After months of zero communication and under immense pressure that John Legend and Stacey Abrams may no longer participate if the survivors were not centered, a Zoom call with 10 people was scheduled for Saturday. Immediately following that call our legal team submitted a list of seven requests to ensure the survivors participation with the Commission s scheduled events, Solomon-Simmons said in a prepared statement.
Attorney requested $1 million for each living survivor, pledge for Greenwood funding
Friday, Solomon-Simmons, a Tulsa native and lead attorney for a reparations lawsuit filed in 2020 on behalf of the survivors and their descendants, told The Oklahoman that he and his co-counsel requested but did not demand funds for survivors and their heirs from the centennial commission. The attorney sent The Oklahoman a copy of an email he sent to the commission asking the group to agree to give $1 million to each of the three living massacre survivors.
Sen Lankford Steps Away From Role On 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission news9.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news9.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Editor s note: The following may include first-person accounts of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that contain graphic depictions and antiquated racial terminology. We have chosen not to edit these survivor accounts to leave their stories unencumbered by interpretation or exclusion.
That’s what Oklahoma state Sen. Kevin Matthews thought as he watched a VHS film, given to him by his great-uncle, depicting a white mob destroying Tulsa’s Greenwood District.
Matthews, 61, was in his 30s at the time. He had grown up in Tulsa and graduated from Tulsa Public Schools.
But, he had never heard this story before.
“I watched it, and I thought it was a fictional movie,” Matthews said. “I couldn’t stop looking at it. It was shocking to me. I couldn’t understand how I could get to be an adult and not know this story.”