By Jessica DiNapoli
(Reuters) – Tulsa, Oklahoma’s new mayor said on Tuesday that he is backing parts of a plan that aims to pay reparations to the survivors and descendants of a 1921 race massacre in the city, after other efforts to ensure compensation for victims have failed.
Survivors of a white mob’s attack on Black Americans have turned to state and local courts seeking reparations, but those efforts have stalled.
The U.S. Department of Justice in January said while there are credible reports that law enforcement was involved in the attack, it had no avenue to prosecute the crimes that occurred, citing the expiration of relevant statutes of limitations and the youngest potential defendants being more than 115 years old.
Justice for Greenwood, a non-profit organization, at a news conference on Tuesday outlined a new effort. It comes as President Donald Trump rolls back programs that tried to increase representation of marginalized groups such as Black Americans, women and LGBTQ+ people in federal government. Many companies such as retailer Target have followed suit.
Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, who took office in December as the first Black person to hold that position, released a statement on Monday saying he looked “forward to implementing significant elements of the plan.”
He added that in the coming weeks he will share the framework his administration will use to “heal the open wounds left by the massacre.”
A spokesperson for the mayor said he will share the parts of the plan he supports in the coming weeks.
The plan calls for Tulsa to give preference to descendants of victims for city jobs and contracts and immunity from city taxes, and complete an audit to determine if the municipality unlawfully gained any land during or after the attack.
Damario Solomon-Simmons, the executive director of Justice for Greenwood, said he expects that the plan will be challenged but will withstand any legal scrutiny.
“We cannot control people of bad faith who want to be in opposition,” he said, adding that there were also white victims of the attack who would benefit from the plan.
(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; editing by Donna Bryson and Aurora Ellis)
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