Tulsa, Oklahoma - Representatives of the last two living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre have unveiled a groundbreaking new plan to advance reparations and healing for the Greenwood community.

The announcement came just weeks after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report describing the May 31-June 1, 1921, invasion of Tulsa's Greenwood District (aka Black Wall Street) as an attack "so systematic and coordinated that it transcended mere mob violence."

Nevertheless, the DOJ ruled out prosecuting the entities responsible for the atrocities.

"While we appreciated the DOJ reaffirming that information, we were very disappointed that they decided that they were not going to do anything about it," attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons said in a Tuesday press conference.

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"But we have been planning for that contingency with our Project Greenwood, which is a plan that has been developed by myself and my team based on over 25 years of working on this issue," he added, noting Mayor Monroe Nichols has already expressed support for aspects of the proposal.

Justice for Greenwood advocates are pursuing the new plan after the Oklahoma Supreme Court in June 2024 dismissed a historic lawsuit seeking reparations for massacre survivors Viola Ford Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle.

"Greenwood was created by five basic principles: community love, ownership, freedom mind state, wealth concentration, and resiliency, and that's what this Project Greenwood is about – the resiliency particularly of our two last living survivors, Viola Ford Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle, who are 110 years old and have been a part of this process every step of the way," Solomon-Simmons explained.

The harms-based Project Greenwood program calls, first and foremost, for financial repair for Fletcher and Randle through a victims compensation fund.

"It would be one of the worst tragedies in the history of this country, let alone the city, for these two 110-year-old women to pass away without the justice that they so rightly deserve," Solomon-Simmons insisted.

The Project Greenwood proposal also demands:

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• Direct cash payments for known properties that were destroyed or seized, as well as to the families of known murder victims
  
• City of Tulsa employment and contracting preference for verified massacre descendants
• A scholarship program for verified massacre descendants seeking higher education in Tulsa
• Immunity from all City of Tulsa taxes, fees, and utility expenses for verified massacre descendants
• Return of any land the City of Tulsa unlawfully acquired after the massacre to descendant families, or fair compensation
• Construction of a Level 1 trauma center hospital in North Tulsa, to be named after massacre victim Dr. A.C. Jackson
• An official City of Tulsa annual holiday on June 1 to ensure the massacre is never forgotten
• Release of all City of Tulsa records related to the massacre
• A criminal investigation concerning the cases of known murder victims

"This will promote true healing and conciliation for our city. It will remove the dark cloud that sits on Tulsa now because of the massacre, and as we move to the 105th anniversary next year, the eyes of the world once again will be on Tulsa," Solomon-Simmons said.

"We don't want what happened during the centennial, where the lack of repair really was a problem for us to properly acknowledge the massacre."

The Project Greenwood proposal has received resounding endorsements from North Tulsa massacre descendants like Jackie Emerson Weary, whose grandfather, John Emerson Sr., owned a cab company and a hotel that was ransacked in the white-supremacist terror attack.

"Imagine what would happen if the money were still here for the descendants to have their own businesses right now, in the spirit living on in them from their forefathers and mothers who had businesses down there, such as my grandfather," Weary said.

"It's time to right the wrong. It's time for us to come together. It's time for North Tulsa to have those businesses that we need to be a great community."

Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, executive director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, described Project Greenwood as the "most comprehensive plan yet" to repair the harms of the massacre, saying, "This moment is the result of years of relentless work, of pushing forward despite setback after setback, of refusing to accept injustice as the final word."

"History has prescribed today's moment," Crutcher emphasized. "We are here because justice demands it, because truth requires it, because our ancestors built the foundation of resilience that still moves us toward action."

Randle's granddaughter, LaDonna Penny, said, "When I speak about my grandmother, I get emotional because I know what she went through, and I know what both of them [the survivors] have gone through and to know that they're still here and still fighting."

"I believe in this program," Penny continued. "It can help them. They both want to see justice before they die. I'm praying that God gives them more years, but we don't know."

"If this is the opportunity to give them their flowers while they're still here, then this city needs to do it. They need to step up."