Title: Recognizing the forthcoming centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States can achieve a more perfect union by condemning the violence and destruction perpetrated against the African American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The resolution states that a more perfect union may be achieved through other means as well, including by promoting tolerance and unity, and it recognizes Congress's commitment to acknowledge and learn from the history of racism and racial violence in the United States in order to reverse the legacy of white supremacy and fight for racial justice.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 398 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 398

Recognizing the forthcoming centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 14, 2021

 Ms. Jackson Lee (for herself, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. 
 Lee of California, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Payne, 
  Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Pingree, Mrs. 
   Demings, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Strickland, Mr. 
   Khanna, Ms. Bass, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Danny K. Davis of 
Illinois, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Eshoo, 
Mrs. Bustos, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Adams, Mr. Mfume, Mr. Evans, Mr. David 
 Scott of Georgia, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Pressley, Ms. DeGette, Ms. 
 Wilson of Florida, Mr. Pallone, Mrs. Luria, Mr. Cooper, Ms. Moore of 
Wisconsin, Mr. Blumenauer, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Butterfield, Ms. Clarke of 
    New York, Mr. Crist, Mr. Schrader, Mr. Jones, Mr. McGovern, Ms. 
DelBene, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Horsford, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Ryan, Ms. Omar, Mr. 
Levin of Michigan, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Rush, 
Ms. Johnson of Texas, Ms. Waters, Mr. Crow, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Thompson 
 of California, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Raskin, 
 Ms. Jacobs of California, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Gallego, Ms. 
  Newman, Mr. San Nicolas, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. 
 Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. 
Brown, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Trone, Mr. McEachin, Ms. 
    Roybal-Allard, Mr. Gomez, Mrs. Fletcher, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Blunt 
   Rochester, Mr. Correa, and Mr. Jeffries) submitted the following 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Recognizing the forthcoming centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Whereas, in the early 20th century, de jure segregation confined Tulsa's Black 
        residents 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 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 upon Tulsa's 
        Greenwood District 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 White mob's violence led to the death of 
        an estimated 300 Black residents, as well as 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, as well as virtually every 
        other structure, including churches, schools, businesses, a hospital, 
        and a library, leaving nearly 9,000 Black Tulsans 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 Greenwood's 
        surviving residents, removing them from Greenwood to other parts of 
        Tulsa and unlawfully detaining them in holding centers;
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 Massacre and decades-long efforts to 
        suppress its recollection;
Whereas none of the law enforcement officials nor 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 Massacre, nor was any 
        compensation ever provided to the Massacre's victims or their 
        descendants;
Whereas 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 the year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the United States can achieve a more perfect union--
            (1) by condemning the violence and destruction perpetrated 
        against the African-American community of Greenwood, in Tulsa, 
        Oklahoma, the scene of the then-largest single instance of 
        domestic terror against American citizens;
            (2) through the rejection and active opposition to the 
        false ideology of White supremacy and condemnation of all 
        groups and organizations that ascribe to this false system of 
        belief and seek to perpetuate their views through violence and 
        unlawful conduct;
            (3) by promoting tolerance and unity and taking actions to 
        ensure that governmental policies and actions do not foster 
        division, disharmony, or intolerance;
            (4) by calling upon all Americans to celebrate the ethnic, 
        racial, and religious diversity that has made the United States 
        the leader of the community of nations and the beacon of hope 
        and inspiration to oppressed persons everywhere;
            (5) encouraging all persons in the United States to reflect 
        upon the history of the United States as an imperfect but 
        committed journey to establish a more perfect union and to 
        cherish and exercise the rights, privileges, and 
        responsibilities guaranteed by the Constitution; and
            (6) recognizes the commitment of Congress to acknowledge 
        and learn from the history of racism and racial violence in the 
        United States, including the Tulsa Race Massacre, to reverse 
        the legacy of White supremacy and fight for racial justice.
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