The Tulsa Race Riot Traded Progress For Terror

In our quest for racial peace, society sometimes conveniently forgets the stunning events of the past which have contributed to the ongoing American narrative. Remembering such phyletic stories is not only key to our survival as a species, but it also illustrates the need for tolerance and healing on the heels of an incredibly dark time in American history. In the case of the Tulsa Race Riots, that time was less than 100 years ago when hundreds of whites led a racially motivated attack on the black community of Greenwood, killing many in the process.

This was not just any southern lynching; this attack was carried out on the ground and by air, destroying the district’s wealthiest black community. Riding on the racial unrest of a country scarred by slavery, what started as a rumor soon exploded into a war as the diverse factions of a 20th-century town embraced fear…