Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-06-07
SAYS TULSA WILL REDEEM
HER NAME BEFORE WORLD
BY RICHARD LLOYD JONES,
Editor of The Tulsa Tribune
(Leascd Wire Service to The Journal.)

TULSA, Okla, June 4.-Tulsa is
the capital of. an Ell Dorado. IT.
boasts of it's wealth. But Tulsa is
better than a city Of millionaires:
it is city of generally distributed
wealth. and has the highest per
capita wealth of any city in the
world. Tulsa is young. When this
territory came into statehood four
teen years ago Tulsa was village.
Today it is ian ambitious. little me-
tropolis of 100000 people.
While this is a rich agricultural
country it is the mineral wealth that
has given this city it's remarka BILE
growth and advanced it at least fifty
years ahead of it's normal growth
money. Tulsa today is just emery
ing from her argonaut era. This
means that the average Tulsan has
been too busy with his own private
affairs to invest his conscience in
his citizenship, the result being that
law enforcement has been lax here
for years, gambling and bootlegging
and Hacking" as the westerner
calls some bandit practices, have
gone on little molested. This has
developed a lawless element.
While Tulsa is a western city in
spirit in energy and enterprise about
40 per cent Of it's population comes
1IOIl States CldSSSu DIS SOuI1lClLl anu
such part of the lawless element as
has that background, has racial
prelude we'll intrenched.
Disrespect Developed
Lack of law enforcement has like
wise permitted a bad negro element
to deve. ! i disresect for both coun-
ty and city officials and a lack of
fear OF rI.cers OF the law.
Only recently a group Of public
spirited citizens protested against
the traditional conditions and the
office of the attorney general of the
state. has been making searching in
vestigations into the lack of eff
ficiency of the city and county of
ficers.
The mayor of Tulsa, who is nice
and perfectly honest gentleman, or
dered an investigation. The city adj
ministration investigated itself and
found itself practically spotless.
/ About one-seventh of the popula--
ton of the city is negro. Most of
these live in a section in the north
| east part of the city, which is called
| "Nigger Town" In that section
there have been cesspools of iniq-
of the community, both white and
black. found harbor. There this. riot
| began
In it's inception it was the old
| story. A negro put hands upon
white girl. The girl screams. The
negro was caught and put in jail
| The word was passed among the ele-
ment that. has not been taught to re-
spect the law that here was to be
| a "necktie party" that night. That
| element of whites began to collect
| around the county court house and
| Jail. 1t was largely a curious. good
natured crowd. Then small band
- Hxy r.
the scene. The police commissioner
asked them to go home.
The police as a military body was
| conspicuous by it's absence. This
! same police commissioner has since
guilelessly confessed that he knew
that for some time past the bad
| negroes had been collecting arms
| ago he went over and talked with
some of their leaders and told them
| that they would be held responsible
| if anything happened. But appar-
emily no arrests were made.
Background of Difficulty
This is the kind of background out
of which the riot came:
The whites who gathered around
| the dourt house Tuesday night went
away to get arms when they found
| the negroes arriving with arms. The
negroes went away for more men and
more guns. And before midnight
the war of races was on in the
streets of Tulsa and was carried into
'Nigger Town." whore it ragged I'M
til we'll into the afternoon the next
day.
The lawless whites went into
"Nigger Town" to clear out certain
places where the tough element con-
gregated. This lawless element
Gr1 ,oyo%
Then it started to loot the negro
huts and houses. and fires were
started to cover the looting. BY
Wednesday night "Nigger Town"
was a vast acreage of ashes and the
state militia held the city under
martial law.
Frankly, it was a war of races.
Racial prejudicesz are as old as his
tory. They are not confined to
southern cities. Chicago and Omaha
have had their disgraceful stories
The police of Boston failed thei<
city and the laWless wild in
the game of loot. That which hap
pened in Tulsa might happen any
where where racial prejudice break
out and where the police force
through accumulative years. is eithe'
corrupt or incompetent and unable
to cope with the crime conditions.
But with that splendid spirit
which is characteristic of the agrees
siVely progressive Tulsan, Tulsa
lifts her head from its hour of shame
with a firm resolve to clean house
and to have a police force that can
police the city. Tulsa has resolved
that the crime carnival ends here
and will be buried with the ashes of
the "Nigger Town" that is gone
What is more: the public-spirited,
prideful citizens of Tulsa have met
in conference to resolve and lay
their plans to rebuild and restore
that which the .lawless here destroy
ed and to build a cleaner. a better.