Posted on 10/31/2005 11:13:07 AM PST by JustaCowgirl
Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree and other supporters of reparations for Tulsa's 1921 Race Riot promised Sunday to continue their quest despite continued setbacks. "It's Greenwood time, it's Tulsa time . . . it's time to be paid for Tulsa's 1921 Race Riot, time to bring Greenwood back," Ogletree said during a three-hour event at Sanctuary Evangelistic Church, 1228 E. Fifth St. The program, which featured Ogletree; U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; and Chicago Alderman Dorothy Tillman, was billed as a congressional hearing but sounded more like a revival meeting. About 10 of the 97 remaining black survivors of the riot spoke for a total of about 20 minutes, with the rest of the time taken up by speeches infused with Scripture and references to God's justice, gospel singing and a short documentary film. The speakers wove the riot into a variety of issues from economic development to the war in Iraq. Waters compared it to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Tillman to slavery. "When I'm referred to as an angry black woman, I take that with pride," said Waters. "Why should you walk around . . . grinning when people are stepping on you?" In early 2003, Ogletree put together a team of lawyers that filed suit in federal court seeking reparations for about 400 people -- including about 100 survivors -- claiming damages from the May 31-June 1, 1921 riot. U.S. District Judge James Ellison dismissed the suit, saying he could not agree with the plaintiffs' argument that the two-year statute of limitations should not apply. Ellison was upheld at the appellate level, and in June the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. On Wednesday, Ogletree and a small contingent of Tulsans presented a petition to the Organization of American States asking it to look into the matter. Sunday, Ogletree said, "When the nation sits idly by, it's time to go to a higher court." "We are on the side of righteousness," Ogletree said. Damario Solomon Simmons, a Tulsa attorney, linked the riot to continued economic and social trauma, saying, "We don't want to talk just about what happened then. We want to talk about Greenwood and Black Wall Street." In 1921, North Greenwood Avenue was the focal point of a thriving black community that Booker T. Washington is said to have called "The Negro Wall Street." This district was largely destroyed by the riot. It was eventually rebuilt, reaching its apex shortly after World War II, but many believe black Tulsans never recovered financially or psychologically. "This is the impact we've lived with for over 80 years," said Simmons. Tillman, best known for an ordinance requiring companies doing business with the city of Chicago to prove they were never involved in the slave trade, said the 1921 event should not be thought of as a riot. "A better description would be the Tulsa massacre." Tillman criticized the billions spent on the Iraq war, saying, "If we can rebuild Iraq, we can rebuild Tulsa." Waters, who is known for her blunt and forceful stands, said those involved in the Tulsa riot reparations movement are "helping force Americans to face up to what they've tried to sweep under the rug." "I'm reminded by the survivors why I must stay on the cutting edge, why I must remain an angry black woman," Waters continued. She lashed out at the current national administration and at politicians, she said, who would honor civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who died last week, but have dismantled civil rights legislation. Waters earned her most enthusiastic response when, after saying she didn't care what President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney think of her, added, "And I sure don't care what Condoleezza Rice thinks." Some of Sunday's comments suggested riot survivors' inability to find satisfaction in the courts re-enforces the belief among many blacks that the justice system is stacked against them. Waters recalled meeting several survivors on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court one chilly day last spring, and said, "The Supreme Court didn't want to hear us. Does that stop us? No. We can't trust the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is who decided George W. Bush should be president." Gesturing first to the elderly survivors, then to the audience, Waters said, "They came to Washington . . . what are you doing sitting down there? I think we all need to be a little more inspired."
"When I'm referred to as an angry black woman, I take that with pride," said Waters. "Why should you walk around . . . grinning when people are stepping on you?"
She lashed out at the current national administration and at politicians, she said, who would honor civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who died last week, but have dismantled civil rights legislation.
Waters earned her most enthusiastic response when, after saying she didn't care what President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney think of her, added, "And I sure don't care what Condoleezza Rice thinks."
Maxine whipping up 'her people' against the evil oppressors. I'm not sure what civil rights legislation the current administration has dismantled, but when has Maxine X ever required actual facts to support her claims.
And we don't care what she thinks.
I'll support this motion the moment I get my wallet back from the one-man race riot who put a 9mm in my face a few years back.
paragraphs are our friends
Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree and other supporters of reparations for Tulsa's 1921 Race Riot promised Sunday to continue their quest despite continued setbacks.
"It's Greenwood time, it's Tulsa time . . . it's time to be paid for Tulsa's 1921 Race Riot, time to bring Greenwood back," Ogletree said during a three-hour event at Sanctuary Evangelistic Church, 1228 E. Fifth St.
The program, which featured Ogletree; U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; and Chicago Alderman Dorothy Tillman, was billed as a congressional hearing but sounded more like a revival meeting. About 10 of the 97 remaining black survivors of the riot spoke for a total of about 20 minutes, with the rest of the time taken up by speeches infused with Scripture and references to God's justice, gospel singing and a short documentary film.
The speakers wove the riot into a variety of issues from economic development to the war in Iraq. Waters compared it to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Tillman to slavery.
"When I'm referred to as an angry black woman, I take that with pride," said Waters. "Why should you walk around . . . grinning when people are stepping on you?"
In early 2003, Ogletree put together a team of lawyers that filed suit in federal court seeking reparations for about 400 people -- including about 100 survivors -- claiming damages from the May 31-June 1, 1921 riot. U.S. District Judge James Ellison dismissed the suit, saying he could not agree with the plaintiffs' argument that the two-year statute of limitations should not apply. Ellison was upheld at the appellate level, and in June the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
On Wednesday, Ogletree and a small contingent of Tulsans presented a petition to the Organization of American States asking it to look into the matter. Sunday, Ogletree said, "When the nation sits idly by, it's time to go to a higher court."
"We are on the side of righteousness," Ogletree said.
Damario Solomon Simmons, a Tulsa attorney, linked the riot to continued economic and social trauma, saying, "We don't want to talk just about what happened then. We want to talk about Greenwood and Black Wall Street."
In 1921, North Greenwood Avenue was the focal point of a thriving black community that Booker T. Washington is said to have called "The Negro Wall Street." This district was largely destroyed by the riot. It was eventually rebuilt, reaching its apex shortly after World War II, but many believe black Tulsans never recovered financially or psychologically.
"This is the impact we've lived with for over 80 years," said Simmons.
Tillman, best known for an ordinance requiring companies doing business with the city of Chicago to prove they were never involved in the slave trade, said the 1921 event should not be thought of as a riot. "A better description would be the Tulsa massacre."
Tillman criticized the billions spent on the Iraq war, saying, "If we can rebuild Iraq, we can rebuild Tulsa."
Waters, who is known for her blunt and forceful stands, said those involved in the Tulsa riot reparations movement are "helping force Americans to face up to what they've tried to sweep under the rug."
"I'm reminded by the survivors why I must stay on the cutting edge, why I must remain an angry black woman," Waters continued.
She lashed out at the current national administration and at politicians, she said, who would honor civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who died last week, but have dismantled civil rights legislation.
Waters earned her most enthusiastic response when, after saying she didn't care what President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney think of her, added, "And I sure don't care what Condoleezza Rice thinks."
Some of Sunday's comments suggested riot survivors' inability to find satisfaction in the courts re-enforces the belief among many blacks that the justice system is stacked against them. Waters recalled meeting several survivors on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court one chilly day last spring, and said, "The Supreme Court didn't want to hear us. Does that stop us? No. We can't trust the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is who decided George W. Bush should be president."
Gesturing first to the elderly survivors, then to the audience, Waters said, "They came to Washington . . . what are you doing sitting down there? I think we all need to be a little more inspired."
Not sure why it lost the paragraphs on the paste, but here is the paragraphed-version.
Setting aside the whole notion of group guilt for a moment, haven't these people ever heard of a Statute of Limitations?
If you want to talk about Maxine Waters and race riots, how about mentioning the way Mad Maxine praised the L.A. rioters after the Rodney King verdict in 1992?
Maybe people should start demanding reparations from her for inciting violence.
I kinda hope this happens. I'll reap a windfall. See, there were Africans (Islamists, at that!) who held my ancestors in bondage in Spain for 700 years. Now, when I do the math, I ought to be able to clean up! My family wasn't here yet during the US period of slavery ;-)
"So who do the rest of us sue for compensation when blacks riot, which seems to be any time something happens they don't like, or the power goes out? Can the owners of looted businesses sue the black establishment?" he asked innocently...
There is no question the Tulsa Race Riots were a very bad event, and there was genuine damage done to the black community in Tulsa and genuine horror perpetrated against blacks by it. I could see more justification for the idea of reparations for this group of survivors (but only survivors, of whom there are only a few remaining) than a lot of other groups who are looking for a handout. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, only making a comparison to other situations.
None of that applies to Maxine Waters, who is a user of her own people and a blatant opportunist. The more anger and resentment she can create, the more power she gets. I'd say it's pretty much guaranteed that she could personally care less about black people in Tulsa.
I haven't heard Maxine address that question, have you? Maybe someone needs to ask her.
How many victims and how many perpetrators are still alive, 84 years later? And, if the Statute of Limitations doesn't matter anymore, then I, as an American of Welsh/Irish descent, want reparations from the Brits.
You choose to riot, you may get shot. I wonder who told these folks that Free Speech meant you could do what you want, including rioting.
Perpetrators, who knows. I think the vast majority of both perpetrators and victims have passed on to their ultimate judgment by now.
None of that means that reparations paid to individuals are in order, but that is another issue.
Sorry, I guess I was preoccupied by the thunderstorm. I haven't heard thunder in a while.
In my reply, I didn't mean you were excusing it lightly, just giving some perspective.
Great to hear rain this morning, wasn't it? Are you in OK? It has definitely been a while.
You are absolutely correct, and thank you for your moral stance.
But people that live in glass houses should not be throwing stones. Maxine Waters must be as much furious about L.A. riots, for instance, if she is moral and not merely a racialist. That she condones crimes perpetrated by blacks deprives her voice of any morality whatever.
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