**Tulsa Mayor Proposes $100 Million Trust for Descendants of 1921 Race Massacre**

Tulsa, Okla. - On Sunday, Tulsa’s new mayor, Monroe Nichols, proposed a groundbreaking and ambitious plan to establish a $100 million private trust as part of efforts to provide reparations to the descendants of those affected by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Mayor Nichols, who is the first Black mayor of Oklahoma’s second-largest city, revealed the plan at the Greenwood Cultural Center, located in the historically significant North Tulsa district. The initiative aims to support descendants through scholarships and housing assistance, without offering direct cash payments.

“For 104 years, the Tulsa Race Massacre has been a stain on our city's history,” said Nichols, receiving a standing ovation from several hundred attendees. He emphasized that the massacre, followed by systemic redlining and economic disenfranchisement, had a long-lasting detrimental impact not only on North Tulsa but the city as a whole.

The Greenwood District, once a thriving economic hub, was decimated by a white mob in 1921, leading to the deaths of as many as 300 Black residents. Nichols remarked that the destruction of Greenwood deprived Tulsa of an economic future that could have flourished well beyond regional expectations.

Nichols signed an executive order earlier this year to recognize June 1 as Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day. Sunday's commemorative events in the Greenwood District included a family picnic, worship services, and a candlelight vigil.

Jacqueline Weary, granddaughter of massacre survivor John R. Emerson, Sr., who lost his hotel and cab company in the violence, acknowledged the complexities of allocating cash payments to descendants but highlighted the substantial wealth her family lost due to the massacre. "It rightfully was our inheritance, and it was literally taken away," she noted.

Tulsa is joining other American cities in exploring reparations. Evanston, Illinois, was the first U.S. city to offer reparations to its Black residents, providing qualifying households $25,000 for home-related expenses. Funding for Evanston’s program came from taxes on recreational marijuana sales. Other cities like Providence, Rhode Island, and Asheville, North Carolina, as well as institutions such as the Episcopal Church and Georgetown University, have also considered or implemented reparations initiatives.

Among those impacted, there are only two living survivors of the massacre: Leslie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, both 110 years old. While they have received some compensation from private organizations, they have not yet been compensated by the city or state. Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, who represents the survivors, insisted that any reparations plan should include direct payments to Randle and Fletcher, along with a victims' compensation fund.

Solomon-Simmons' lawsuit for reparations was dismissed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court last year, creating a significant setback for racial justice advocates who hoped for financial amends from the city.