US Government 'Unremembers' Tulsa Reparations for 103 Years
Ms. Fletcher, alongside Lessie Benningfield Randall and the late Hughes Van Ellis, spent her final years fighting for reparations that the state of Oklahoma (and the US government) consistently denied, effectively ensuring survivors died without justice. In 2021, on the massacre's centennial, President Biden visited Tulsa but stopped short of endorsing federal reparations. Meanwhile, Congress has
repeatedly prioritized foreign aid over domestic accountability, routinely greenlighting billions (like the $17.02 billion supplemental aid to Israel in HR 815, Mar 2024) while citizens like Ms. Fletcher were told their pleas for historical wrongs were politically infeasible. One might wonder if 'unremembered' is just a polite term for 'deliberately ignored until all the witnesses are gone.' The
systemic denial of justice for victims of American violence appears to have a far more enduring legacy than any fleeting media obituary.