Tulsa Race Massacre survivors deliver emotional pleas to Congress at hearing

“I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this history, but I cannot,” said Mother Viola Fletcher, one of the oldest living survivors of the massacre at a powerful congressional hearing on the 1921 Tulsa massacre.

Survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre testified to members of Congress on Thursday to share the atrocities they experienced 100 years ago. In the backdrop of their testimony lies the continuing public health crisis of COVID-19 and a federal government still grappling with a coordinated attack on the Capitol and all who roamed the halls on Jan. 6, 2021.

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Fitting the context of the historic importance of the survivors’ testimonies during a year when reparations for Black American victims of racial violence has become a high-ranking political issue across the country, the hearing before the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties was housed in a large auditorium of the Capitol Visitor Center and broadcasted live online.

The location of the hearing is significant for two reasons. It speaks to the focus the country is putting on seeking atonement for racial wrongs of the past, and gives the public an idea of how the commission proposed through H.R. 40 could be implemented if passed. The latter is a position raised by many human rights advocates.

“There is a clear call for what’s right,” said Dresien Heath, a researcher and advocate at the Human Rights Watch. “They are mourning the loss of opportunity. By passing H.R. 40, the commission to study and develop reparations proposals for African Americans, and by administering full revenue at the federal, state and local level for the Tulsa race massacre in it’s continuing impacts, this country can finally recognize the full humanity of Black Tulsans.”

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