As we are dealing with a pandemic, we are too dealing with racism. The one thing that never seems to cease in the world. Racism has been in existence probably since albinos became a thing in Africa. It is said that in Africa those who lacked melanin in their skin, were castaways to society. This was probably the first episode in our racial history as humankind. Naturally, humans tend to categorize themselves in different groups. Way before we had checkboxes on job applications, humans naturally divided themselves by things like village, tribe, beliefs, etc – similarities that made us feel like we fit in somewhere. So I believe that division is a natural human construct, however, the division should never be used as a way to lessen one race from another.

Since the time of Columbus, black people had set foot in the new world primarily as slaves. Therefore, the black race was seen as a weak, subservient race (in the new world). Europeans (whites) created a narrative that blacks lacked the mental capacity that the white race had inherited from God. Blacks were even tied to the Israelite tribe of Ham in the Bible that was cast down by God. But what is left out of the story of the creation of the new world is that without the black influence, the new world never would have been profitable to any European power, nor would it have allowed the thirteen colonies to win their independence from England. Yet blacks have continuously been held down as a race in American society.

During the time of segregation, blacks had started to build wealth within their community. Blacks were essentially self-efficient. This was counter to what was expected by Jim Crow and segregation. I am just going to be 100% transparent and say that whites did not like that blacks were prosperous and feared that the black race would eventually wipe out the dominance of white society in America. During slavery, the blacks outnumbered the whites due to the large importation of slaves needed to support the supply and demand of crops that were primarily exported to the old world such as sugar cane, cotton, tobacco, etc. Therefore, whenever the opportunity presented itself, whites would damage whatever the black man seemed to succeed in that didn’t benefit the white man.

This brings me to Black Wall Street. Black Wall Street, also known as the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma was created in 1906 by a wealthy black man named O.W. Gurley from Arkansas. He purchased 40 acres of land to create a city for blacks. This land was filled with cafes, movie theaters, a superior school system, banks, and hotels; all the businesses that make up a progressive city. The average income of black families in the area exceeded “what minimum wage is today.” As a result of segregation, a “dollar circulated 36 to 100 times” and remained in Greenwood “almost a year before leaving.” Even more impressive, at that time, the “state of Oklahoma had only two airports,” yet “six black families owned their own planes.”

On the night of May 31, 1921 (less than 10 years before the great depression) commenced two days of the devastation. Whites (mostly poor) burned down Black Wall Street and killed 300 blacks, injuring 800. These whites with the aide of the police gunned down several residents and put fire to most if not all buildings in the district. During the melee, police even arrested blacks and put them in detention camps, never arresting one single white man. Private planes owned by rich whites were used to survey the aftermath to confirm the total devastation of the area. So what was the reasoning behind their thief in the night riot that eternally fractured the success of Black Wall Street? The apparent rape of a white woman by a black man. They didn’t want to wait on the law and took matters into their own hands (even though we know the black man would have been charged and probably executed). BUT the real reason was what I stated above. The whites did not like the progression of blacks in the area that once belonged to whites. Also, to add insult to white injury, poor whites that were returning from the first world war, came back to a district now that was run by blacks, and life that didn’t glisten in gold with victory. Regardless of stature, the white race could not allow the blacks to interrupt their hold on power so they took matters into their own hands. The whites could not bear seeing blacks as a third or fourth class, never first or even second.

The blacks of the area never received reparations nor apology for the incident. White newspapers incorrectly reported that “lawless blacks created the riot”. They called the blacks “bad niggas who drank booze, took dope, and ran around with guns”. The newspapers also suggested the need for the KKK to “restore order in the community”. To further push the rhetoric that blacks were not civilized and aimless.

Just days after the riot, the white mayor of Tulsa created a reconstruction committee to redesign the Greenwood District for industrial purposes. This further lowered the value of the property owned by blacks and most had to end up selling their property to survive. Selling their land to rich upper-class white businessmen. As the capitalistic society prescribes, the big businesses prospered in the area with their purchase of cheap land and property. The riot allowed the white elite to further dominate society, once again weakening blacks while using the poor whites to do their dirty work – this was a riot that worked. A riot that kept the balance of white power, similar to almost every American war. Send the poorer folks out as soldiers to do the dirty work to maintain white power in the entire world.

This story brings light to what continues to happen in the present and probably the future. The United States of America is controlled by a white elite who maintain their dominance in American society using law and order to profit off the backs of the poor and disenfranchised. To add another layer, there is a power structure that is separated by races with the black race being at the bottom of the totem pole. To keep the black race in check and at the bottom, any progress is stymied and fake news is used to back up their position.

How do you think this applies to our current situation with the riots and uprising that is occurring in Minneapolis and other cities? Do you think that the riots are the result of non-action like what the whites used as a reason behind the burning of Black Wall Street? Or do you think that this is a part of a bigger plan to create law and order of some kind that coincides with the pandemic, the current presidential administration, and the ensuring of white dominance in a society that is threatened by immigrants migrating to the U.S. and the educational enlightenment of blacks that resulted in Obama becoming for the first black president, further lessening the whites balance of power in the “New World”?

Source:

The Devastation of Black Wall Street – https://daily.jstor.org/the-devastation-of-black-wall-street/