DOJ announces first federal review of 1921 Tulsa race massacre

More than 100 years after a white mob attacked a then-thriving black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Justice Department announced the first federal investigation into the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.

Up to 300 people were killed and homes and businesses destroyed in the attack on the Greenwood neighborhood, often referred to as “Black Wall Street.”

Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights who announced the review in a statement Monday, called the massacre “one of the deadliest episodes of racial mass violence in the history of this country.”

The Justice Department’s announcement came after the Oklahoma Supreme Court in June dismissed without a trial a redress lawsuit filed by survivors of the massacre.

The federal review is being conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Cold Case Unit, which is investigating the crimes under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.

In July, survivors Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, and Viola Ford Fletcher, 110, appealed to the Biden administration to invoke the 2007 law requiring the reopening and investigation of unsolved cases of violent crimes against Black people committed before 1970 , enabled.

Damario Solomon-Simmons, lead attorney for the Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors, celebrated the decision in a news conference Monday.

“I am very pleased to announce that Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke announced this morning that the federal Department of Justice will initiate a review and assessment of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre,” said Solomon Simmons.

“It’s about time! It only took 103 years,” he added.

Solomon-Simmons said this decision was due to the numerous meetings with the Justice Department both in Washington DC and on Zoom, as well as the community’s ongoing fight.

“This community would never stop fighting for reparations. This community would never forget what happened to our people just because they were black, just because they were successful,” Solomon-Simmons said.

“That’s why we’re excited today. This has been a difficult journey, many obstacles, many opportunities, a lot of resistance, but today we have a victory,” he added.

Tiffany Crutcher, descendant of a massacre survivor and founder and executive director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, said the massacre had been “ignored for far too long.”

“Today, my family and my community are deeply grateful that the U.S. Department of Justice is finally preparing to review the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. This tragedy has been ignored for far too long,” Crutcher said during the press conference.

“I leave you with this quote from my mentor, our mentor, Bryan Stevenson: This community will continue to stand on hope, and hope is what will make you stand up when people tell you to sit down and Today we continue to do so.”

ABC News’ Steve Osunsami contributed to this report.