Tulsa survivors denied reparations again

Tulsa survivors denied reparations again – Face2Face Africa Viola Fletcher is the oldest living survivor of the event. Photo: CBS Survivors of the Tulsa massacre have lost a historic legal bid for reparations over the attack. The suit, which was filed in 2020 by three survivors of the massacre, was thrown out by the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday. The state’s top court said the grievances of the appellants did not entitle them to compensation. “With respect to their public nuisance claim, though Plaintiffs’ grievances are legitimate, they do not fall within the scope of our State’s public nuisance statute,” the court wrote. The ruling affirmed a lower court ruling where the judge concluded that “simply being connected to a historical event does not provide a person with unlimited rights to seek compensation”. The suit was filed by survivors Viola Fletcher, 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109. The third, Hughes Van Ellis, died last year at 102. The case was filed under Oklahoma’s public nuisance law and the trio argued that violence and destruction wrought on the “Black Wall Street” area more than a century ago continues to resonate today, the BBC reported. The Tulsa County sheriff, county commissioners and...