(FeaturedHeadlines.com) Survivors of the historic Tulsa Race massacre lost the legal battle as the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed their lawsuit that sought reparations for the century-old attacks that killed nearly 300 black Americans.
Although the high Court acknowledged that plaintiffs had valid concerns, the judges stated that they still failed to meet the criteria of the Oklahoma public nuisance statute, under which the case was initiated.
Three Tulsa Race massacre survivors, Viola Fletcher, Lessie Benningfield Randle, and Hughes Van Ellis brought the case in 2020. Van Ellis passed away at the age of 102 last year.
The survivors maintained that the injustices of 1921, when a white mob killed almost 300 people of color in a predominantly black neighborhood of Tulsa, continues to inspire the injustices against the black community even today.
However, the defendants argued that even though many of the plaintiffs’ claims are justified, this still does not entitle them to the monetary compensation they are demanding.
The massacre survivors are now bracing to launch an appeal of the case in the OK supreme Court. However, the attorney representing them, Damario Solomon-Simmons, dismissed the possibility of the case going to the US Supreme Court for appeals.
The tragic massacre happened on May 31 and June 1 of 1921, when communal riots peaked in Greenwood, Tulsa, and resulted in the death of 300 black people and left thousands of them homeless. Many businesses operated by black people were also destroyed by the charged mob.
No one has ever been prosecuted for the massacre.
The District Court had already dismissed the lawsuit in July last year, and Judge Caroline Wall mentioned that a simple connection of the survivors with a historic event does not mean that they should be compensated.
After getting their case dismissed, the survivors went to the state Supreme Court, which has now upheld the decision.
Solomon-Simmons also stated that this is just another case of how black Americans are being treated in the American legal system.
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