001. Quote: ``Local 
municipal and county officials became participants in the mob 
that killed, looted, and burned down Greenwood'' Quote: ``Local 
officials attempted to block the rebuilding of the Greenwood 
community.'' Local officials enforced, quote, ``a conspiracy of 
silence'' that ``served the dominant interests of the state,'' 
which termed the riot a ``public relations nightmare'' for a 
community attempting to attract new business. The State, quote, 
``ignored'' its, quote, ``responsibilities, rather than 
confront the realities of race relations that allowed one race 
to put down another race.''
    Again, these are all quotes from the State of Oklahoma, the 
tale of an Oklahoma that was, and still is, putting profit over 
racial justice. They stopped short of accounting for the 
continuing acts of racial discrimination in the years and 
decades following the massacre. They failed to account for the 
people who fled and could not return--some because they were 
targeted for violence, some because they could not rebuild, or 
some simply because of the unbearable psychological trauma of 
the massacre. This great diaspora of the massacre is owed 
justice, too,
    Typical reparations remedies include trust funds, a 
commission to identify the victims and their descendants, some 
permanent historical record, some form of direct payment to the 
victims, and college scholarships for the descendants. That is 
roughly what Congress provided for the victims of Japanese 
internment.
    However, the remedies for Tulsa must also address the 
current acts of the city and the Chamber of Commerce who 
destroyed social, economic, and cultural institutions, and who 
continue to profit off the victims and survivors by 
misappropriating the histories and likenesses of the victims 
and their descendants.
    Repair requires rebuilding infrastructure in Greenwood and 
north Tulsa--buying back property, building hospitals and 
health centers, redirecting the highways that split these 
communities and families and friends apart, and remediating the 
environmental harms within these communities in Tulsa. These 
are the engines of its economic, but also its social and human 
capital. Repair also requires addressing the trauma and hurt 
experienced by the diaspora of descendants that exist around 
the country and around the world.
    The lead plaintiff in the 2003 Federal case, which I was 
proud to be part of, John Melvin Alexander, a World War II and 
Korean War veteran, said that, quote, ``The White person can't 
realize what they've done to the Black people here.'' end 
quote.
    The enduring trauma of the massacre mocked the survivors 
and their descendants and still does, as you heard from so many 
people, to this day. We need a remedy fit for this massive Act 
of horror. We have come here to Congress to ask you to fix it.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Mr. Miller follows:]
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    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Professor Miller.
    We will now proceed under the 5-minute Rule with questions, 
and I will begin by recognizing myself for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Solomon, are you available for questions? Is he here?
    [No response.]
    Well, let me start with Mr. Miller then. I would like to 
have Mr. Solomon for a question. Professor Miller, some argue 
that the harms are in the past, that most of the victims and 
perpetrators are dead, which is all true, and there is no party 
responsible for the harm, nor any party entitled to receive 
compensation for the attack. What is your response?
    Mr. Miller. Well, my response is that we can still see the 
ongoing harms of the Tulsa Race Massacre to this day. Remember, 
all the families lost all their property in the massacre. They 
couldn't get their money returned by going to the courts. They 
couldn't get their money for their property by going to 
insurance companies. So, it was a devastating financial loss 
for over 10,000 people in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    People fled the city. Families were split apart. So, 
infrastructure was destroyed. That sort of destruction has 
continued over time, as the city tried to rezone Greenwood, 
tried to prevent building back. When people did build back, the 
city continued to target Greenwood for racial divisive urban 
development, driving a freeway through the middle of the 
community, splitting the community apart, dividing it from the 
rest of Tulsa. So, the acts of the city, of the Chamber of 
Commerce, of the State, and the county have continued from 
1921-2021, to target this community--
    Mr. Cohen. Well, it has been a continuing problem and there 
have been no efforts at any remediation, is that correct?
    Mr. Miller. That is correct. Worse, they have made it 
worse.
    Mr. Cohen. Let me ask you this: One of the Witnesses--I 
believe it was Mr. Simmons--said that the insurance companies 
had not honored claims. How did they go about--these were 
property casualty insurance, homeowners' insurance, whatever--
how did they not get compensation? How did the insurance 
companies get out of it?
    Mr. Miller. They said there was a riot clause in the 
insurance and refused to pay out. So, the insurance companies 
denied hundreds of people their claims, people who are victims 
of the race massacre, by claiming that they didn't have to pay 
because of a riot.
    Mr. Cohen. Mr. Solomon-Simmons, Professor Miller has 
explained that some of the insurance companies, because of a 
riot clause, were allowed not to have to compensate the 
victims. Did the riot clause suggest that they were responsible 
for the damage? How did that riot clause get interpreted that 
way and not give them compensation?
    Mr. Solomon-Simmons. First, it was the city and the county 
and the chamber who falsely called it a riot, for the express 
purpose of making it more difficult for the Black citizens to 
rebuild. We have to understand this was not just some isolated 
event. They wanted their land. They wanted the land of the 
African Americans because it was very valuable land.
    I believe, and our understanding of our research, that 
these insurance companies, they didn't do their due diligence. 
They didn't come down and do an actual investigation. They just 
took the false narrative that the city and the county and the 
chamber provided and said, ``That's good. Good for us. We don't 
have to pay anything.''
    We have these particular claims. I am happy to give this to 
your office, Representative Cohen, a listing of each claim 
made, the specificity, and who they made it to.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you.
    We had a similar situation in Memphis. After the Civil War, 
they called it a riot for the longest time, and, of course, it 
was a massacre. The city was involved as well and the police in 
perpetrating it.
    In the Oklahoma, as I understand it, the police, the law 
enforcement, participated in the massacre, is that correct?
    Mr. Solomon-Simmons. That is absolutely correct. It is the 
same spirit that runs from 1921-2021.
    This is my client right here. I represent the Crutcher 
family who has suffered from police violence. Her brother was 
shot with his hands up in the air. So, I take great exception 
to what Mr. Shannon had to say about being divisive. We suffer 
in Tulsa. I don't know--he is not from Tulsa. I am from Tulsa. 
Tiffany is from Tulsa. She's from Tulsa. Dreisen is from Tulsa. 
We suffer at the hands of the Tulsa police.
    You also heard the name of Joshua Harvey. It is another 
client of mine, a young man that was tased 27 times to death by 
the Tulsa police department, and none of the officers were 
disciplined. Betty Shelby was not disciplined for shooting her 
brother. None of the officers who had Witnesses leave the 
scene--on video, violated multiple policies--not one of those 
officers is disciplined.
    You know what? After the massacre, in our papers they said 
for this to never happen again--and ``this'' being the rise of, 
quote, ``Nigger Town''--``we need to aggressively police these 
niggers to make sure that they don't rise again,'' unquote. 
That is what we deal with here in Tulsa. That is the over-
policing in my neighborhood, north Tulsa, 36th Street North.
    Mr. Cohen. My time has expired but thank you. We will try 
to get back.
    Now, we will recognize Mr. Johnson for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Speaker Shannon, you obviously had a historic rise and very 
successful career in the State, and we acknowledge that.
    I was struck by your testimony. You testified, in part, 
that you were inspired by the pre-massacre success of 
Greenwood, the stories that your parents told you, the history 
teachers that were in your house, because it represented an 
American success story, where, despite facing horrific racism 
and other aspects of their lives, Tulsa's African American 
residents could flourish economically and socially and 
culturally. You noted that story can still inspire young people 
today.
    So, the question is, what are some ways that we can 
emphasize great stories like that to build up and strengthen 
individuals and communities?
    Mr. Shannon. Thank you, Ranking Member Johnson, for the 
question.
    As a former resident of Tulsa, I think when we think about 
the narrative that we tell ourselves, I am always concerned 
with this narrative of telling people that look like me that 
they can't succeed in this country because it is just not true. 
This country is a land of systemic opportunity. It is not a 
land of systemic racism. This country has afforded many people 
from many different backgrounds great opportunities.
    Now, that doesn't negate that we have had our challenges, 
and many of them have been at the hands of people that look 
like me, and many of them have been victims, people that look 
like me have been victims at the hands of these crimes, much 
like the Tulsa Race Massacre. It is a shame. So, we have 
certainly had our challenges.
    When we think about what Greenwood means to the nation, and 
how it inspires people, it is that the idea of capitalism still 
works. The idea that, if we really want to move people out of 
generational poverty, which is what we are talking about, there 
are steps to do:


        (1)  It starts with getting an education, finishing school. 
        Whatever school you are in, do the best you can to finish it.
        (2)  Getting married and staying married. We know that those 
        things work. That moves people out of generational poverty.
        (3)  To get a job and keep a job. That is the third thing.
        (4)  To invests and save.
        (5)  To give back to your local community.

    That is how you move people out of generational poverty, 
and that is exactly what the brave men and women of Greenwood 
did in many instances with their entrepreneurship, and they 
continue to inspire people from generations.
    I was moved by the testimony of Uncle Red and the other 
survivors and his sister. I think we all can learn a great deal 
about their courage.
    Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Very good. I wish I could unpack 
so much of that, but we have limited time.
    Let me go to Mr. Henderson, if I can, if he is still on 
video. Mr. Henderson, are you still with us?
    Mr. Henderson. Yes.
    Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Great. Just a real quick question 
for you. In recent years, it has become popular for a lot of 
people to argue that America is a county of systemic racism 
rather than systemic opportunities, as Mr. Shannon just said. 
You testified, also, that this is not what you see. Could you 
expound on that a bit further? How would you describe our 
present situation?
    Mr. Henderson. Well, when you look at America, you have to 
compare it with other countries. America is a country that has 
fought to free slaves. America is a country that seeks to live 
out the second sentence in the Declaration of Independence: 
``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
created equal.''
    The governance that is instituted among men is derived from 
just powers from the consent of the governed. So, it is we, the 
private citizens, that determine how this country will move 
forward. We need to recognize that elections matter. 
Understanding the system that we live under, we keep going to 
another race of people asking permission. When you look at the 
free-market capitalism system, you don't have to ask 
permission; you can actually fail your way to success. When you 
look at Thomas Edison, when you look at Booker T. Washington, 
they failed so many times, but would not give up. So, America 
is a great country if we look at it from the right direction. 
All in all, this is a great opportunity to take advantage of.
    Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. How do you think that we can 
better educate this current generation of Americans about those 
principles? I mean, does it come down to public school 
curricula? Does it come down to community education? I mean, 
does everybody have a role in that? How do you explain that to 
others?
    Mr. Henderson. Everyone has a role in that. We need to go 
back to critical--I am sorry--classical education, where we 
teach people how to think as opposed to what to think. Our 
education system has moved from education into actually 
indoctrination. We need to understand the total history of this 
country--the good, the bad, and the ugly--and understand that 
America is not where it was before; that we all play a part in 
it. We need to know the true history of America.
    If you are a citizen of America and you don't know the 
history of America, you are a citizen in name only. For those 
of us that have cut our teeth on the true courage required for 
freedom's sake, we need to reach back and share with those that 
this is your country; you should defend this country when it is 
right and stand up against the wrongs that occur.
    Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Thank you.
    I am out of time. I yield back.
    Thanks to all the Witnesses for being here today.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir.
    We are going to go out of order because Ms. Sheila Jackson 
Lee is going to be Speaker Pro Temp. She has time, has to get 
to the Floor.
    Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, you are recognized for 5 
minutes.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chair, let me thank you and the 
Ranking Member for the courage to hold this hearing and to 
present a forum in the United States House of Representatives 
for these humble souls.
    Let me quote William Faulkner because he does not look like 
me and, Mr. Counselor, he doesn't look like you. He said, ``The 
past is never dead. It's not even the past.''
    So, to my friends that are here who have given an 
alternative history, that past never ends. That past is 
redlining that did not allow investment in Black communities. 
That past is, as the outstanding members of this holy and 
iconic group--Mr. Hugh Van Ellis; Ms. Viola Fletcher, Mother 
Fletcher, Ms. Randle--have said, they lived the past. They were 
not able to get the GI bill. Ms. Randle remained a domestic. 
She didn't finish beyond the fourth grade. That is the existing 
and continuing disparities.
    Let me, for those who may never have seen the vibrance of 
Greenwood and Tulsa, and these young women with their cowboy 
hats on, living the dream, if you will, way back in 1921, that 
was Tulsa. That was the economy of this Nation embedded in 
that.
    I would just simply say to my good friend who did not read 
the resolution that we are so proud to have passed honoring the 
100 years, it says, ``By calling upon all Americans to 
celebrate the ethnic, racial, and religious diversity that has 
made the United States the leader of a community of nations and 
the beacon of hope and inspiration to oppressed people 
everywhere.'' That is in H. Res. 398. That is Tulsa.
    Let me tell you what else is Tulsa. If you can't make it 
out, this is a Negro's body with smoke coming out of it, as 
occurred in 1921, when 300 were thrown in a mass grave, unnamed 
to this day, and, as well, held in detention.
    I am so glad that our friends in the Japanese American 
community are, in fact, supporting H.R. 40.
    Let me show you that they actually had thriving businesses. 
That is Greenwood going up in smoke because of an incident in 
an elevator that has never been able to be defended or 
accurate.
    So, let me give these questions quickly in the short time 
that I have for you to be reminded of this.
    Let me get to counselor and Ms. Crutcher. Counselor, my 
time is brief, emphasize again, which most Americans would 
understand, the banks had my money, had their money. I remember 
those little books. We grew up on those little books. You go to 
the bank, you put the money in, and they mark in your little 
book that you had money.
    Tell me two things. You have not been able to get the money 
out of the bank, and the insurance, which all of us are told to 
get flood insurance, to get home insurance, that you were not 
able to get? That is your questions. My time is 1:54.
    Ms. Crutcher, I have never heard you condemn law 
enforcement. I have heard you say, in the name of your deceased 
mom and your family and the children of your brother, that he 
was killed in cold blood with his hands up. I want you to 
respond to that, as to what we need to do legislatively to be 
able to address this injustice.
    Mr. Counselor?
    Mr. Solomon-Simmons. First, Representative Lee, thank you 
for your leadership on H.R. 40.
    In our community, yes, Dr. Olivia Hooker, who was the first 
African American female in the Coast Guard, from Tulsa, she 
talks about this, talked about this before she passed, and many 
other survivors--they couldn't get their money out of the banks 
because the banks said, ``Well, hey, where's your bank book?'' 
They said, ``It burnt.'' They said, ``Too bad.''
    So, we are trying to have a discussion with these banks to 
say let's do a forensic audit and let's go in there and find 
out what money may still be available to these descendants.
    Secondly, yes, again, the insurance companies--these Black 
people in Tulsa were very sophisticated. They were business 
minded. They were savvy. They had policies, insurance policies. 
To this day, no policy actually paid anything that was a fair 
market value and is still owed, as we speak.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.
    Ms. Crutcher, if you would.
    Dr. Crutcher. Yes, ma'am. I back police officers. My uncle 
is a police officer. My father served this country. He was a 
Vietnam veteran. So, I have never bashed the police, but there 
is an oath that our law enforcement in this country that they 
swear to, and I believe in that oath because it simply says--
and you all should read it--``We are here to protect and 
serve.''
    My issue is that there are police officers in this country 
that Act antithetical to that oath that they swear to. So, what 
we are trying to do, and what we need for Congress to do, is 
Act and pass not on dumbed-down or a watered-down or a half-
baked bill, but we need to end the doctrine of qualified 
immunity. That doctrine has hurt my family. There has been a 
civil lawsuit sitting on a judge's desk since 2017. We have no 
closure. My mom went to her grave not seeing justice for her 
son. So, there are policies in place that allow police officers 
to get away with legal murder, and we need to make sure that we 
pass that.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. Thank you.
    My time has run out. I just want to put into the record 
this statement from the Tulsa Race Massacre that indicated in 
2001 damages were up to a hundred million. Today, in 2021, it 
may be $200 million.
    My commitment to you is to find justice and relief, and to 
demand that the mayor of the city of Tulsa give you the 
resources to those descendants, not for him to pocket, not for 
the city of Tulsa, but to be able to get those raised monies--
Mr. Mayor, hear me now--in the rightful hands of those 
descendants that are here today and those descendants of those 
who have died. It is now; the time is now.
    I yield back, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your courtesy.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Representative Lee. Thank you.
    Ms. Ross, you are recognized.
    Ms. Ross. Thank you, Chair Cohen and Ranking Member 
Johnson, for holding this extraordinary and important hearing. 
Hopefully, it will not be the last of these hearings, though, 
hopefully, we won't have these kinds of atrocities going 
forward.
    I also want to thank all the Witnesses for joining us 
today.
    While plenty can change in 100 years, the powerful 
testimony we have heard today reminds us that history also is 
alive. The Tulsa Race Massacre lives on through Mr. Van Ellis, 
Mother Fletcher, Mother Randle, and their descendants.
    Thank you, Dr. Crutcher, for being here.
    It also lives on through the families that lost their 
homes, their wealth, their loved ones, and the futures that 
they thought they would have.
    For those who do not believe that racism exists in the 
United States, I hope the testimony of our Witnesses helped 
them understand that racism and brutality 100 years ago, 400 
years ago, continues to stand in the way of the success of the 
people here today.
    Tulsa is not the only city where violent White supremacy 
has set our Nation back. In my State of North Carolina, White 
supremacists carried out a massacre and a coup d,tat in 1898, 
toppling the multiracial government in the majority Black city 
of Wilmington. Like Tulsa, Wilmington was once the home to a 
thriving Black community. White supremacists were able to 
demolish Black homes and businesses, kill Black civilians, and 
overthrow a democratically elected government because the 
system of power in our Nation and our State did not intervene.
    My first question is for Mr. Solomon-Simmons about the 
aftermath of the massacre. It is a dramatic example of how 
racism, both in the form of violence, but also discrimination 
in government policy, has contributed to the wealth gap between 
White and Black households in present-day America. How did the 
massacre and its aftermath impact survivors and their 
descendants' ability to build and pass on generational wealth?
    Mr. Solomon-Simmons. Thank you, Representative Ross, for 
that question.
    In many ways, it was impacted. First, up to the '40s and 
the '50s, for those individuals in Greenwood who survived the 
massacre and were not run out as refugees, they were severely 
neglected by the city of Tulsa. They didn't receive any type of 
city services. They didn't have paved streets. They didn't even 
have proper plumbing, so they could have running water in their 
homes.
    Then, they brought in urban renewal, which we call in Tulsa 
``Negro removal.'' They used that policy to steal the rest of 
the land that they hadn't stolen during the massacre. The final 
nail was when they put Highway 244 directly, squarely in the 
Black community through Greenwood, to purposely destroy any 
opportunity for Greenwood to thrive again.
    So, this has been the remnants. Right now, if you come to 
Tulsa, you will see a thriving, beautiful, modern, metropolitan 
city south of I-244. That is White Tulsa. North of that 
highway, which is north Tulsa and Black, there are no 
businesses, hardly any businesses. There are no buildings going 
up. There are no high-rises, nothing like that. It is as stark 
as night and day.
    Ms. Ross. Thank you very much.
    My next question is for Ms. Heath. So, I brought up the 
massacre in Wilmington. What happened in Tulsa is particularly 
unique at this 100-year mark because it was an entirely Black 
community. Wilmington was an example where Blacks and Whites 
lived together and some people just didn't like that.
    Could you tell us about other instances in our history 
where we have seen White supremacists intervene in people's 
thriving, multiracial economies?
    Ms. Heath. Thank you.
    Yes, the United States has a history of White supremacists 
invading Black neighborhoods or coalescing among Black 
neighborhoods and, quite frankly, all of a sudden, getting sick 
of some type of economic progress or social progress that 
creates equitable conditions for Black people in those 
neighborhoods.
    The ``Red Summer of 1919'' is a prime example of dozens of 
race massacres, also coined as race riots in history, which is 
a false narrative that does not account for the deliberate and 
designed destruction of Black neighborhoods and their success.
    So, post-Reconstruction, pre-Reconstruction, all the way up 
to the spirit of what had Members of Congress laying on the 
floor during January 6th, is a product of White supremacy in 
this country.
    Ms. Ross. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Chair, I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Ross.
    Next in order is Mr. Hank Johnson, who has been a leader on 
this issue in the Congressional Black Caucus and a leader on 
this issue and others throughout his time in Congress, since 
2007.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for holding 
this very important hearing.
    I also want to thank the survivors of the massacre who 
spoke on the first panel and shared their stories with us 
today.
    As the 100th year anniversary of the Tulsa-Greenwood 
Massacre approaches, we must examine this part of our history, 
lest we be bound to repeat it. The massacre of Black lives may 
have been the deadliest, but it certainly was not an isolated 
event. Black people in this country continue to fight against 
racist violence even today and the legacy of racist violence. 
We cannot let our future be defined by hate any longer and by 
racism any longer.
    Later today, I will introduce the Tulsa-Greenwood Massacre 
Accountability Claims Act, which will create a Federal cause of 
action for massacre-related claims. The victims of this 
atrocity have been denied justice for far too long. Similar 
legislation was previously introduced by my friend, the former 
Congressman and former Chair of the Judiciary Committee, John 
Conyers. I am honored to continue his legacy in this way.
    Ms. Heath, why is congressional action so important to 
create accountability, and why accountability so important 
after atrocities such as Greenwood?
    Ms. Heath. Thank you.
    As you heard from Mr. Miller and Mr. Solomon-Simmons, the 
courts have failed to deliver justice necessary and hear the 
merits of these atrocities. Therefore, legislative remedy is 
incredibly important post-any serious or gross human rights 
violations, such as the Tulsa Race Massacre or including acts 
of racial discrimination, which include housing, education, 
employment, racial discrimination in the United States today 
impacting Black people.
    It is incredibly important that repair mechanisms are 
proportional to the harms that were committed and not just 
symbolic. In the case of Greenwood, material damage was done, 
including moral damage which should be compensated for. Under 
international law, there are various forms of reparation, in 
addition to financial compensation, legal and institutional 
reforms also that need to be administered in the case of 
Greenwood. All forms of repair, given the damage that was done 
in Greenwood, need to be on the table to provide full 
restitution to the gravity of the harms and crimes committed.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you.
    Attorney Solomon-Simmons, would you care to respond to that 
question?
    Mr. Solomon-Simmons. Well, again, because this body, this 
Congress has shown the ability throughout our history with the 
Japanese internment camp survivors, the 9/11 Commission, that 
it is important for the Congress, the United States of America, 
to say, what happened to these people was wrong. We have the 
power to remedy it and we should remedy it. We must have 
accountability for what happened in Greenwood.
    Because if we don't have accountability for what happened 
in Greenwood, it will only happen again. It is not enough just 
to know something happened, so you won't repeat it. You have to 
know there are consequences that it happened. So far, there 
haven't been any consequences from anyone at this point, and we 
hope and pray that we can get some consequences from Congress.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you.
    Ms. Heath, are you aware, and Professor Miller, are you all 
aware of any instances in this country where Black people have 
received reparation for harm done to them?
    Ms. Heath. Yes. In 1923, the Rosewood Race Massacre 
occurred two years after the Tulsa Race Massacre. Victims in 
the 1990s were compensated, including their descendants, with 
scholarships. In addition, North Carolina compensated victims 
of forced sterilization for a discriminatory eugenics law. So, 
reparations have been paid, but not to descendants of enslaved 
Africans at the grander level and, also, in this case of Tulsa 
and many other incidents of racial violence.
    Mr. Miller. If we think broadly about reparations, the 
Federal government has actually already made it possible for 
African Americans--for example, Black farmers--to sue to gain 
some compensation. So, Congress has taken a lead on this before 
and--
    Mr. Cohen. You might need to turn your microphone on, 
Professor. Was it already on?
    Mr. Miller. Sorry, I thought it was on. Did you not hear 
me?
    All right. So, Congress has taken the lead on this before; 
for example, with the Black farmers legislation, and I am glad 
that Congress is taking a lead on it again.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you.
    So, H.R. 40 or the Tulsa-Greenwood Massacre Accountability 
Claims Act would not be new. It would not be unique. It would 
not be a trailblazer. It would just be a continuation of 
justice that has been afforded to certain victims of racism in 
this country throughout our history. Is that correct?
    Mr. Miller. That is correct. It is worth recognizing that 
States--California has been a leader in affording this sort of 
relief to, for example, victims of Armenian genocide, braceros, 
Holocaust survivors. So, it is long overdue for African 
Americans as well.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you, and I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
    Ms. Garcia from Texas is recognized for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you so much for 
bringing this hearing forward. I think it is historic and just.
    The courage and the tenacity and just the wherewithal of 
the survivors to be here with us this morning, and to share 
their stories, was very, very, very moving and compelling. I 
hope that more Americans get to see it. I hope that children 
get to see it. I hope that anyone who studies history sees it.
    So, thank you for doing this. I am so glad that, also, you 
are livestreaming this to make sure that people make note.
    It is shame; 100 years since the Tulsa-Greenwood Race 
Massacre, and we still find ourselves striving for equal 
justice under the law for all Americans. Uncle Red said it 
best: We all need to work together because we are one. We all 
need to work together because we are one.
    So, it is important that we commemorate this centennial 
anniversary of this massacre to educate new generations of our 
country's history, to learn from it and heal from it, to 
restore justice for the Greenwood district community, as well 
as many other long-suffering communities alike. That is why I 
am a cosponsor of H.Res. 398, the resolution.
    Like President Biden has said, ``to heal, we must 
understand.'' To heal, we must understand. That is why I also 
support H.R. 40 and I am a proud sponsor together with many 
others here in Congress.
    Today, I have learned of yet another bill that would help 
restore justice for all, and that is the Accountability Act 
that Mr. Johnson just mentioned. I will certainly sign up to be 
a sponsor in that bill.
    I agree with our nation's top law enforcement official, 
Attorney General Merrick Garland, that we are obligated to 
protect each other. That is why highlighting this event 100 
years later, when racial hatred drove individuals to carry out 
unspeakable acts of violence against our own fellow Americans 
teaches us about the evils that are perpetuated by White 
supremacists. Let's be clear. We will not rest until there is 
justice for all.
    If you listen to the words of Mother Fletcher, she said 
that she has lived this massacre every single day--every day. 
We owe it to her and all the others to make sure that we make 
change, and we do it now, not later. Hate because of the color 
of one's skin shall never win. We cannot let it win. America 
prevails when we come together in peace. As Uncle Red said, we 
are one.
    So, I want to begin with you, Attorney Simmons. I noticed 
in--it may have been your written testimony--that groups even 
like Sinclair Oil loaned them the planes--loaned them the 
planes. We hear, and the Chair asked questions, about the 
insurance companies. So, businesses were involved with this. 
Have we been able to get a handle on how we can go to the 
successor businesses? Sinclair Oil I believe still exists. 
Those companies, obviously, were bought by someone. Have we 
been able to try to get any damages from them?
    Mr. Solomon-Simmons. Thank you for your question.
    We are in the process of that. We have reached out to 
several companies, including Sinclair Oil. They are still 
around. Then, many, many insurance companies, banks, other 
publications, and we are trying to hold everyone accountable. 
So far, not many people want to talk to us and have a 
conversation. That is why we reached out and said, ``Let's have 
a conversation, because these people in Tulsa, my people in 
Tulsa, they need healing, and you were a part of this 100 years 
ago, and here's the proof of it.''
    Ms. Garcia. Right. I know that, also, I read that there was 
a commission set up in Oklahoma, and that they did say that 
reparations should go to the historic Greenwood community in 
some way; and that it would do much to repair the emotional and 
physical scars of this terrible incident. Have they done 
anything? Is there anything that we can do to nudge them, push 
them?
    Mr. Solomon-Simmons. Well, first, they have not done 
anything. In fact, those same perpetrators of the massacre are 
now utilizing the massacre to line their own pockets. So, in 
fact, they haven't done anything; they have done worse. They 
have actually compounded the trauma, and they have soaked up 
all the resources that good people from around the Nation that 
want to support the Black people of Tulsa--they don't 
understand that they are actually supporting the city of Tulsa 
and the White business owners in Tulsa. That is what is 
actually happening right now.
    I think just this hearing, people understanding the 
difference, understanding that groups on the ground like the 
Crutcher Foundation, Justice for Greenwood, the Black Wall 
Street Legacy Festival are actually working directly with 
survivors and descendants, and not the city of Tulsa and the 
Chamber of Commerce and the State of Oklahoma; they are working 
for themselves. They are trying to do exactly what they did in 
1921 when Tulsa created this slogan called ``Tulsa Will.''
    Now, they have a slogan that says, ``Tulsa Triumphed'' to 
try to say, oh, Tulsa has triumphed over this bad history. The 
fact is Tulsa, the city, triumphed over Greenwood. It was 
Greenwood that was destroyed. It was Greenwood that was looted. 
It is Greenwood that needs repair, not Tulsa.
    Ms. Garcia. Thank you.
    Mr. Chairn, I see my time has expired. I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Garcia, for your statement and 
your questions.
    Ms. Bush, a freshman, but experienced and a very important 
Member of this Committee from Missouri, is recognized.
    Ms. Bush. St. Louis.
    I thank you, Chair Cohen, for convening this hearing.
    It is both an honor and a profoundly sobering privilege to 
be sharing space with you, and to Mr. Van Ellis, to Mother 
Fletcher, and Mother Randle, with them as well, I hope to be 
able to actually meet them.
    When I go home today--and this is to them--when I go home 
today, I will call my 7-year-old nephew and tell him about my 
day. I will tell him that I got to see and hear American heroes 
today. I will tell him that I spoke to them in awe that they 
lived, all those things that they talked about and how they 
lived in a neighborhood much like his in St. Louis; that he 
lives in a neighborhood with local schools just like they did 
and favorite parks where he spends his holidays the same way 
they do, and where he celebrates some of his life's most 
precious moments, the same way that they did. Unlike in his 
neighborhood in St. Louis, this vibrant, beautiful community in 
Tulsa was burned down. Yet, Mother Fletcher, Mother Randle, and 
Mr. Van Ellis are still here with us today, sharing their 
storage of courage.
    To my colleagues on this Committee, there is only one 
reason why descendants of the Tulsa Massacre have not been 
compensated. That reason is racism. It's anti-Black racism, to 
be clear, and it has been stated a couple of times, and I want 
to State it again. It's anti-Black racism. Racism is not just 
slavery and Jim Crow. It is the daily violence that is enacted 
on our communities each and every day we live in this White 
supremacist society.
    Racism is when a group of our elders come to our halls to 
testify about the massacre they survived without any clear 
commitment from our leaders as to the reparations they are 
owed. That is outright racism, full stop.
    What happened in Tulsa on the evening of May 31st and that 
continued into the day of June 1st, 1921, was a failure of the 
highest proportions. For 24 hours the community was under 
attack, traumatized, brutalized, terrorized, and killed--for no 
other reason than for being Black. It was the failure of our 
government that helped enable the violent massacre. It was the 
failure of our leaders--our leaders--for being complicit in 
White supremacist violence. It was the failure of our country 
for failing to protect its own citizens.
    It is a failure only made possible because racism is alive 
and well in this country. It was alive when a White mob burned 
Tulsa to a crisp. It is alive now, as we debate the merits of 
repairing harm. Underlying the generational trauma and 
exploitation is a government that refused to even acknowledge 
the humanity of our ancestors enslaved and terrorized under 
White supremacy, a government that to this day refuses to 
acknowledge or atone for its ongoing racism--ongoing and 
ongoing racism.
    So, let me ask, Ms. Goodwin, how has your family, if you 
could just tell us briefly, how has your family's history been 
affected by the Tulsa Massacre? Then, I have a question for Mr. 
Crutcher. Ms. Goodwin, how has your family's history been 
affected by the massacre? If you could name like three things 
that like really stick out?
    Ms. Goodwin. Well, one that sticks out is the generational 
wealth that could have been, basically, accrued by now. There 
was some $76,244 back in 1921. In today's dollars, that is some 
$900,000, and perhaps $1.2 million.
    Ms. Bush. My goodness.
    Ms. Goodwin. So, if we just talk about the material loss, 
that is what you would deal with. If you want to talk about the 
scars and, as it has been said over and over again, the ongoing 
trauma, we feel this every day because we live in this 
community. As it has been said, we see a community that is 
being gentrified. We see a community right now where this 
massacre is being monetized by Greenwood Rising and all this 
hoopla. The three folks that we could do right by, right now 
they are still living.
    Ms. Bush. Yes.
    Ms. Goodwin. So, I say to you that we feel that. Okay?
    Ms. Bush. Yes.
    Ms. Goodwin. When you say three things, I could name 30 
things.
    Ms. Bush. Okay. I am running out of time but thank you.
    Ms. Goodwin. Okay.
    I am going to move to Ms. Crutcher. I only have a few 
seconds left. Could you tell us, what does justice look like to 
you in your community? Thank you for sharing what you shared 
with us today. If you could say what justice is for Tulsa right 
now, what is that?
    Dr. Crutcher. Justice is simply restitution, repair, and 
respect.
    Ms. Bush. Thank you.
    Dr. Crutcher. Those three words, that is what justice looks 
like.
    Ms. Bush. Thank you.
    I want to end my remarks by talking directly to all the 
Black people, the young people, who are listening to this 
discussion today. Know that this country's legacy of racism is 
still alive today. Our lives, our very existence, is a 
testimony--it is a testament to our will and our strength. It 
is a testament to our power as a people and how much has stood 
in our way, in the way of our survival. Yet, we are still here. 
We saw three people; they are still here. We are fighting for a 
world that honors our dignity and our humanity, and know that 
we will always do this work of liberation and justice for each 
and every person until it is won.
    Thank you. Thank you.
    [Applause.]
    Mr. Cohen. That concludes today's hearing, and I am going 
to conclude it in a most unusual manner, in that I am going to 
advertise a television show.
    On May the 30th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, a program 
called ``Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre'' will be shown 
on the History Channel. This is an important program for those 
of you who have watched and those who haven't had the 
opportunity to watch, to view.
    Coincidentally, and just as a Wizards fan, it is produced 
by Russell Westbrook. It will be history.
    I have learned much today, and I have learned much over the 
years, about the Tulsa Race Massacre, and we need to take 
action and show that our country understands what Faulkner 
said: ``The past is not the past. The past is never dead. We 
are living now. The past is still with us.''
    I want to thank all our Witnesses for appearing today.
    Without objection, all Members will have five legislative 
days to submit additional written questions for the Witnesses 
or additional materials for the record.
    With that, the hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 12:26 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

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