Commission discusses reparations

Friday, February 4th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A state commission wrestled Friday with whether reparations are owed for one of the nation's deadliest racial clashes: a little-known, 1921 rampage by a white Tulsa mobt hat killed as many as 300 people, most of them black.

"The review of our findings so far are almost overwhelming," commission Chairman Bob Blackburn said. "We still have a lot of unanswered questions that we need to pursue." With about a half-dozen of the 80 known riot survivors watching,the Tulsa Race Riot Commission listened to personal accounts, newspaper accounts and a subcommittee recommendation for a memorial and direct payments to survivors.

No action was immediately taken on the recommendation or on another proposal for a resolution that the riot was a result of violent consequences of racial hatred institutionalized by local, state and federal authorities. Some in the crowd shouted and others let out a low "no, no, no" when state Rep. Abe Deutschendorf, D-Lawton, recalled a riot survivor's account that the National Guard saved his life.

Deutschendorf questioned the role the National Guard had in the riot. The 11-member panel, created by the Legislature, has until Monday to report to state lawmakers on its decision. Panelists include a survivor, historians, lawmakers and community members. The commission has held meetings for two years and has agreed that it may be impossible to ever truly reconcile what happened.

One proposal by a commission subcommittee calls for a $33 million reparation package that would include scholarships, a museum and tax breaks to encourage business development -- in addition to direct payments to the survivors. Another suggestion is to just have a memorial.

Blackburn suggested that scholars who worked on a Rosewood, Fla., case involving reparations be asked to help organize the commission's findings. The controversy on what occurred 79 years ago, including how many died and whether a Tulsa cemetery holds mass graves, has made the decision difficult.

The rioting occurred May 31, 1921, when a white lynch mob clashed with blacks who came to protect a black man accused of assaulting a white elevator operator. The woman later refused to bring charges against the man.

In a two-day spree, mobs set fire to homes, businesses and churches in the thriving black business district of Greenwood, known as the "Black Wall Street of America". When the smoke cleared, the area lay in ruins and dozens lay dead. Many blacks left and never returned. The National Guard rounded up thousands of others and held them at the fairgrounds, convention hall and a baseball stadium.

For decades, the city seemed to bury those memories with the ashes of Greenwood. It was only in 1996 that it recognized the anniversary of the riot. The next year, the Legislature created the commission when Tulsa lawmakers raised the issue of restitution.

Florida set the precedent in reparations in 1994 by paying a$150,000 maximum to survivors of the 1923 attack on blacks in Rosewood. And in Arkansas, historians and residents are holding a conference next week to discuss legal aspects and race relations following the 1919 riot at Elaine, Ark.

Legislation has been proposed to continue the race riot commission indefinitely. Archaeologists were scheduled this week to begin digging in Oaklawn Cemetery in search of a common grave that might hold as many as 12 people killed in the riot. But weather and the discovery of records that indicated graves unrelated to the riot may be located in the suspected 3-by-6-foot area persuaded officials to delay the dig.