A city commission tasked with exploring reparations for people affected by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre recommends giving millions in housing benefits.
Beyond Apology Commission members on Monday announced their suggestion of $24.9 million for race massacre survivors, descendants of victims, and north Tulsans who live in relevant areas. The money would be for home and land ownership, home improvements and area development.
Mayor Monroe Nichols said he looks forward to reviewing the commission’s recommendations.
“In the coming weeks, (I will) share a framework that will serve as proof that Tulsa is united in healing the wounds left by the massacre nearly 104 years ago,” Nichols said.
Housing polled behind education, financial compensation and economic development in a 2023 Beyond Apology report. It was selected as the current priority because the city has set aside sales tax revenue for housing initiatives.
Commissioner Greg Robinson said the housing recommendations are simply a first step.
“In terms of ‘what do we hope for,’ we hope to really create a pattern of being able to go through each of these priorities, understand what the harm is, and then create repairs that would be proportionate to that,” he said.
The Tulsa Race Massacre has been described by historians as “the single worst incident of racial violence in American history.” As many as 300 were killed in the attack on Greenwood driven by a white mob incensed by claims of sexual assault between a Black man and a white woman.
