OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥� The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit of the last two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dampening the hope of advocates for racial justice that the government would make amends for one of the in U.S. history.
The nine-member court upheld the decision made by a , ruling that the plaintiff's grievances about the destruction of the Greenwood district, although legitimate, did not fall within the scope of the state's public nuisance statute.
鈥淧laintiffs do not point to any physical injury to property in Greenwood rendering it uninhabitable that could be resolved by way of injunction or other civil remedy,鈥� the court wrote in its decision. 鈥淭oday we hold that relief is not possible under any set of facts that could be established consistent with plaintiff's allegations.鈥�
Messages left Wednesday with the survivors' attorney, Damario Solomon-Simmons, were not immediately returned.
The city said in a statement that it 鈥渞espects the court鈥檚 decision and affirms the significance of the work the City continues to do in the North Tulsa and Greenwood communities,鈥� adding that it remains committed 鈥渢o working with residents and providing resources to support" the communities.
The suit was an attempt to force the city of Tulsa and others to make recompense for the destruction by a white mob of the once-thriving Black district known as Greenwood. In 1921 鈥� on May 31 and June 1 鈥� the white mob, including some people hastily deputized by authorities, looted and burned the district, which was referred to as Black Wall Street.
As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement are about all that survive today of the more than 30-block historically Black district.
The two survivors of the attack, Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, who are both now over 100 years old, sued in 2020 with the hope of seeing what their attorney called 鈥渏ustice in their lifetime.鈥� A third plaintiff, , died last year at age 102.
The lawsuit was brought under Oklahoma鈥檚 public nuisance law, arguing that the actions of the white mob continue to affect the city today. It contended that Tulsa鈥檚 long history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre.
The city and insurance companies never compensated victims for their losses, and the massacre ultimately resulted in racial and economic disparities that still exist today, the lawsuit argued. It sought a detailed accounting of the property and wealth lost or stolen in the massacre, the construction of a hospital in north Tulsa and the creation of a victims compensation fund, among other things.
In 2019, Oklahoma鈥檚 attorney general used the public nuisance law to force opioid drug maker Johnson & Johnson to in damages. The Oklahoma Supreme Court that decision two years later.
Sean Murphy, The Associated Press
