I grew up in the South hearing statements like, “I never owned any slaves. Don’t blame me for what happened over a hundred years ago! I worked for what I have. Let them (and always “them” was uttered with a dismissive and contemptible tone) work as hard as I have. I’m not responsible for their welfare. They just want something for nothing, and I’m not going to allow my hard-earned tax dollars to support their lazy butts. Let them get a job and work for a living and quit complaining.” I heard such ignorant vitriol all through my childhood and adolescent years. In fact, I heard it just the other day right here in Indiana.
But here are some of the realities of that culture controlled by fine, upstanding white Christians during those early years of my life. Blacks were not allowed to vote. They were not allowed to be in white establishments (grocery stores, pharmacies, department stores, restaurants, motels, etc.). They could live only in certain parts of town. They were forced to wait until all white patients were seen by doctors before they could have medical care. They had to wait in separate “colored” waiting rooms and were expected to pay for any service provided by the doctor. (Very few Blacks had access to health insurance in a time when most health insurance was provided through employers.) They always had to move off the sidewalk if any white person approached them. Black men had to tip their hats to whites, and they did not dare look into a white person’s eyes. They were not allowed to drink from “White Only” water fountains (often the only ones available) or to use “White Only” restrooms (which were often the only restrooms that could be found). I once asked my parents where Blacks could go to the toilet if the only ones available were restricted to whites. I got no answer.
Black children were not allowed to attend schools with white children. The “separate but equal” disgraceful policy mandated separateness but never financed the equal portion of that insidious Supreme Court decision. Many Blacks survived by working menial jobs for pitiful pay. Almost all white families, even working-class families like my own, had maids to do their housework. They could afford to have maids because they paid them next to nothing. Blacks in the South were little more than indentured servants—a half-step above their slave ancestors. And they were all victims of police brutality, a corrupt court system, unprincipled bankers, crooked businessmen, and greedy politicians who would pander to the fears, prejudices, and desires of bigots who liked nothing more than to terrorize Blacks.
This was the system of much of this country from the brief time of Reconstruction to the timid and insufficient civil rights acts of the 1960s. Perhaps much has improved, but much has stayed the same. It just occurs in different, more sophisticated ways through the designs and scheming of “evil geniuses.” If whites had grown up with a legacy suffered by GENERATIONS OF THEIR ANCESTORS that still has repercussions today, they would literally be up in arms over the injustices of such a system. Even if you are white and were born dirt poor, the color of your skin in our culture gives you advantages most people of color can never have. Imagine coming from a family which for countless decades has been forced to struggle so hard just to survive and who has never had the opportunity to pass down to their children any financial resources which could make the lives of those children better. And even if they do achieve some success or bank some resources, they always face the danger of having such security taken from them (whether through something like the Tulsa massacre or through the crafty, sly ways of disenfranchising and exploiting people of color so prevalent in our educational, political, economic, and social systems.)
It took many years of work, savings, and ingenuity for Black businesspersons to become successful in a racist environment. But all their efforts and sacrifices went up in flames with this unconscionable massacre.
The one-hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, which took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, reminds us of the obstacles and difficulties Blacks must face in our society as they try to flourish and provide an economic legacy for their families. During this massacre, mobs of whites, many of them deputized and given weapons by elected officials, attacked Blacks and destroyed homes and businesses in the Greenwood District of Tulsa known as “Black Wall Street.” For decades, Blacks had worked hard to realize the American dream. It took many years of work, savings, and ingenuity for Black businesspersons to become successful in a racist environment. But all their efforts and sacrifices went up in flames with this unconscionable massacre. Thirty-five blocks of the Black neighborhood were burned and destroyed by whites committing arson on land and with privately owned aircraft. Around 10,000 Blacks were left homeless. Property damage was estimated at more than $1.5 million in real estate and $750,000 in personal property (equivalent to $32.65 million in 2021). The dead may have numbered between 75-300, although reliable records were not kept by white authorities.
Many Black survivors left Tulsa, and very few people, white or Black, dared for decades to speak of this tragedy. A later investigation revealed that officials conspired with the white mob as they committed these atrocities. This investigation also found that 191 businesses were destroyed along with a junior high school, several churches, and the only hospital in the district. The Red Cross estimated that 1,256 houses were burned and another 215 were looted. A trial after the massacre made up of an all-white jury attributed the “riot” to Black mobs. (These “Black mobs” were trying to stop the lynching of a 19-year-old Black man accused of assaulting a white 17-year-old woman. This incident provided the opportunity for whites to destroy the 35 blocks of Black real estate and the hard work and dreams of thousands of Tulsa Black citizens,)
The Black families who stayed attempting to rebuild their neighborhoods spent the winter of 1921-1922 in tents. A group of white developers pressured the city to pass a fire ordinance that would have prohibited many Black people from rebuilding in Greenwood. Their intention was to force Blacks to move to the edges of the city so the area could be redeveloped for white businesses and industries. Fortunately, the ordinance was ruled unconstitutional by the OK Supreme Court.
A 1996 “Tulsa Race Riot Commission” was authorized to investigate the “Tulsa Race Riot.” (In November of 2018, the name of the commission was changed to the more historically accurate “Tulsa Race Massacre Commission.”) Recommendations were made by the commission which resulted in the “1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconciliation Act.” The legislation awarded medals to the 118 known survivors of the massacre but failed to make any substantial financial reparations.
What I want to emphasize is how long it took for Blacks to achieve their success in Tulsa, how quickly those achievements were demolished by the racism in Tulsa, how many lives were ruined by this violence, and how few were able to recover from this despicable act of terrorism. This reflects the burdens and disadvantages Blacks have suffered all over this nation in one form or another since 1619. Too many whites are jealous and intimidated by even the most modest of advances Blacks make in this deeply flawed nation. With such a racist system, it is nearly impossible and certainly most difficult for Blacks to prosper in this so-called “land of opportunity.” Decades of racism have created generations of poverty, oppression, and disadvantages among Blacks. Such a tragic legacy can not be overcome overnight or even in a few decades.
America is built on the genocide of one race and the enslavement and/or disenfranchisement of another race. And as a nation, we have stubbornly refused to repent from these Original Sins in any meaningful and restorative ways.
Abraham Heschel wisely said, “Few are guilty, but all are responsible.” I do wonder, however, if this spiritual genius is absolutely correct in his statement. If we as whites benefit from a racist culture which protects our rights and opportunities at the expense of people of color, are we not guilty? Our taking advantage of such skewed rights and opportunities reminds me a little of Germans who were given Jewish homes and businesses after Jews had been transported to death camps. No, those German families didn’t gas Jews, but they benefited from the violence and prejudice afflicted against the Jews. And if you think I am exaggerating in my comparison, perhaps you might put yourself in the place of Blacks who had labored so hard to become successful only to see all their efforts go up in flames as white businesspeople were able to profit from the misfortune of their Black brothers and sisters. America is built on the genocide of one race and the enslavement and/or disenfranchisement of another race. And as a nation, we have stubbornly refused to repent from these Original Sins in any meaningful and restorative ways. [I find it interesting that so many whites decry recent programs of affirmative action and racial quotas when any objective analysis of U.S. history reveals that they have been (and still are) the beneficiaries of centuries of reverse “affirmative action and racial quotas.”]
Whites are still guaranteed advantages which too many people of color can never enjoy. We may not have owned slaves or used dogs and firehoses in Selma or filibustered against civil rights legislation. But we have all taken advantage of a system which denies benefits and advantages to some on the basis of color so that whites can have more than their just and fair share of wealth, opportunity, and dignity. We may not be guilty of the worst of racism, but we are all responsible for its continuing legacy. And there is a finer line between guilt and responsibility than most of us want to admit.
