Attorneys to appeal dismissal of Tulsa massacre lawsuit

Justice for Greenwood and attorneys representing the last known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, said they will appeal Judge Caroline Wall’s dismissal of a lawsuit seeking reparations for the racial violence in Oklahoma.

Tulsa massacre appeal

During a press conference held at the Historic Vernon AME Church in Tulsa, Damario Salmon-Simmons Esq. read a statement by survivors sharing their disappointment in the decision.

The three survivors vowed they “will not go quietly” and the fight has not ended.

Justice for Greenwood called Wall’s ruling “perfunctory, unfounded, and nonsensical” in the written statement.

It’s a move that has baffled attorneys. Particularly, Solomon-Simmons, as he noted during the conference that just last year, the Tulsa County District judge rejected motions by the defendants to dismiss the case, allowing the trial seeking reparations to proceed.

Lawsuit dismissed

On Friday, July 7th, Judge Caroline Wall dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, with no further details on her decision.

Lessie Benningfield Randle, 108, Viola Fletcher, 109, and her brother, Hughes Van Ellis, 102, had sued the City of Tulsa, other groups, and officials over the opportunities taken from them when the city’s Greenwood neighborhood was burned to the ground in 1921.

The lawsuit seeks financial and other reparations, including a 99-year tax holiday for Tulsa residents who are descendants of victims of the massacre in the north Tulsa neighborhood of Greenwood.

Tulsa massacre

On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob attacked and set fire to the homes and businesses of Black residents in Greenwood.

The area suffered irreparable damage, and it is estimated that as many as 300 people, most of them Black, died.

The massacre is considered one of the worst acts of racial terror in American history.