President Biden Speaks With Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors, Honors Victims

President Joe Biden became the first sitting president to visit Greenwood to remember the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

It’s a story that’s largely stayed in the dark for so long, but with President Biden’s visit Tuesday, the world’s biggest spotlight was on Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Biden took time to hear the story of the 1921 Race Massacre from three survivors who lived it.

"A story seen in the mirror dimly, but no longer," Biden said in his speech. "Now your story will be seen in full view."

Biden's visit to Tulsa shines a light in one of the country's darkest moments. It's the first time since the first shots were fired 100 years ago that a president has come to acknowledge Greenwood's pain.

"For much too long the history of what took place here was told in silence. Cloaked in darkness. But just because history is silent is doesn't mean it did not take place," Biden said.

With America's attention finally turned towards the Tulsa Race Massacre, the people gathered near the Greenwood Cultural Center where Biden spoke felt this was a key moment in acknowledging Black Wall Street's history.

"Black Wall Street and Greenwood's story has been silenced for so long so for him to come here is actually like making a statement," said Remi Jackson, an attendee of the event.

Biden went beyond just a statement. He announced a new plan to increase government spending on minority businesses in an effort to course-correct systemic disadvantages.

Afterwards Biden thanked survivors, a generation that's kept the massacre's story alive.

He closed with a quote - and a message to the nation.

"Once in a lifetime that long tidal wave of justice rises up," he said. "And hope and history rhyme. Let's make it rhyme."

President Biden spent about an hour meeting people in Greenwood before flying back to DC.