MASS VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

Looking at the past never ceases to remind me of my ignorance. I grew up on two continents, the United States and Europe. My formative years between 1942 and 1963, were divided between The East Coast, the Var/Alpes Maritime, l’Île de France and the West Coast. There was quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. I use the term formative years to indicate the period of development between birth and maturity or adulthood; although, I am not entirely sure if one ever ceases to ‘form’. In any event it was a reasonably innocent existence. My American education taught me myths and legends and it was not until my resent researches that I have come to fully appreciate the extent of racial violence and corruption in the history of the United States. It is not that I was unaware of it. I was continually surprised by events as they unfolded. How could this or that happen in a country founded on a Declaration of Independence containing the words “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…” and leading to a Constitution opening with ‘We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America’ ? The atrocities and distortions continued despite my surprise. Perhaps because I grew up with them I became inured to them. What I should have realised was, that my surprise should have reflected more those events which supported the myths and legends, rather than the usual horror; those incidents depicting citizens behaving decently are the more surprising. 

So when I see that the 1^st June commemorates the Tulsa Race Riots in Oklahoma in 1921 (31^st May-1^st June), I should not be surprised at the scale of it. “The Tulsa race riot was a racially motivated conflict between the white and black communities of Tulsa, Oklahoma, including aerial attack, beginning May 31, 1921. During the 16 hours of the assault, over 800 people were admitted to local hospitals with injuries, more than 6000 Greenwood residents were arrested and detained in a prison camp, an estimated 10,000 were left homeless, and 35 city blocks composed of 1,256 residences were destroyed by fire caused by bombing.” It has been described as the worst and costliest race riot in American History. Yet if one looks at the history of violence relating to religions and race, there are many incidents, which appear to have been just as violent and costly: Cincinnati 1829 and 1841, Philadelphia 1844, Louisville Kentucky’s Bloody Monday 1855, New Orleans and Memphis 1866, Pulaski Tennessee 1868…The Rosewood Massacre in Florida of 1923 when the entire town was burned to the ground and has not been repopulated since.  

The list and description of mass racial violence in America is more than significant.

I was brought up with Oklahoma where ‘my honey lamb and I sit alone and talk and watch a hawk makin’ lazy circles in the sky…we know we belong to the land and the land we belong to is grand”; however, it now seems clear that they were not doing fine in Oklahoma, no, not OK. Here is a 1996 short report on the 75th anniversary of events. It's now 90 years on.