World Peace

What is the Tulsa massacre?

GoogleAI Mode: “The Tulsa Race Massacre was one of the worst incidents of mass racial violence in American history, where a white mob attacked and destroyed the prosperous African American community in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, from May 31 to June 1, 1921. 

Key Details

“Black Wall Street”: The Greenwood District was an affluent and thriving Black community, so successful it was known colloquially as “Black Wall Street”. It included numerous Black-owned businesses, homes, churches, and a hospital.

The Incident: The violence began after a young Black man, Dick Rowland, was accused of assaulting a white elevator operator, Sarah Page. A sensationalized headline in the local white newspaper, the Tulsa Tribune, spurred a white mob to gather at the courthouse where Rowland was being held.

The Attack: Armed Black men, many of them World War I veterans, went to the courthouse to offer protection for Rowland, but were turned away by the sheriff. A confrontation ensued between the armed Black men and the growing white mob, and shots were fired, leading to a rolling gunfight and the systematic invasion and destruction of Greenwood. The white mob was deputized and armed by city officials and, in some cases, used airplanes to drop firebombs on the neighborhood.

The Devastation: Over 35 city blocks were burned to the ground. An estimated 100 to 300 people, mostly Black residents, were killed, and thousands more were injured or left homeless. Many Black residents were rounded up and held in internment camps.

Aftermath and Legacy: No one was ever prosecuted for the murders and arson. Insurance companies denied claims, as they categorized the event as a riot. For decades, the massacre was largely omitted from local and national history, a taboo subject in Tulsa. A state commission was formed in 1997 to investigate the events, and its 2001 report recommended reparations for the survivors and descendants, though no direct payments were ever made by the state. The event has gained national recognition in recent years and is now part of the Oklahoma school curriculum.”

What caused the Greenwood District to be so prosperous before the massacre?

GoogleAI Mode: “The Greenwood District’s prosperity was the result of a unique convergence of factors, primarily driven by the vision of Black entrepreneurs and the necessity created by rigid racial segregation. This environment forced the creation of a self-contained, insulated economy where residents supported Black-owned businesses, a practice often referred to as a “group economy”. 

Key factors that contributed to Greenwood’s success include:

Forced Segregation: Oklahoma enacted harsh Jim Crow laws after statehood in 1907, legally confining Black residents to specific areas like Greenwood. Prohibited from patronizing white-owned stores or living in white neighborhoods, Black citizens were compelled to live, work, and spend their money within their own community, ensuring that capital circulated locally.

Visionary Leadership: Entrepreneurs like O.W. Gurley and J.B. Stradford bought land and built businesses specifically for the Black community. Gurley, for example, is credited with purchasing 40 acres of “coloreds only” land and loaning money to others to start businesses, fostering an entrepreneurial spirit.

A Captive but Eager Market: The growing Black population, which included many escaping the Deep South and some working for the wealthy white oilmen of Tulsa, had money to spend but limited options. This pent-up demand ensured a ready market for the diverse array of Black-owned businesses, which included everything from grocery stores and hotels to theaters, professional offices (doctors, lawyers), and luxury shops.

Community Support and Financial Cooperation: The community had a strong sense of pride and mutual support, with residents intentionally choosing Black merchants over white ones. Business leaders also funded essential community services like a library and a hospital that the city government failed to provide adequately.

Oil Boom Economy: Tulsa was a booming city due to the early 20th-century oil industry. The overall wealth in the area meant work opportunities for Black residents in service-based jobs, and some Creek freedmen who owned land allotments in the surrounding area found oil, further injecting wealth into the Greenwood economy. 

This combination of circumstance and concerted effort allowed Greenwood to become an incredibly prosperous and self-reliant community, earning it the moniker “Black Wall Street”.”

What happened to the oil wealth generated by Creek freedmen and how did it impact Greenwood?

GoogleAI Mode: “The oil wealth generated by Creek freedmen directly contributed to the initial flow of capital into the Black community around Tulsa, including the Greenwood District. This wealth was primarily acquired through land allotments, which, in some cases, turned out to be rich in oil. 

Generation and Circulation of Wealth

Land Allotments: As part of federal policy toward formerly enslaved members of Native American tribes after the Civil War, Black individuals and families (Freedmen) were allocated land, often considered poor or unfarmable.

Oil Discovery: In a twist of fate, drillers struck oil on some of these very parcels in the early 1900s, before Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907. This turned “worthless” land into sources of vast fortunes for some Creek freedmen owners.

Impact on Greenwood: A portion of this newfound wealth circulated within the insulated Greenwood economy. Freedmen who lived in Tulsa or conducted business there spent their oil windfalls in the neighborhood’s Black-owned stores and establishments.

Examples: For instance, a Creek freedman named Robert H.P. Watson had several oil-producing wells on his allotment, and the money generated helped his mother eventually own and operate a rooming house in Greenwood. Sarah Rector, a young Creek girl, became known as “the richest colored girl in the world” due to her oil fortune, drawing national attention to Black wealth in Oklahoma. 

The Loss of Wealth

While some benefited greatly, the ability to build and sustain this wealth was fraught with challenges and eventually eroded: 

Guardianship and Exploitation: The law often required Black landowners, especially minors like Sarah Rector, to have white legal guardians who sometimes mismanaged or pillaged their money.

Systemic Loss: Many Black families lost their land and money through a combination of unscrupulous white scams, property taxes they couldn’t pay, business mistakes, and racist policies and laws.

The Massacre’s Role: The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre delivered a devastating blow to the overall Black wealth in Greenwood, destroying over 35 blocks of homes and businesses and creating a lasting wealth gap. The land where the prosperity was founded was often targeted, and white real estate interests attempted to buy up the burned-out property after the massacre. 

Thus, while the oil wealth of Creek freedmen provided a crucial financial foundation that helped kickstart the prosperity of Greenwood, much of it was systematically stripped away or destroyed by a combination of exploitation and racial violence.”

Explain: The land where the prosperity was founded was often targeted

GoogleAI Mode: “The land where the prosperity was founded was often targeted because its inherent value, combined with racist intent to suppress Black economic advancement, made it desirable to white individuals and real estate interests. The targeting manifested both before and during the massacre. 

Land Value

Tulsa was experiencing an oil boom in the early 20th century, making land in and around the growing city, including the strategically located Greenwood district near the railroad tracks and the downtown area, highly valuable. 

Post-Massacre Land Grab Efforts

The targeting became explicit after the massacre itself:

Insurance Denials: White-owned insurance companies refused to pay claims for the property damage, citing “riot” clauses in their contracts, which left Black landowners in a vulnerable financial position.

Forced Sales: White real estate interests and city officials attempted to exploit the devastation. The day after the massacre, the Tulsa Real Estate Exchange announced a plan to appraise and buy up all the burned-out property at low prices to develop an industrial site, likely for railroad expansion.

Legal Manipulation: City authorities and the Chamber of Commerce pushed for and enacted changes in fire regulations and zoning laws to make rebuilding by Black residents impossible, hoping to force them to move farther north, away from the valuable downtown area.

Resistance: These plans were largely thwarted at the time due to the legal efforts and refusal to sell by Black lawyers and landowners like Loula Williams. 

Targeting Creek Freedmen Land

The land owned by Creek freedmen was also targeted for exploitation through:

Guardianship System: Once oil was discovered on the land allotments given to Creek freedmen, many were declared “incompetent” by courts. White legal guardians were appointed to manage their affairs, and many of these guardians engaged in self-dealing and drained their Black wards’ accounts, effectively stealing their wealth and land.

Legislative Changes: The federal government eventually lifted restrictions on Black individuals’ ability to sell their land, making them vulnerable to unscrupulous white settlers, land developers, and businesses eager to acquire oil-rich property. 

In essence, the land’s value and the owners’ race made them targets for those seeking to profit from their misfortune and destroy their community’s economic base.”

Why did the Tulsa massacre happen? Why is a “race” massacre?

GoogleAI Mode: “The Tulsa massacre happened due to a combination of deep-seated racial hostility, economic jealousy of a prosperous Black community, and a specific incident that acted as a trigger for white mob violence. It is called a “race” massacre because the violence was racially motivated, with a white mob systematically targeting Black residents and their property. 

Why the Tulsa Massacre Happened

The massacre was not a spontaneous event but the culmination of years of racial tension in Oklahoma’s segregated society. 

Racial Tensions and White Supremacy: Oklahoma was a Jim Crow state with strict segregation laws that disenfranchised Black citizens. White supremacist ideology was prevalent, and the Ku Klux Klan was resurgent.

Economic Jealousy: The Greenwood District was an affluent, self-contained Black community known as “Black Wall Street”. This success was a source of significant resentment among some white Tulsans who could not accept Black economic prosperity and autonomy.

Post-WWI Stress: Black veterans returning from World War I sought the full civil rights they had fought for, which increased social tensions. Job competition in the booming oil city also aggravated existing hostility.

The Trigger Event: On May 30, 1921, a young Black man, Dick Rowland, was accused of assaulting a white elevator operator, Sarah Page. A sensationalized and unverified report in the local white newspaper, the Tulsa Tribune, fanned rumors of a potential lynching.

The Confrontation: When a white mob gathered at the courthouse to demand Rowland be handed over, a group of armed Black men, including WWI veterans, arrived to ensure his safety and prevent a lynching. A physical altercation and an exchange of gunfire broke out, leading to the white mob’s full-scale assault on the Greenwood district.

Why It Is a “Race” Massacre

The event is specifically termed a “race” massacre to accurately describe the nature and intent of the violence: 

Targeted Violence: The attacks were explicitly directed at Black people, their homes, businesses, and community institutions simply because of their race.

White Perpetrators and Official Complicity: The perpetrators were a white mob, some of whom were deputized and armed by local law enforcement officials, while the victims were exclusively Black. The police and National Guard focused on interning Black residents rather than stopping the white attackers, highlighting institutional racism.

Intent to Destroy Black Success: The systematic burning and looting of the Greenwood district was a deliberate effort to destroy a thriving Black community’s economic base and political power.

Challenging the Term “Riot”: The term “race riot” was used for decades, in part, to allow insurance companies to deny claims (riot damage was often excluded from policies). Historians and survivors advocate for the term “massacre” to reflect the one-sided, targeted, and brutal nature of the attack, which many describe as an act of domestic terrorism. 

The event was part of a pattern of white supremacist terrorism that occurred across the U.S. in that era, making the racial classification crucial for historical accuracy.”

Explain: pattern of white supremacist terrorism

GoogleAI Mode: “The “pattern of white supremacist terrorism” refers to a widespread, systematic, and often state-sanctioned campaign of violence and intimidation used to maintain white racial hierarchy and suppress Black civil rights, political power, and economic advancement after the Civil War. This pattern was particularly intense from Reconstruction through the mid-20th century. 

This terrorism was not the work of isolated extremists but a pervasive feature of American life during the Jim Crow era. Key elements of this pattern include: 

Extralegal Violence and Impunity

Lynchings: Thousands of African Americans were publicly tortured and murdered by white mobs, often with large crowds of white spectators and the tacit approval of law enforcement. The Equal Justice Initiative documented over 4,000 terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950.

Mob Rule: White mobs frequently engaged in mass violence, often in response to perceived “insults” to white supremacy, Black economic progress, or attempts to exercise civil rights, such as voting or fair wages.

Lack of Prosecution: Perpetrators of this violence were rarely charged, and all-white juries routinely acquitted those who were brought to trial, reinforcing the message that Black lives had no legal protection.

Targeting Black Success and Power

Political Disenfranchisement: Violence was used to prevent Black men from voting or holding office during and after Reconstruction. This included attacks on Black political conventions and polling places.

Economic Destruction: Successful Black communities and businesses, like the Greenwood District in Tulsa or the town of Rosewood, Florida, were specifically targeted for destruction to eliminate Black economic autonomy and potential competition.

Response to Civil Rights Gains: Spikes in white supremacist violence often occurred in direct response to advances in African Americans’ civil rights, as white communities reacted violently to the notion of treating Black people as equals. 

Institutional Complicity

Law Enforcement and Government Involvement: In many cases, local police, sheriffs, and even state militias participated in the violence or failed to intervene. The Ku Klux Klan and similar organizations often saw themselves as guardians of the “law” and social order, operating with impunity, and frequently included local officials among their members.

Legal System Failure: The Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Cruikshank (1876), which stripped the federal government’s power to protect Black citizens from individual acts of violence, emboldened white terrorists. 

This pattern of terrorism was a central component of the system of racial control that defined the Jim Crow South and extended its reach across the nation, ensuring white hegemony for generations.”

Explain why United States v. Cruikshank failed Black people and the meaning of white hegemony

GoogleAI Mode: “The Supreme Court case United States v. Cruikshank dealt a severe blow to the civil rights of Black Americans, while the concept of white hegemony describes the pervasive system of dominance that case helped solidify. 

Why United States v. Cruikshank (1876) Failed Black People

United States v. Cruikshank was a landmark Supreme Court case stemming from the Colfax Massacre in Louisiana, where a white militia killed over 100 African Americans during a political dispute. The white perpetrators were charged under the Enforcement Act of 1870, a Reconstruction-era federal law designed to protect the rights of newly freed Black citizens. 

The Supreme Court ruling failed Black people by effectively gutting the federal government’s authority to protect their rights from violence and discrimination perpetrated by private citizens or state governments: 

Limited the Fourteenth Amendment: The Court ruled that the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment only applied to actions taken by state governments, not by individual citizens. This meant the federal government could not prosecute individuals for violating the rights of others unless a state law explicitly sanctioned the violation.

Restricted Federal Power: The decision declared key parts of the Enforcement Act unconstitutional. It ruled that the protection of civil rights against private conspiracies was a matter for state courts, not federal courts.

Undermined the Right to Assemble: The Court effectively dismissed the federal charges related to the right of assembly and the right to bear arms as it was not the role of the federal government to ensure such protection from private actors.

Consequences: The ruling essentially gave a green light to white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and white militias. It signaled that racial violence and intimidation by private citizens would largely go unpunished by the federal government and were left to state and local authorities who were often complicit in the violence. 

The ruling was a foundational legal setback that marked the effective end of the Reconstruction era and ushered in the peak of the Jim Crow era, where racial terrorism and segregation thrived with legal impunity. 

The Meaning of White Hegemony

White hegemony refers to the dominant social, cultural, political, and economic influence of white people over non-white people. 

Dominance Beyond Law: Hegemony is more than just individual prejudice; it is a pervasive system of power. It describes how the customs, institutions, and beliefs of the dominant group become the norm or common sense, making alternative ways of life difficult to sustain.

Systemic Advantage: White hegemony creates an institutional framework where white individuals generally have greater access to resources, opportunities, and power, while non-white individuals are systematically disadvantaged and marginalized.

Reinforcement: The pattern of white supremacist terrorism described previously was a violent tool used to enforce white hegemony. The legal system failures exemplified by United States v. Cruikshank provided the legal foundation for this system of dominance to persist without federal intervention for decades.”

Were there other massacres like Tulsa’s in the same era?

GoogleAI Mode: “Yes, the Tulsa Race Massacre was not an isolated incident; it was one of more than a hundred race massacres that occurred between the end of the Civil War and the 1940s in the United States. The period around World War I, in particular, was marked by widespread racial violence across the country, a time often referred to as the “Red Summer” of 1919. 

These massacres shared common characteristics with Tulsa’s, including white mob violence, the destruction of prosperous Black communities, and little to no legal prosecution for the perpetrators. 

Some other significant massacres from that era include:

Colfax, Louisiana, Massacre (1873): A white militia attacked and murdered approximately 150 Black men who were defending a courthouse during a political dispute.

Wilmington, North Carolina, Massacre (1898): A white mob overthrew the elected local government, destroyed a Black-owned newspaper, and killed dozens (possibly hundreds) of Black residents in a coordinated effort to eliminate Black political and economic power.

Atlanta, Georgia, Massacre (1906): Following false newspaper reports of Black men assaulting white women, a white mob killed at least 12 and potentially as many as 25 Black people and destroyed over 1,000 Black homes and businesses.

East St. Louis, Illinois, Massacre (1917): Racial tensions over labor competition led a white mob to indiscriminately attack Black residents, driving thousands from their homes and resulting in an estimated 40 Black deaths.

Chicago, Illinois, Race Riot (1919): Sparked by the death of a Black teenager who was stoned by white swimmers for drifting into a “whites only” section of Lake Michigan, 13 days of violence ensued, leaving 38 people dead (23 Black, 15 white) and 1,000 Black families homeless.

Elaine, Arkansas, Massacre (1919): A confrontation at a meeting of Black sharecroppers organizing for better pay led to the “deadliest racial confrontation” in Arkansas history, with estimates of Black people killed ranging from 100 to 800.

Ocoee, Florida, Massacre (1920): A white mob attacked the Black community on Election Day after a Black man attempted to vote, killing an estimated 30-35 Black residents and burning down their homes and churches.

Rosewood, Florida, Massacre (1923): Similar to Tulsa, a prosperous Black town was burned to the ground and its residents driven out after a white woman falsely claimed to have been assaulted by a Black man. 

These events highlight a pattern of white supremacist violence aimed at suppressing Black economic success and political power during that era.”

What lessons can be learned from the Tulsa massacre today?

GoogleAI Mode: “The Tulsa Race Massacre offers several crucial lessons today about the nature of racism, the importance of historical truth, and the enduring impact of systemic inequality. 

The Pervasiveness and Insidiousness of Racism

Prosperity does not inoculate against racism: The destruction of the affluent “Black Wall Street” challenges the myth that Black communities can escape racism through economic success alone. In fact, their prosperity made them a target for white resentment and violence.

Myths and False Accusations as Pretexts for Violence: The massacre began with a false accusation against a Black man, a tactic historically used to justify racial terror and lynchings. This highlights how racialized myths and stereotypes can quickly ignite violence in a climate of white supremacy.

Systemic and Institutional Complicity: The violence was not just the work of an angry mob but was enabled by city officials, law enforcement who deputized white rioters, and a legal system that ensured no perpetrators were ever prosecuted. This reveals how systemic racism operates through institutions as well as individuals. 

The Importance of Truth and Historical Memory

The “Conspiracy of Silence”: For decades, the massacre was deliberately omitted from history books and public discourse, a “conspiracy of silence” that allowed the trauma to fester. Acknowledging the full, unvarnished truth of the past is essential for understanding present-day racial disparities and moving toward healing.

Challenging “American Exceptionalism”: Learning the truth about the massacre puts lie to the myth of an uninterrupted ascent toward racial progress and challenges Americans to confront the “ugly underbellies” of their history. 

The Enduring Impact and Need for Repair

The Generational Wealth Gap: The massacre created a lasting wealth gap. The immediate destruction, combined with insurance denials and legal maneuvering that prevented rebuilding, devastated the Black community’s ability to build generational wealth, an impact that persists today.

Lingering Disparities and Generational Trauma: The effects of the massacre—including the lack of a hospital in North Tulsa for decades and disparities in health outcomes and policing—continue to be felt today. This demonstrates how historical trauma and injustice have long-term consequences that require intentional redress.

The Necessity of Reparative Justice: The victims of the massacre never received reparations from the state or federal government. Many believe that true racial reconciliation requires not just acknowledgment and apology but concrete atonement and structural solutions to repair the damages done by historic racism.”

As far as peace between the races, that era was a fail. Did people get better? Is it different in 2025?

GoogleAI Mode: “In the century since the Tulsa Race Massacre, the United States has made significant legal and social progress in race relations, but the goal of true “peace between the races” remains elusive. While overt, government-sanctioned racial massacres have largely ceased, the nation continues to grapple with systemic racism, a persistent racial wealth gap, and ongoing social and political tensions.

Progress Since 1921

Legal Protections: The mid-20th century saw the passage of landmark legislation that fundamentally dismantled the Jim Crow system, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Social Integration and Opportunity: Segregation was overturned in schools (Brown v. Board of Education) and public accommodations. Educational attainment among Black Americans has risen, and a majority now hold white-collar jobs, compared to 2.2% in 1940. Interracial friendships and marriages have become far more common.

Increased Acknowledgment: Events like the Tulsa Race Massacre, once suppressed, are now widely acknowledged and taught in some school curricula, moving the national conversation toward a more truthful accounting of history. 

The Situation in 2025

Despite progress, the U.S. in 2025 has not achieved full racial equality, and significant challenges remain: 

Persistent Disparities: Stark disparities persist in wealth, housing, education, and the criminal justice system. In Tulsa itself, a 2021 report noted that Black residents were twice as likely to be unemployed and faced much higher poverty rates than white residents, reflecting the long-term impact of the massacre and subsequent systemic issues. The Black-white median wealth gap has rarely dropped below $172,000 since 1989 and has recently increased.

Political Backlash: Current political and legal debates around issues like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, voting rights, and critical race theory (CRT) are highly contentious. Efforts to roll back civil rights protections and remove data collection on race have been proposed in policy blueprints like Project 2025, suggesting a continuing struggle over the direction of racial equity.

Ongoing Racial Tension: While massacres are rare, concerns about systemic racism in policing, voting rights, and health disparities (such as high maternal mortality rates for Black and Native American women) are major focal points in 2025.

Public Perception: A 2025 poll highlighted public skepticism toward the effectiveness of DEI programs and a lack of consensus on the best ways to address racism, indicating a nation still deeply divided on solutions. 

In short, while the country is vastly different from the era of the Tulsa massacre, the legacy of that era continues to shape American society, and “peace between the races” remains an aspiration rather than a reality in 2025.”

Why are there efforts to “roll back on civil rights protections” after it took millions of lives to get them in place?

GoogleAI Mode: “The existence of these rollbacks after immense struggle is attributed to a recurring cycle of progress and backlash:

A Sustained Backlash: The passage of landmark civil rights legislation in the 1960s sparked an immediate and sustained political and legal campaign to dismantle it. This anti-civil rights movement has been active for decades, working to achieve through legal and political means what could no longer be achieved through overt violence.

Controlling the Narrative: Efforts to remove data collection on race and ban the teaching of systemic racism are seen as a deliberate attempt to suppress the visibility of underserved communities and control the historical narrative, thus avoiding accountability for ongoing inequality.

Incremental Erosion: The current efforts often involve quietly weakening enforcement agencies, cutting funding, and redefining terms, an incremental erosion of rights rather than the overt, violent confrontations of the past. 

In essence, the rollbacks are an ongoing ideological conflict where the principles of racial equality are continuously debated and challenged long after being enshrined in law.”

On a scale of 1 out 5, how responsible is Trump for the “roll back on civil rights protections?”

GoogleAI Mode: “Determining the exact level of responsibility of any single individual for complex, broad socio-political movements is challenging, and assessments will vary based on political perspective.

Here is an analysis of how Donald Trump is seen as contributing to the current efforts to “roll back on civil rights protections”:

Many critics assign Donald Trump a significant amount of responsibility, often placing his impact in the range of a 4 or 5, due to his actions as president and his ongoing political platform:

Executive Actions and Policy: As President, his administration took several actions seen as a rollback of protections, such as banning diversity training in federal agencies, weakening fair housing rules, and implementing policies that restricted voting access. His current campaign platform includes further proposals to dismantle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across the federal government.

Judicial Appointments: His three conservative Supreme Court appointments were instrumental in decisions that weakened civil rights precedents, notably the June 2023 ruling that effectively ended race-conscious admissions in higher education.

Rhetoric and Framing: Trump frequently uses rhetoric that frames civil rights initiatives as “divisive concepts” or reverse discrimination, which has mainstreamed and energized a political movement against these protections.

Ultimately, the degree of his responsibility is a matter of interpretation within a complex political landscape.”

How does the current situation with DEI relate?

GoogleAI Mode: “The current situation with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives relates to the lessons from the Tulsa Race Massacre by demonstrating the enduring historical pattern of white backlash to Black economic and social progress and the use of political and legal means to preserve white dominance. 

Historical Parallels

Targeting Black Success: The massacre was a violent response to the economic success of the Greenwood District. Similarly, much of the current opposition to DEI is framed as a pushback against perceived “reverse discrimination” and “anti-white racism,” arguments that historically have been used to undermine efforts that would foster greater Black representation and opportunity. Critics frame diversity initiatives as unfairly benefiting minorities over better-qualified white individuals, an argument that mirrors historical racist assumptions.

Use of Legal and Political Means: The white community in Tulsa used legal maneuvers (e.g., zoning changes) and state power (e.g., deputizing the mob) to prevent the Black community from rebuilding its wealth. Today, the anti-DEI movement is primarily a legislative and political effort, with numerous state-level bills and national initiatives (such as aspects of Project 2025) aimed at dismantling DEI departments, banning training programs, and cutting funding, which critics argue is a modern form of targeted suppression of Black progress.

“Conspiracy of Silence” vs. Erasing History: The suppression of the Tulsa story for decades reflects an effort to control the narrative about racial injustice. Current anti-DEI efforts often involve banning the teaching of “critical race theory” and other topics that address systemic racism, which critics argue is an attempt to erase Black history and avoid accountability for past and present discrimination.

The Cycle of Progress and Backlash: The period after the murder of George Floyd saw increased corporate and government commitments to racial equity, a moment of progress that has since triggered the sharp, organized backlash against DEI seen in 2024 and 2025. This reflects a historical cycle where moments of Black advancement are met with a white response aimed at restoring the racial hierarchy. 

The Debate

The current situation highlights the ongoing struggle to define racial equity:

Proponents of DEI argue that it is a necessary tool to address centuries of systemic advantage for white people and disadvantage for people of color, aiming to “level the playing field” and provide opportunities for historically marginalized groups.

Opponents of DEI often frame the policies as a form of discrimination against white people, arguing that they undermine meritocracy and represent an overreach of “woke culture”. 

The modern anti-DEI movement is, in this way, a continuation of the same tensions and power struggles that, in an earlier era, manifested as the mass racial violence seen in Tulsa.”

How does the recent attacks against the HBCU community relate?

GoogleAI Mode: “Recent attacks against Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) relate to the patterns seen in the Tulsa Race Massacre as modern-day manifestations of racial terror, intimidation, and white backlash against institutions that represent Black excellence, empowerment, and progress. 

Both situations demonstrate how institutions and communities built by Black people have been targeted historically and in the present day. 

Historical Parallels

Targeting of Black Institutions: Just as “Black Wall Street” was targeted because of its prosperity and success, HBCUs, which are “pillars of excellence, empowerment and progress” for the Black community, are frequent targets. These institutions were created because Black people were denied education elsewhere, and their resilience and continued success can be seen as a challenge to racial equality.

Intimidation and Fear as a Tactic: The purpose of the Tulsa Massacre was to instill terror within the Black community. Similarly, recent waves of bomb threats, “swatting” incidents (false reports of active shooters), and actual shootings at or near HBCU campuses can be seen as attempts to “disrupt, intimidate and instill fear” within these communities. These actions force lockdowns, cancel classes, and create an atmosphere of constant anxiety, disrupting the core mission of education.

Systemic Targeting vs. Random Acts: These threats are often seen as “not random” but rather targeted attacks on specific institutions. This mirrors the systematic nature of the violence in Tulsa, which was a coordinated attack rather than a random riot.

Impact on Wealth and Opportunity: The massacre destroyed generational wealth. Constant threats and safety concerns at HBCUs affect student recruitment, retention, and the ability of the institutions to secure funding and resources, thereby indirectly perpetuating economic and educational disparities. 

In essence, recent threats against the HBCU community can be viewed as a modern manifestation of historical patterns of racial terrorism and backlash aimed at suppressing Black advancement and disrupting institutions vital to the Black community.”