City councilors split over creating a reparations commission for 1921 Race Massacre

Not surprisingly, Tulsa’s nine-member City Council is not of one voice when it comes to creating a commission to establish and implement a reparations program for the 1921 Race Massacre. As of last week, five of nine councilors were either noncommittal or unsupportive of the proposal. The idea of a commission was offered in the form of a recommendation in the Beyond Apology Report, which summarizes the findings of a 2023 community-led effort to educate the public about what reparations for the Race Massacre could look like and gather Tulsans’ perspectives. The document calls for the city to establish a “government sanctioned” commission or task force to create and implement a reparations program but does not specify who in City Hall would establish the commission. People are also reading… City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper, who represents the district in which the massacre occurred and is the city’s only Black councilor, supports creating the commission. She said either the City Council or the mayor could recommend the commission be established. “I think it’s important to speak to justice and inequality,” said Hall-Harper. “… We claim to be a country where everyone is created equal, and that justice belongs to everyone. But we...