Thinking About Religion on 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre
I go to Tulsa, OK, every few years to visit a relative and for other reasons. It has a history both tragic and interesting.
To start with, Oklahoma is a state with cross currents of race, politics and religion like no other, so far as I know. It has a large native and black population and a white population of conservative ranchers and big oil executives. Texas, right next door to the south has been booming for years. Oklahoma is relatively stagnant.
Oral Roberts University is in Tulsa. So is the largest Unitarian congregation in the U.S. If there is a better example of both ends of the Christian spectrum I don't know of one.
When we think of sad race attitudes the deep South Mississippi usually comes to mind. But Oklahoma might have a history of prejudice and race violence that matches or surpasses Mississippi.
When I was a college student my university, Iowa State, happened to surprise everyone by having a good football team. After a string of victories, it was headed to Norman, OK, to play the Oklahoma Sooners. It was a big game, one of the networks was to carry it. The team landed at the Oklahoma City airport and a police escort brought it to nearby Norman and its hotel. The hotel management said rooms for players was all set, except for Iowa State's two black players. They would have to stay a hotel for black people. Iowa State's coach called the airport and told their staff to fuel their plane. Iowa State would not play football the next day but return to Ames instead. Oklahoma's famous coach, Bud Wilkinson, was called and the black players stayed in the team's hotel.
This was in the late 1950's. The Oklahoma lesson from the Tulsa race massacre was still lost on the state. Tulsa was an oil boom town during the WW1 and by 1920 had 100,000 people. About 10,000 black people lived there in a thriving segregated area. In 1921 a false story appeared in the newspaper of a young black man assaulting or harassing a white woman. White people with guns and torches stormed the black areas shooting, burning and looting. About 300 black people were killed, 12 churches burned and hundreds of houses torched. Thousands were suddenly homeless.
The Smithsonian, April, 2021, has a long article about the massacre. I read another article online and have a book on it I bought some years ago in Tulsa. After the atrocity the Mayor expressed regret. The state Guard came in and enforced the law evenly. There was a story of at least one white family who took in homeless black people. I looked for some evidence white preachers or churches expressed regret or helped the recovery in any way. I found no mention of anything good or bad they did. That doesn't mean none of them helped, but it was not reported in any accounts.
That event and the later violence in Selma, AL, are so close to our time violence remains a worry. Every political and religious leader needs to remember race is a violent force ready to explode.
"I looked for some evidence white preachers or churches expressed regret or helped the recovery in any way. I found no mention of anything good or bad they did. That doesn't mean none of them helped, but it was not reported in any accounts".
ReplyDeleteYou like to speak in absolutes, Jon. You state nothing was stated in any accounts. That implies that you have examined every account and found nothing good or bad about white preachers or churches. That is a bizarre statement.
I just finished looking at the second link in an internet search of "Tulsa Massacre May 30, 1921".
That link - https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/racemassacre/timeline-the-1921-tulsa-race-massacre/collection_1c02a7b4-86ce-11e8-b63d-c3bbb45d4a6c.html#30 has lots of bad things to say about everything that happened, leading to the rioting and mass murders.
But, to say that nothing of any good was reported about white preachers or churches in any accounts is a lie.
First, some background. Tulsa was segregated. The black portion of Tulsa, Greenwood, was populated by about 10,000 blacks. Tulsa was about 100,000 people at that time. The downtown was almost exclusively white with all churches being what people would refer to as white churches. The so-called black churches were in Greenwood.
As stated in the link, " By mid-day on June 1, Greenwood had been emptied of all but a handful of its inhabitants. A few found refuge in downtown churches or the homes of white employers, acquaintances and even strangers. Fewer still somehow rode out the massacre in their own homes. The majority by far had either fled the city or been taken into what was described as protective custody."
So, the preachers in white churches provided refuge for blacks. So did some white employers. This information I got from reading one resource, after searching for 10 minutes.
The sad part is that anyone was killed or injured at all, especially as it appeared to result from a misunderstanding between a black teenage boy and a young, white, female elevator operator. Perhaps the sadder part is that conditions like this ever existed in the USA.
Matt "So, the preachers in white churches provided refuge for blacks."
DeleteI read you reference completely including the passage you quoted. It does not say what you interpreted it to say. I hope there were preachers in white churches providing refuge for blacks---it only says one way or another a few people found refuge there. You can call that "black and white" interpretation of the report if you want. I'm just trying to be accurate. You didn't mention the link you provided also told of a downtown Klan rally a year later where a lighted Christian cross was displayed on the bottom of an airplane.
I'm sure you, like me, found it painful to read the account of the massacre. Tulsa is today a wonderful place and I like to go there. Where I live today is a ballot company whose founders came out of the Ballet Tulsa Company.
Not knowing with certainty, it is highly probable that there were more instances of violence towards blacks than there were acts of charity towards blacks.
ReplyDeleteI stand by my reference. It is patently obvious. So is the charity extended by some white employers to blacks.
Reading more, it was stated that Tulsa was considered an island of less racist practices than the surrounding communities, hence Grednwood being called the "Black Wall Street"; a place where blacks did much better financially than one would expect.
Still, racist beyond anything to compare in 2021 except institutional poverty.
Matt "I stand by my reference. It is patently obvious."
ReplyDeleteWhat is "patently obvious" to you is that white pastors "opened up" their churches to the beaten down black people. I doesn't say that. It is your bias showing.
To me the more likely scenario is the church allowing its black janitor and his family to shelter there. That is my bias showing.
My references are solid. Even without the quote below, the original reference is solid. If you can't read the quote below and understand that the white churches downtown were housing/protecting blacks from Greenwood, then it's not because you have bias, it's because you can't read.
ReplyDelete"Barrett" is the National Guard Commander.
"For instance, Barrett temporarily banned all funerals in downtown churches. Over time, this was seen as an attempt to keep blacks from burying their dead. In fact, it had almost no effect on black funerals, since those would not have been held in the downtown white churches, anyway. The purpose of the ban was to keep grieving white families from coming into contact with blacks still staying in some downtown churches."