HR0362 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0362 LRB102 18688 ECR 27146 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, May 31 through June 1, 2021 marks 100 years since one of the worst instances of racial violence in American history known as the Tulsa Race Massacre; and

WHEREAS, The massacre began during Memorial Day weekend after 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a Black shoeshiner, was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, a 17-year-old White elevator operator of the nearby Drexel Building; he was taken into custody, and a mob of hundreds of White men gathered around the jail where Rowland was being kept, determined to lynch him; in response, a group of 75 Black men arrived at the jail in order to protect Rowland, and violence broke out between the two groups; and

WHEREAS, As news of the confrontation spread across Tulsa, more violence erupted; on the evening of May 31 through the afternoon of June 1, 1921, a violent mob of hundreds of White people attacked Tulsa's Greenwood District; the district was, at that time, the wealthiest Black community in the United States and was referred to as "Black Wall Street"; and

WHEREAS, The mob destroyed 35 square blocks, burned businesses and an estimated 1,250 homes to the ground, and murdered as many as 300 Black Tulsans; the damage done is estimated to equal $27 million in today's dollars; and

WHEREAS, Many of the dead were buried in mass graves that were only recently discovered; approximately 10,000 Black people were left homeless, and many Black survivors left the city and never returned; and

WHEREAS, A 2001 state commission report found that the City of Tulsa had conspired with the mob of White citizens, including deputizing them and giving them weapons; and

WHEREAS, The massacre has not been included in many local, state, and national histories and was widely forgotten until recent pushes to have the massacre recognized; and

WHEREAS, Oklahoma recently passed legislation in order to establish scholarships for the descendants of survivors, encourage the economic development of Greenwood, and develop a park in memory of the victims of the massacre in Tulsa; in 2020, the massacre became a part of the Oklahoma school curriculum; and

WHEREAS, Recently, 107-year-old massacre survivor Viola Fletcher testified before members of a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee and called for justice and for the country to officially acknowledge the massacre ahead of the 100th anniversary; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize May 31, 2021 through June 1, 2021 as the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.