Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Regarding Tulsa Race Massacre Victims Who Were Seeking Repayment

On Friday, a judge, in a Tulsa, Oklahoma, courtroom, dismissed a lawsuit from three survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. A white mob had entered the Greenwood community, killing many.

Lessie Benningfield Randle, Viola Fletcher, and Hughes Van Ellis Jr., the plaintiffs, were all children during the massacre.

They had filed the lawsuit, citing “public nuisance,” hoping for reparations.

They were asking for immunity from taxes, fees, and assessments for the next 99 years, a scholarship fund for the descendants of the Greenwood district, payments on resident claims that had been denied by insurance companies, property development, mental health programs for the people of Greenwood, creation of a land trust, and a Level 1 trauma hospital.

The city had asked that the case be dismissed with prejudice, stating that being linked to a historical event doesn’t mean a person should have unlimited compensation.

Since the judge decided to dismiss the case with prejudice, the lawsuit can’t be filed again.