RJIOK: Victory of Greenwood

The Restorative Justice Institute of Oklahoma

In June 2018, Oklahoma became the incarceration capital of the world. Oklahomans are proud, resilient, hopeful, resourceful and kind. We are not more criminal than the rest of the world. The combination of punitive, inequitable, and dehumanizing practices in our homes, schools, and justice system has lead us collectively to our present reality. The Restorative…

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Smithsonian Magazine: Decades After the Tulsa Race Massacre, Urban ‘Renewal’ Sparked Black Wall Street’s Second Destruction

I-244

What often gets erased in writing about the Tulsa Race Massacre is the 45 years of prosperity in Greenwood after the attack and the events that led to the neighborhood’s second destruction: The Federal-Aid Highway Acts of 1965 and 1968. As early as 1957, Tulsa’s Comprehensive Plan included creating a ring road (locally dubbed the…

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The Victory of Greenwood: Reverend Ben H. Hill

Reverend Ben H. Hill

Jimmie Lewis Franklin wrote in Journey Toward Hope, “No discussion of Black political life in Oklahoma could ignore the tenure of Representative Ben [H.] Hill of Tulsa. …His careful reasoning often left both Black militants and white racists uncomfortable. He advised whites to stop talking to themselves and to confront the reality of a racist…

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NextCity: Black Wall Street’s Second Destruction

Greenwood highway

The Tulsa Daily World’s June 2, 1921 morning edition headlines read: “Dead Estimated at 100: City is Quiet. $2000 to Start Fund for Relief. Negros Gladly Accept Guards. 5,000 Negro Refugees Guarded in Camp at County Fairgrounds.” Fewer than 24 hours after Ku Klux Klan leaders — along with the Tulsa Police Department and the…

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