III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 230 

Recognizing the 102nd anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 31 (legislative day, MAY 30), 2023 

Ms. WARREN (for herself, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. KAINE, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR, Ms. SMITH, Mr. CASEY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

FETTERMAN, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. 

MENENDEZ, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. BOOKER, and Mr. WARNER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the 102nd anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race 

Massacre. 

Whereas, in the early 20th century, de jure segregation confined the Black residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, into the 

‘‘Greenwood District’’, which they built into a thriving 

community with a nationally renowned entrepreneurial 

center known as the ‘‘Black Wall Street’’; 

Whereas, at the time, White supremacy and racist violence 

were common throughout the United States and went 

largely unchecked by the justice system; 

Whereas reports of an alleged and disputed incident on the 

morning of May 30, 1921, between two teenagers, a 


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•SRES 230 IS 

Black man and a White woman, caused the White community of Tulsa, including the Tulsa Tribune, to call for 

a lynching amidst a climate of White racial hostility and 

White resentment over Black economic success; 

Whereas, on May 31, 1921, a mob of armed White men descended on the Greenwood District in Tulsa and launched 

what is now known as the ‘‘Tulsa Race Massacre’’; 

Whereas Tulsa municipal and county authorities failed to 

take actions to calm or contain the violence, and civil and 

law enforcement officials deputized many White men who 

were participants in the violence as their agents, directly 

contributing to the violence through overt and often illegal acts; 

Whereas, over a period of 24 hours, the violence of the White 

mob led to the death of an estimated 300 Black residents, and over 800 reports of injuries; 

Whereas the White mob looted, damaged, burned, or otherwise destroyed approximately 40 square blocks of the 

Greenwood District, including an estimated 1,256 homes 

of Black residents, and virtually every other structure, including churches, schools, businesses, a hospital, and a library, leaving nearly 9,000 Black residents of Tulsa 

homeless and effectively wiping out tens of millions of 

dollars in Black prosperity and wealth in Tulsa; 

Whereas, in the wake of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Governor of Oklahoma declared martial law, and units of the 

Oklahoma National Guard participated in the mass arrests of all or nearly all of the surviving residents of 

Greenwood, removing them from Greenwood to other 

parts of Tulsa and unlawfully detaining them in holding 

centers; 


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•SRES 230 IS 

Whereas Oklahoma local and State governments dismissed 

claims arising from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre for 

decades, and the event was effectively erased from collective memory and history until, in 1997, the Oklahoma 

State Legislature finally created a commission to study 

the event; 

Whereas, on February 28, 2001, the commission issued a report that detailed, for the first time, the extent of the 

Tulsa Race Massacre and decades-long efforts to suppress its recollection; 

Whereas none of the law enforcement officials or any of the 

hundreds of other White mob members who participated 

in the violence were ever prosecuted or held accountable 

for the hundreds of lives lost and tens of millions of dollars of Black wealth destroyed, despite the Tulsa Race 

Massacre Commission confirming their roles in the Tulsa 

Race Massacre, nor was any compensation ever provided 

to the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre or their descendants; 

Whereas State government and city officials not only abdicated their responsibility to rebuild and repair the Greenwood community in the wake of the violence, but actively 

blocked efforts to do so, contributing to continued racial 

disparities in Tulsa akin to those that Black people face 

across the United States; 

Whereas the pattern of violence against Black people in the 

United States, often at the hands of law enforcement, 

shows that the fight to end State-sanctioned violence 

against Black people continues; and 

Whereas this year marks the 102nd anniversary of the Tulsa 

Race Massacre: Now, therefore, be it 


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•SRES 230 IS 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes the 102nd anniversary of the 

3 Tulsa Race Massacre; 

4 (2) acknowledges the historical significance of 

5 this event as one of the largest single instances of 

6 State-sanctioned violence against Black people in the 

7 history of the United States; 

8 (3) honors the lives and legacies of the esti9 mated 300 Black individuals who were killed during 

10 the Tulsa Race Massacre and the nearly 9,000 

11 Black individuals who were left homeless and penni12 less; 

13 (4) condemns the participants of the Tulsa 

14 Race Massacre, including the White municipal offi15 cials and law enforcement who directly participated 

16 in or who aided and abetted the unlawful violence; 

17 (5) condemns past and present efforts to cover 

18 up the truth and shield the White community, and 

19 especially State and local officials, from account20 ability for the Tulsa Race Massacre and other in21 stances of violence at the hands of law enforcement; 

22 (6) condemns the continued legacy of racism, 

23 including systemic racism, and White supremacy 

24 against Black people in the United States, particu25 larly in the form of police brutality; 


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•SRES 230 IS 

1 (7) encourages education about the Tulsa Race 

2 Massacre, including the horrors of the massacre 

3 itself, the history of White supremacy that fueled the 

4 massacre, and subsequent attempts to deny or cover 

5 up the Tulsa Race Massacre, in all elementary and 

6 secondary education settings and in institutions of 

7 higher education in the United States; and 

8 (8) recognizes the commitment of Congress to 

9 acknowledge and learn from the history of racism 

10 and racial violence in the United States, including 

11 the Tulsa Race Massacre, to reverse the legacy of 

12 White supremacy and fight for racial justice. 

Æ 


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