FORUM VOICES Tulsa, Oklahoma and Reparations

The purpose of the African American Business Project is to promote African American economic empowerment and independence for present and future African American generations.

BY MELVIN LORENZO KELLY

African Americans earn approximately 1.3 trillion dollars annually and over 80% of what we earn and spend goes into the hands, pockets, and bank accounts of another race of people. It is time for a change, we need to keep our dollars circulating within our race.

Please come and go with me on a short journey and allow me to share some information with you related to the Tulsa Oklahoma Riot and Reparations.

Most recently three of the survivors from the Tulsa Oklahoma 1921 riots which destroyed what was known as “Black Wall” filed a lawsuit for the damage done and lives lost, and the case was dismissed in court by a judge.

The survivors named Lessie Benningfield Randle, Viola Fletcher, and Hughes Van Ellis are between the ages of 103 to 109 years old. This riot started not only out of jealously by whites of successful blacks, but ignited because a White woman claimed she was physically abused by a Black man. The entire area was burnt to the ground by fire and bombs were dropped from air- planes above which killed hundreds of Black people, burned down 1,250 homes, and 35 city blocks went up in flames.

During this period 56 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, in the deep South racist Caucasians were still lynching Black men, raping Black women, burning down Black churches, burning crosses, and getting away with it by law.

You tell me, when does the statute of limitation run out on murder in this country. Somehow my consciousness tells me that the police were directly involved with this disaster in Tulsa and didn’t try to stop it because they were part of the mob.

Have the police ever dropped a bomb on an African American community in this present day, the answer is yes. Twenty years ago, in Philadelphia, Pa., Osage Ave. was the site of stunning use of force by Philadelphia Police and Pennsylvania State Troopers against MOVE members killing people and destroying property.

Most recently around May 11, 2023, Missouri Democrat Rep. Corey Bush introduced a bill initiating reparations of slavery and the effects it has on African Americans today. This bill called for the United States government to reward African Americans 14 trillion dollars in reparations.

The Republicans immediately dismantled the reparation recommendation, and the Independent Party joined them, while most Democrats were in favor of reparations for African Americans.

I really don’t know which part of Africa my ancestors came from during the Atlantic Slave Trade from the year 1500-1880, whether it was the Blight of Benin, the Blight of Biafra, the Gold Coast, Senegambia, Sierra Leone, Windward Coast or West Africa. But one thing I do know is that I was born in the United States of America, I am an American Citizen, and I expect to be treated with all respect and honor due to American citizens by law and within the Constitution of the United States of America.

Somehow through false teachings it was taught that 400 years ago our ancestors were living in Africa as wild animals in the jungle, which is untrue, they were doctors, lawyers, school teachers, Architects, farmers, merchants, soldiers, musicians, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, fathers, and husbands, etc.….

Whether they were sold into slavery or captured, they built the United States freely under the whip and gun and never received a penny for their labor, it is time for America to pay-up and give us our inheritance from their labor.

Rep. Cori Bush also indicated that the United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people.

Rev. Dr. Vernon Johns (April 22, 1892 – June 11, 1965) said that “slavery is a horror.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929) said “America gave the slaves no land or nothing in reality when they were freed to get started” but at the same time America was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and Mid-West to the White peasants from Europe to start an economic base.”

John Lewis (February 21, 1940 –July 17, 2020) “If you see something wrong speak up.”

Elijah Muhammad (October 7, 1897 – February 25, 1975) said “we need to build our own schools, hospitals, factories, and give us some land where we can do for ourselves.”

Burning down Black Wall Street was evil and so is slavery, even today it is very hard living with anybody that hates me or anyone because of the color of their skin.

We must build and do the best we can for future African Americans generations economically and spiritually while teaching our children the value of the voting process. I will continue expounding on restitution, reparations, and evilness in my next newsletter.