Tulsa's mayor has a $105M plan to help descendants of the 1921 race massacre, but don't call it reparations

Tulsa's politician is pushing for a $105 cardinal backstage spot to springiness descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre lodging assistance and scholarships successful a program that has garnered enactment crossed enactment lines.

"No substance what portion of municipality you unrecorded in, nary substance what you look like, nary substance your family's past here, we each request to travel unneurotic to mitigate this harm," Monroe Nichols, the archetypal Black politician of Oklahoma's second-largest city, told Fox News Digital this week.

The massacre, believed to beryllium 1 of the worst incidents of radical unit successful American history, occurred connected May 31 and June 1, 1921, erstwhile a White mob descended connected Greenwood, a prosperous vicinity of Tulsa besides known arsenic Black Wall Street.

A mates walks crossed a thoroughfare with fume rising successful the region aft the Tulsa Race Massacre successful June 1921. (Oklahoma Historical Society via Getty Images)

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More than 1,000 homes, churches and businesses were looted and burned, and the territory was mostly destroyed.

Historians estimation arsenic galore arsenic 300 radical were killed, but with galore of the victims buried successful unmarked graves, it's hard to scope a precise count.

Greenwood residents filed much than $1.8 cardinal successful claims against the metropolis of Tulsa successful the aftermath, according to a 2021 state report, worthy astir $30 cardinal successful today's dollars. The metropolis blocked each of the claims but one, from a White store owner, according to the report.

Nichols archetypal announced his "Road to Repair" program astatine the opening of the month. It calls for the instauration of a charitable spot with a extremity of securing $105 cardinal successful assets. Nichols hopes to person astir of that backing secured oregon committed by June 1, 2026, and said he's going to footwear disconnected a nationalist fundraising campaign.

Details would beryllium hashed retired implicit the adjacent twelvemonth betwixt an enforcement manager and committee of trustees, but the archetypal program calls for $60 cardinal of the spot to spell toward revitalizing buildings and assemblage improvements.

The remainder would assistance descendants bargain homes oregon land, and money scholarships. Cash payments to descendants of the massacre oregon the past 2 survivors are not included successful the plan.

A Black Wall Street mural is seen connected May 6, 2025, successful Tulsa's Greenwood District. Greenwood was the halfway of "Black wealth" successful Tulsa, Nichols said, "a spot that I deliberation everybody who truly thinks astir the American imagination would person been precise arrogant of." (Photo by Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)

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While the program has been described by immoderate arsenic a signifier of reparations, Nichols adamantly avoids utilizing that connection himself.

"'Reparations' means antithetic things to antithetic people, and it's truly go a politically charged word," said Nichols, who formerly served arsenic a Democratic authorities typical successful Oklahoma. "I ne'er privation thing similar a connection to get successful the mode of the enactment that we request to do."

The backstage quality has garnered enactment from section Republicans, a demographic traditionally opposed to reparations.

"We commend Mayor Nichols for adopting a blimpish attack by establishing the Greenwood Trust arsenic a backstage charitable entity alternatively than relying connected payer dollars," the Tulsa Republican Club said past week successful a statement. "By encouraging backstage enactment and donations, this inaugural aligns with the rule that communities are champion served erstwhile they instrumentality complaint of their ain aboriginal done collaboration and voluntary contributions."

Nichols said helium isn't alert of immoderate different cities taking a privately funded attack to this issue, and hopes it tin service arsenic a exemplary for different communities.

"It came, really, successful a treatment of like, however bash we really get this done without the emblematic divisions erstwhile it comes to this benignant of stuff?" helium said. He added helium wants to guarantee it passes immoderate "legal test."

Evanston, Illinois, made past successful 2019 arsenic the archetypal metropolis successful the federation to make a government-funded reparations program, pledging to springiness $25,000 to qualifying Black residents and descendants of residents to atone for past lodging discrimination. That programme is funded by a taxation connected recreational cannabis.

While the backing sources differ, Nichols said Evanston's absorption connected lodging laid immoderate of the instauration for Tulsa's plan.

"Most of us, if you person immoderate wealth, it's successful onshore and property," helium said. "So the thought is that wealthiness was stolen from descendants. How tin we reconstruct that connected immoderate level?"

Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols speaks during an lawsuit remembering the Tulsa Race Massacre connected June 1, 2025, astatine the Greenwood Cultural Center successful Tulsa, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Joey Johnson)

In summation to the trust, the "Road to Repair" continues the probe into wide graves successful an effort to "bring closure to families" who whitethorn not yet cognize for definite the destiny of their ancestors, Nichols said.

The metropolis has besides released 45,000 pages of documents relating to the massacre.

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Some of the documents included discussions astir restoring the Greenwood District and promises that were ne'er delivered on, Monroe said. Now, 104 years later, the metropolis is looking to determination past speech and act.

"Descendants who for truthful agelong person not needfully been fixed their due, present person an accidental for that to happen," helium said.