The Tulsa race riot (May 31st to June 1st 1921) in the US killed 75 to 150 people, burned down 35 city blocks, and left thousands homeless. With the help of the police, planes and the National Guard, hundreds to thousands of White men rioted in Greenwood, aka Black Wall Street, a Black neighbourhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
It all started with a White woman: Sarah Page accused “Diamond Dick” Rowland, a Black man, of attempted rape.
Fearing a lynching, Black men from Greenwood arrived at the courthouse armed with guns to protect Rowland. Many had fought in the First World War. A White mob was already there. The police tried to talk the Black men into leaving when a fight broke out and a gun went off, leaving one person dead. Then all hell broke loose.
The police handed out guns and badges to hundreds of White men. Other Whites broke into hardware stores and took guns.
The governor sent the National Guard to Greenwood to disarm Blacks and take them prisoner, supposedly for their own protection. They sent some 5,000 Blacks to the convention centre, ball park and fairgrounds. But they did not disarm any Whites!
At five in the morning a whistle blew and a plane flew overhead. Some say it dropped a bomb, others say it was looking for Black snipers, pointing them out to Whites. For the next six hours there was constant gunfire as Whites invaded Greenwood, robbing and burning it down. Some Whites would not shoot on unarmed Blacks, but others did. Parts of Greenwood were like a battlefield. But in other parts Whites pulled pianos and Victrolas out of houses and were singing and dancing in the streets.
Greenwood had had its own hospital, hotels, shops, two newspapers and two cinemas. But when the riot was over, it looked like it had been hit by a war.
Over the next few days the 5,000 Black prisoners were given a green tag and let go if their employer came for them. The rest were put to work for little pay cleaning up Greenwood. Blacks without green tags were arrested.
Months later Sarah Page dropped her case against Diamond Dick Rowland. He left town and was never heard from again.
A grand jury looked into the riot. As a White newspaper, the Tulsa World, reported:
“Grand Jury Blames Negroes for Inciting Race Rioting; Whites Clearly Exonerated”
Many blamed “black agitators”, like W.E.B. Du Bois or Black newspapers, who pushed the dangerous idea that Blacks and Whites should have equal rights, as promised by the US Constitution.
Rebuilding: Most insurance policies had a riot exclusion clause and would not pay. The city blamed the riot on Greenwood and would not pay. And the courts bent over backwards to protect the city and insurance companies – except in one case: when the city tried to rezone Greenwood for industry.
In 2001 the mayor held a “celebration of conscience”, made an official apology and gave each survivor the city could find a medal – but no reparations.
-Abagond, 2017.
Source: mainly “Reconstructing the Dreamland” (2002) by Alfred L. Brophy; Al Jazeera (2014).
See also:
- grand jury
- Du Bois
- Victrola
- Rosewood
- MOVE bombing
- The 1920 Duluth lynching
- Red Summer
- Mystic Massacre
- Japanese American internment
- Detroit riot in 1967
- reparations
548
Abagond 
Funny how Black people are derided as “stupid” and “lazy” by other groups who have no knowledge of Black history. They don’t know how violent White people become when Black people build and become prosperous.
Black degradation seems to be essential to White (and allied groups) wellbeing.
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“They sent some 5,000 to the convention centre, ball park and fairgrounds. But they did not disarm any Whites!”
.
There’s an interesting parallel/comparison between what happened in 1921Tulsa and what’s now happening here on this site. Black voices are routinely (disarmed) threatened with banishment while racist white trolls, lost attention addicts and agenda/spam pushers are relatively given a never-ending pass.
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@Afrofem Yes it is true. A certain amount of the White population is very, very prejudiced. It is also true that some Black people cannot overcome there hatred of Whites.
This incident occurred 96 years ago and I do believe that there is some change in the manner many White people view Blacks.
We should always remember are past history; however we should also keep it in prospective.
Many positive things have happened since 1921. It is not helpful to use such phrases as “White people” or “Black people” because the phrases are no longer relative.
Unfortunately there are still places where there is practically no mixing of the Black and the White people. In such places it is easy to believe that other people are the enemy.
With the rhetoric of President Trump “Making America Great Again” we now have another moment in history when ignorant Whites are taking steps to reaffirm their superior position; however I feel the movement is temporary and will be stopped.
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Allen Shaw,
One movement may be temporary, but as history shows, a new one with striking similarities will emerge. No matter what they call themselves (Neo Nazis, white separatists, skinheads, Aryan Brotherhood, Tea Party, alt-right, etc.), their motives will be similar or the same, white supremacy at the expense of nonwhites. One way or another, white people will continue the march to keep black people down as long as they bypass self-reflection, moral revising and intellectual honesty to keep white supremacy breathing.
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@Allen Shaw
“It is not helpful to use such phrases as “White people” or “Black people” because the phrases are no longer relative.”
“Helpful” or not, the descriptions are still very relevant.
I view the majority of the White population as prejudiced, biased, bigoted and violent enough to do great harm to Black people.
As to “hatred of Whites”, I think you confuse anger and rage with “hatred”. They are different emotions. I don’t know about your family and social circle, but in mine, I have heard plenty of expressions of anger over injustices and various incidents, yet I have never heard a relative or friend express intent to harm White people —— either preemptively or in retribution for acts against them.
In contrast, I have heard and read plenty of White people express both hatred and an intent to harm Black people. Many of those White people:
A. Have little or no daily contact with Black people.
B. Have never experienced harm or mistreatment from Black people.
C. Felt entitled to express hatred against Black people.
D. Were rarely, if ever censured for expressing hatred and a desire to do harm to Black people.
Fewer changes have occurred in the hearts and minds of White people than you believe since 1921. Modern White Americans are prepared to make Tulsa and the Red Summer of 1919 look like picnics. I hope you don’t learn that the hard way, Allen Shaw.
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ISIS and Al-Qaida are amateurs compared to the world’s premier terrorists.
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@ Assumed Name I do believe you may be correct if you want to go back over the past 2000 years.
The Christian (mainly White) has had more wars of conquest over that period of time.
Why do you call a group of people world’s premier terrorist. It is a simple thing to understand. Over the years people have struggled. GOD told the Jews that they could have land; however they must kill everyone in the land. The Jews failed to kill everyone so the battle was on and it has continued since.
For the past years since Rome fell the European has been the most successful warriors. So I guess you are referring to them as the “worlds premier terrorist”.
Live with it!
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After all of the persecution that Black people have endured for centuries in this hell-hole of a godless country, for the most part, white people still believe that we as Black folks must pull ourselves up by our bootstraps in order to be prosperous. How stupid?
Clearly, the Tulsa Riot, the razing of Rosewood, FL.; the Red Summer of 1919, amongst many other demonstrative acts of hate perpetrated by whites to keep us (Black people) in our place of servitude and genuflecting, necessarily testify against the truthfulness of such silly notions put forth by white Amerikan elitarians, corporate news and commoners alike.
What a beautifully racist country we have here! (smh)
@ Allen Shaw,
You are such a nuisance; the epitome of aggrieved white masculinity, in addition to being the embodiment of a heap of false narratives. More to the point, if it was physiologically possible, I would proceed in an unhesitant fashion to un-birth you, regardless of the amount of pain inflicted upon you and your mother in the process!
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Allen Shaw,
We don’t live with it. WE’RE SURVIVING IT!
We don’t ‘live’ in a white dominated world. We’re trying to make it through alive by whatever means available. And with this new president in office, we have to fight even harder like we did in days past.
What happened in Tulsa, more or less, echoes on recent incidents.
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@blakksage @Brothawolf Where do I start? The incident in 1919 was 98 years ago! You could have included all of the lynchings that occurred during that time. I believe Woodrow Wilson 28th President of the United States (1913-1921) was known as a racist. He review The Birth of a Nation in the White House and approved of it.
Te US Military was separated between Whites and Blacks and when Blacks performed magnificently they were ignored. Today we have Retired Generals and all high level enlisted grades. Twenty percent of our active armed forces are Black and the Blacks hold all levels of authority.
Now it is too bad that you do not like me to point out the differences between 100 years ago and today; however here I am.
From time to time I will appear to make certain you regret that you can’t “un-birth” me. By the way the dictionary does not have this particular phrase, so I guest it is your way of saying something else.
I am sure that there are going to be plenty of moments when you be able to say that some White person did some damnable atrocity to Blacks; however just like the White people today cannot justifiable saying that all Muslims are bad, Black people are not going to be able to say that all White people are bad. All Christians are not bad either. Also there are plenty of CINO (Christians In Name Only).
Now encourage your children and others to dig in and become positive in their approach to there future. Tell them that when they are blocked to push harder and they actually may get thru the blockade. If you tell them they are defeated you will spend your lifetime watching them twist in the wind.
Every year young Black children are graduating from schools of higher learning and entering into the work force. They are “moving on up” while a few Blacks are still reminiscing from the days of slavery and the psychological disadvantages.
As for you, you can continue to dwell in the past.
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@Allen Shaw
“… just like the White people today cannot justifiable saying that all Muslims are bad, Black people are not going to be able to say that all White people are bad.”
Really? You are using the “not all Whites” argument?
That one has been refuted so many times Abagond has it in his Broken Record Department.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/the-not-all-whites-argument/
LOL!
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Allen Shaw,
I believe Blakksage and I are aware that the Tulsa riots occurred nearly a century ago, as are many lynchings before, during and after that horrific event. So, we be aware that are not dumb.
We are aware things have changed, but some things haven’t. What happened then, like I said, bears resemblances and reminders of those times with similarities and differences. One glaring and tragic example was the Charleston Church Massacre last year. The killer Dylann Roof was reported in saying that (black people) raped (their) women and we had to die. Nine innocent black people were murdered because of white racist gun violence. And how was Roof treated afterwards. Was he shot? No. Did they take him to jail immediately? No. Cops brought him in with a bulletproof vest and stopped by to get him something to eat because he was hungry. Can you honestly say that he would get such treatment is he were black?
Furthermore, where was it said that all white people were bad? And why are you making such a statement if not all whites are indeed bad?
I’ve heard and read some white people say that all Muslims are terrorists or something to that effect. I’ve heard white people speak how most or all black people are criminals. So, why is it when other people are lumped together as some kind of threat, it’s rendered okay because…facts and statistics and some other excuse or two, but it’s not fair or reasonable when those other people do the same to the ones, in this case whites, making such blanketed statements?
Allen, you’re really showing off your white male paternalism when your last two paragraphs. You are in no position to tell black people how to raise their children. Why not teach your children how not to be fearful and hateful towards other people instead? Or is that considered racist?
You say we continue to well in the past. Do you tell the Irish to get over St. Patrick’s Day? Do you tell Jews to get over the Holocaust? Do you tell Americans in general to get over the 4th of July, Columbus Day or 9/11? No? So why should blacks get over the history of our people’s treatment in the United States, especially when the past haunts us in the forms of police shootings, noose sightings, the prison industrial complex, the justice system overall, media stereotypes, etc on a daily basis?
Just because you don’t see it or doesn’t know anyone who’s lived it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Period.
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One more thing Allen Shaw,
You can argue and believe that your colorblind approach and paternalistic lecturing are doing us a favor, but all it shows is a form of racism by deny it’s impact and existence today demonstrating general intellectual dishonestly and moral cowardice.
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words
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Allen Shaw,
What I meant to say was, “So, we are aware and are not dumb”
Anyway, you can scoff at what I’m saying, but you’re showing how much you fear the truth. Yes, the Tulsa riots happened years ago, but so did the Civil War. Yet, we have to study about the latter. Most of us haven’t been taught the Tulsa riots during our youth. By the time we’re adults, we’ve never heard of such an event. Why is that?
Think about it.
If you ignore history, you repeat it. That’s a fact of life. This country continues to ignore its bloody history of hatred and violence against POC, and look where it is now? Look who this country elected? Look at his administration? Look at the policies they’re concocting? Those are just a few examples.
This is not about demonizing whites or making them feel guilty. This is about accountability, telling truths and working towards a better future. You can’t move forward if you don’t know where you’ve truly been.
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@Allen Shaw
word
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@Allen Shaw
things have changed. the white supremacy imperative has not. Tulsa is the archetypical expression of it. destroy the black man.
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they’ve bombed us as recently as 1972. philly. move.
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dumped chemicals on us from the sky in the 1950s and 60s.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210415/Revealed-Army-scientists-secretly-sprayed-St-Louis-radioactive-particles-YEARS-test-chemical-warfare-technology.html#ixzz4aAgSaWhu
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
doing it to the whole country now. I guess wes all n… now.
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poisoned our drinking water in 2016
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The MOVE bombing was in 1985:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/the-move-bombing/
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@ Allen Shaw
If White people have so changed, then how come the survivors never got any reparations? THAT would show a true change of heart.
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@ Allen Shaw
Huh? This is a post about a race riot. Race has everything to do with it.
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“Most of us haven’t been taught the Tulsa riots during our youth. By the time we’re adults, we’ve never heard of such an event. Why is that?”
For one thing, not teaching it allows white people to stay in a cocoon of presumed innocence. Most white people today when they hear the words “race riot” think of the unrest in places like Watts in the 60s/70s or L.A. after the Rodney King verdict. It was a wake-up call to me in college to learn that race riot used to almost always mean white people were doing the rioting against black people (or sometimes against non-black POC). That history has been erased from our public school system, and white children grow up not knowing the true meaning of the term.
Also, race riots like the one in Tulsa were much, much worse than any of the modern so-called race riots like L.A. When they rioted in those days, white people committed far more violence, terrorism, destruction, and killing of innocent black people. Yet now white people act like protestors burning down a gas station in Ferguson is the most heinous act of mob violence they’ve ever heard of. The historical context has been entirely lost, and with it any sense of the immensity of violence perpetrated by white rioters.
Which, by the way, Allen Shaw, is one reason why it’s so important to remember what happened almost 100 years ago.
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@”If White people have so changed, then how come the survivors never got any reparations? THAT would show a true change of heart.”
+1000. Instead, they ridicule black communities or should I say “inner cities”.
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@Solitaire
“Yet now white people act like protestors burning down a gas station in Ferguson is the most heinous act of mob violence they’ve ever heard of. The historical context has been entirely lost, and with it any sense of the immensity of violence perpetrated by white rioters.”
Oh yeah!
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Again. No justice and no reparations. So much for “Justice for All”.
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Abagond, regarding your note in the top right: “unarmed Black people known to be killed by US police so far in 2016.”
So far this year a bunch of Transgender Black women have been killed, but I don’t think by the police.
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@ Glenn
Yes, Black trans women are murdered at a horrific rate.
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A synopsis of Allen Shaw’s quotes reveals that he never mentioned the Tulsa Riot or how detestable the acts committed by whites during and after one of the major race riots in Amerika. Thus, his white patrilineal approach to telling Black folks what to do is also quite obvious as well.
“The incident in 1919 was 98 years ago!”
“Twenty percent of our active armed forces are Black and the Blacks hold all levels of authority.”
“Now it is too bad that you do not like me to point out the differences between 100 years ago and today; however here I am.”
“Now encourage your children and others to dig in and become positive in their approach to there future.”
“Every year young Black children are graduating from schools of higher learning and entering into the work force.”
“As for you, you can continue to dwell in the past.”
Allen, Psychologists believe that denial is in fact a defense mechanism to avoid confronting reality. This is exactly what you are doing here. For the record, … yes Allen, a white mob perpetrated violence; including murder; people were arrested and jailed without probable cause; torched an entire prosperous community; reparations were never paid to any of the victims, but they did receive a chunk of metal for their pain and suffering; the National Guard was summoned; the court system blamed Black people for their town being razed; bombs were dropped from airplanes and people were needlessly treated just short of being slaves in 1919, Oklahoma, USA, because some white woman named Sarah accused Diamond “Dick” Rowland (what a colorful name) of attempted rape; in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case regarding reparations for the victims.
Indeed, the spirit of wickedness employed by whites, targeting Black folks for no other reason than their race still reside amongst a whole lot of whites today in March 2017, just as it was almost one-hundred years ago. No Allen, not very much has changed in this country, no matter how deep you bury your head in the sand or pretend as if you don’t see no evil or hear no evil. Your patterns of denials are really beginning to show.
I implore you to seek the help you need for your persistent, historical denials from a long time professional in the behavioral field, you so clearly need. However, you must first acknowledge or ACCEPT what has happened and you may as well begin with the Tulsa Race Riot, since this appears to be your Achilles heel. (smh)
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Allen Shaw’s tropes:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/the-not-all-whites-argument/
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/teflon-theory-of-history/
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/the-bootstrap-myth/
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/white-fragility/
and, more generally:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/white-paternalism/
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At a glance I see we are playing the argue with the white racist game again,
It should be mildly intersting apon detail
In the meantime history lesson – don’t try to run no business unless you well tooled up.
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These people hate us.
They hate us and they hate our children.
They hate just about everything we do unless it benefits or flatters whites and white society.
They hate that we persist in existing, even after all of the injustices heaped upon us.
They hate that we remind them their “sincerity” is false and that their belief in “freedom” and “liberty” is a lie.
They hate the reminders we serve to them of their hypocrisy and their devious, base nature.
And they’ll continue hating us until the last one of them is brought down in defeat or the last one of us disappears.
These events and others throughout history and even today serve as reminders of how much they hate us, who we are and what we stand for.
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@ Allen Shaw
Your white paternalism is exceptional, as in “exceptionally disgusting.”
Not that you’re likely to care. For what importance of the grumblings of a few mere Negros and their supposed allies? Only your words matter. Or at least until the banhammer falls.
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“are”
This place really needs an edit button.
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@ Solitaire
It seems euphemistic to describe the two phenomenons with the same term. “Pogrom” might be more appropriate for incidents like the Tulsa Race Riot.
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@ Allen Shaw
Pro-tip: If you find yourself playing down the past, you are probably on the wrong side of history.
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yep. the jews dont forget. why should we?
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Afrofem, Abagond, Blakksage and Brothawolf excellent response to Allen Shawn..
There is nothing I hate more than this Eurocentric rhetoric notion of “a blameless world”. It is a blanket argument used to defend their responsibility for being at the head of most of the ills of the world.
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@ Kartoffel
I understand your point, but I would argue that race riot is an inaccurate term when applied to the more recent type of civil unrest and protest.
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Google – ‘Bruce’s Beach in Manhattan Beach, California’. Bruce’s Beach was an African American-owned beach resort that existed between 1912 and 1924. Bruce’s Beach was sabotaged by white city officials. When I think of Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street” I think of other black business communities as well, especially during that era.
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@Micheal Cooper
Bruce’s Beach, Black Wall Street, Bronzeville in Chicago and Black Baltimore during the days of sailing ships all show a pattern of White officials making extraordinary efforts to cut Black business development off at the knees.
Black degradation (such as poverty, fractured families and general lack of agency) seems to be essential to White (and allied groups) wellbeing. Thriving Black business districts and strong Black communities would expose the lie at the heart of White Supremacy ideology.
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“tooled up”
What mean using urban/gettho slang for being armed ,having miltary capability, the need for and the lack of and its consequences – miltary capability resulting in a person or group being secure in persuit of thier endevavors.
I have witnessed many discussion in regard black/african american economic needs and wants and I never seen a serious discussion of the necessity of considering the miltary factor ,without which all other considerations may will be fruitless.
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@Michael Cooper
While searching for Bruce’s Beach, I came across a list of other Jim Crow era beaches, ranches and resorts that catered to Black people. BlackPast.org lists sixteen areas that supported Black businesses and leisure activities.
The articles were all contributed by Ronald J. Stephens, Professor of African American Studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University.
It seems the push to integrate also marked the end of many Black businesses and historic leisure areas. Black people shot themselves in the foot with the desire for inclusion. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
http://www.blackpast.org/contributor/stephens-ronald-j
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“Black people shot themselves in the foot with the desire for inclusion. The grass is not always greener on the other side.”
Not exactly. That just shows how safe we would be from white rage if we had our own prosperous separate coexisting communities, state or nation. White people would see it as a threat and bomb and invade.
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Many of the owners of the Black Businesses went on to be successful in other work.
The Blacks found other beaches to be more favorable. And some of the Black businesses were not really that great.
For all advances there are losses in the real world.
Many Principles of Black schools did not fair well in the White integrated schools system. Others while not being Principles received far larger income in the White school system.
For those of you who only read about Jim Crow, the thought of a “Black failing business looks good. To those who have lived during Jim Crow realize that the old Black businesses that were run well continued after integration.
There is no reason why there are not more Black businesses in the South East United States where there are millions of Blacks. In other states, there are not sufficient Blacks to support a Black business except in the large metropolitan areas.
I am surprised that most of the people commenting on this site are not aware of the Green Book which was published every year that pointed out to Blacks where they could go and stay safely.
https://www.google.com/search?q=green+book+travel&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/green-book-helped-keep-african-americans-safe-on-the-road/
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https://www.google.com/search?q=editor+of+new+york+times&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
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@Allen Shaw
There is a whole thread on the green book.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/the-green-book/
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@Allen Shaw
“To those who have lived during Jim Crow realize that the old Black businesses that were run well continued after integration.”
Can you list three examples of Black businesses that survived (and continued to thrive after) Jim Crow?
Most of the Black owned businesses that I am aware of that flourished during Jim Crow such as Black sports leagues, privately owned Black bus services and insurance companies were either abandoned by Black customers or shrank significantly.
I understand you may feel differently about the demise of those Black businesses. You are correct in saying that all were not well run. That is still an unfortunate fact of life. However, I still think Black people lost a valuable resource in those Black owned businesses such as:
⚑ A source of employment for first jobs and full time work.
⚑ Valuable role models for Black children.
⚑ Some Black owned businesses (in North Carolina, in particular) were economic engines that spawned other Black owned businesses that served Black workers and the entire community.
Black owned businesses seem to have more hurdles than other ethnic businesses because Black people have been taught to boycott and neglect their own local economies. Some have argued that Black people behave that way in reaction to internalized racism and repeated White attacks such as the Tulsa Race Riots and modern day “institutionalized riots” such as Urban Renewal projects of the 1960s & 1970s, rampant discrimination against Black farmers and ongoing gentrification projects in major US cities.
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@nomad
“White people would see it as a threat and bomb and invade.”
Some commenters have expressed a similar opinion about Black people emigrating from the US and flourishing abroad.
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@sharinalr
Thanks for that link. Abagond has covered a lot of ground in the past eleven years.
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Black owned businesses that “weren’t run well” are no no different then white owned businesses that aren’t run well. It is the choices individuals make, how they value themselves and their experience that determines success.
Many years ago when I started running my own business it wasn’t run well. There was a learning curve involved for me to figure out how to do it.
Afrofem mentioned internalized racism and I do think that a plays a part for some people.
You have to be able to sell yourself and that means valuing your worth as well as the products or services you offer. Otherwise you end up giving your expertise away and that keeps you stuck.
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Afrofem sharinalr
It is not my policy to look up data that has no relativity to my comments. I would have to research 48 states and many cities to even find the Black Businesses that existed and thrived or failed and then find out why.
I also understand that you are unaware of the condition that many of the businesses were in.
I understand that you do not have a great deal of experience and you are getting much of your knowledge from reading and where and how you may now be living.
This may be OK but sometimes you may find that some people have lived during the period you are discussing and have a better understanding.
As always, I will not respond any more to this subject except to say that if the Green Book has been discussed before, why are people saying they did not know about these situations. Do they understand why the Green Book was created?
Many of the accommodations listed were private homes not businesses.
Many of the hotels were places that people went to meet prostitutes.
Many of the places in the south where Black businesses existed did not meet standards and closed because of the conditions that existed.
Many of the owners of businesses were old and just closed shop when they could no longer run the business under new codes.
There was not enough segregation in the northern states to support many Black businesses; however, the night clubs continue to thrive because Blacks and Whites do not drink well together.
In Texas, you could get a meal anywhere because in the front would be a white establishment and in the back, there was a Black establishment.
You should read books that were written by people who are interested in all history, not just the negative history
Please do not glorify that which you do not understand.
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Allen Shaw
It is not my policy to look up data that has no relativity to my comments. I would have to research 48 states and many cities to even find the Black Businesses that existed and thrived or failed and then find out why
Of course the onus is on you to provide data and it definately does have relativity to your comments. You steadily make assertions about such businesses/situations and when legitimately asked to back it up, you are unwilling to provide evidence????
Please do not glorify that which you do not understand
Please be willing to back up what you assert with proper facts – not just pluck things from the sky!!!!
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@Allen Shaw
“I understand that you do not have a great deal of experience and you are getting much of your knowledge from reading and where and how you may now be living.”
You presume too much.
Omnipresent is correct. If you are unable or unwilling to provide relevant data, your many arguments fall on their faces.
Opinion vs. fact. Is that clear enough for you?
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@Allen Shaw
“It is not my policy to look up data that has no relativity to my comments”—Really? Allow me to quote your very words stating “I am surprised that most of the people commenting on this site are not aware of the Green Book which was published every year that pointed out to Blacks where they could go and stay safely.”
The link I displayed shows that black commenters that have been here actually are aware of it as abagond did a post on it. Heck if you talked to and stop assuming you would be surprised about how many are aware.
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@michaeljonbarker
What irritates many Black people with many Black businesses is not a lack of expertise per se, but a lack of planning, organization, execution and caring.
I understand starting with a minimum viable product or service and gradually improving over time. I have a great deal of tolerance for entrepreneurs dealing with steep learning curves, since I have faced them on multiple occasions. However, I have seen many Black-owned businesses stay stuck with offering minimal services and shoddy products. Many seem to operate with no business plan, insufficient capital, poor employee training and lack of attention to their physical locations (such as dirty stores and restaurants).
Some of that is due to lack of education and few positive role models. I think most of that lackadaisical attitude is due to internalized racism——-the Black owners feel that their Black customers are not worth the effort of continual improvement on their part.
It hurts to see those practices and attitudes. It forces Black consumers to put up with ugliness and mediocrity from everyone. It lowers the bar for any other businesses that serve Black people (why should they make an effort if Black businesses don’t?). It creates cynicism and anger in Black people. They don’t seem to value themselves or their customers and it keeps all Black people stuck on the bottom.
From what I have read about the businesses in Tulsa’s Greenwood District in 1921, the Black owned businesses went the extra mile and created a truly positive commercial experience for the Black community. That made the destruction of that district even harder to bear for the survivors of the pogrom/riot and for subsequent generations of Black people who learn of that history.
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This is one of the worst chapters in American History along with slavery, force relocation of Native Americans, Jim Crow, Internment, Manifest Destiny, and the burning of other African American communities during the 1920s. The descendants of the Tulsa riot are still waiting for an apology from the state of Oklahoma and reparations. For decades, the city of Tulsa covered up the destruction so as to attract industry to the city.
Today, most African Americans in Tulsa are still struggling and are severely discriminated against by the nonblack inhabitants of the city. Also, Oklahoma isn’t known for tolerance, equality towards non Native American POC, esp. African Americans.
SB
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It is being reported by various news outlets that mass graves have been found stemming from Tulsa’s 1921 Race Riot. (smh)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tulsa-race-riot-massacre-possible-mass-grave-found-greenwood-black-wall-street-2019-12-17/
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Hmm, a bit of synchronicity.
I recently came across a Smithsonian article from 2016 that described a long hidden ten page manuscript that provided an eyewitness account of the destruction of Black Wall Street. The manuscript was written by Buck Colbert Franklin (1879-1960), a survivor of the massacre.
Buck Colbert Franklin was a lawyer and father of Black historian, John Hope Franklin (1915-2009). Buck Colbert Franklin was also instrumental in the rebuilding of Black Wall Street aka the Greenwood District of Tulsa, OK. According to the article:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/long-lost-manuscript-contains-searing-eyewitness-account-tulsa-race-massacre-1921-180959251/
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@ Afrofem
Excellent article.
This quote resonates with some of the discussion upthread:
Also, the article mentioned that the wealth of Greenwood originated in the oil fields, which had enriched both African Americans and Native Americans. I hadn’t known before that the Tulsa Massacre was linked to oil wealth in particular. That connects it to the murders of oil-rich Native Americans by white Oklahomans also happening in the 1920s:
https://www.npr.org/2017/04/17/523964584/in-the-1920s-a-community-conspired-to-kill-native-americans-for-their-oil-money
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I just read about another bad year for blacks, it was 1919.
This is history that is recorded, yet not talked about! So memorials can be built.
There have been so many atrocities against blacks, one wonders where it will stop. I am 94 years old and do not know why younger people do not know about these past acts.
Maybe people need to read more about the past.
Blacks know ever sports figure and their stats, yet no history of their race!
“What happened during the Red Summer of 1919?
Red Summer was the late winter, spring, summer, and early autumn of 1919, which were marked by hundreds of deaths and a number of casualties across the United States, as the result of anti-black white supremacist terrorist attacks that occurred in more than three dozen cities and one rural county.”.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Summer
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@ Solitaire
That article chilled me to the bone. Marrying into a family to murder the family.
This boggles the mind:
A real life case of sleeping with the enemy. Pretty depraved.
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I have witnessed this with my own eyes regularly, whites and other non blacks are that Ruthless in regards to black people ,will marry us not out of love and companionship but for purposes of division and maintaince of our subordination.
However I don’t see most blacks who go along with this as innocent victims but as willing participants who share the view of whites and most other non blacks that we are deserving of subordination and abuse ,and all the phenotypic attributes of what makes you white are inherently superior.
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It is important to study the history of Africa, China and other parts of the world, not just the whites, before condemning other races, ethnics and religions.
Mankind has a cruel streak and all people are subject to the “disease”.
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Woodrow Wilson Achieved a Lot. So Why Is He So Scorned?
March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921
1919 Pretty much everyone reviles Wilson, who grew up in the South, for allowing cabinet secretaries to segregate their departments and for sponsoring a screening of “The Birth of a Nation” at a time when the N.A.A.C.P. was staging protests against D. W. Griffith’s unashamedly racist, if brilliantly directed, film.
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The Red Summer of 1919 was pretty horrible for Black communities nationwide. This past summer was the centennial of that racial nadir. It seems we are in yet another nadir (low point).
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After WW I when the black service personnel came home they demanded their rights! (1918 until the end of President Hoovers term)
Many voices from the southern states became loud enough to be heard! It is likely the voices of blacks from the north were not loud enough to be heard
The period of white against blacks began then! it is highly likely that the Tulsa riots were a small part of the overall atrocities that occurred; yet, because of the large amount of money concentrated in that one city it is easy to make it the BIG STORY! (The deaths were not called lynchings yet – so add them to those who were lynched)
Further study should be made about the entire period and entire nation instead of concentrating on just that one small incident.
Yes, I said small, because of the many untold stories Tulsa looks big! How many people have to be mistreated for it to be a big story. When one, two or five people get killed or maimed was that not also a story, especially when it happened all over the south.
Talking about Black Wall Street missis the point and hides the true history of that time! That period was JIM Crow at its worse!
HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF SOMEONE WAS LYNCHED IN YOUR COMMUNITY?
F E A R WAS A WAY OF LIFE THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SOUTH AND WEST!
LYNCHING
YEAR WHITE/BLACK/TOTAL
1918 4 60 64
1919 7 76 83
1920 8 53 61
1921 5 59 64
1922 6 51 57
1923 4 29 33
1924 0 16 16
1925 0 17 17
https://www.famous-trials.com/sheriffshipp/1084-lynchingsyear
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99th anniversary yesterday and today.
anyone tying those riots with today’s?
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