Oklahoma’s Governor Who Was Overseeing 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission Was Removed After He Signed a Bill Banning Teaching Concepts of Race in Public Schools

Oklahoma’s Governor, Kevin Stitt, who was was overseeing the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission was removed after signing a bill that banned certain concepts about race in the state’s public schools.

According to the New York Times: Stitt … has been ousted from a commission set up to commemorate the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, just days after he signed legislation that commission members said would undermine their goal of teaching the state’s painful history of racial discrimination. In a statement on Friday, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission said its members had met on Tuesday and had “agreed through consensus to part ways” with Mr. Stitt, a Republican. The statement did not offer a reason but said that no elected officials or representatives of elected officials had been involved in the decision.

“While the Commission is disheartened to part ways with Governor Stitt, we are thankful for the things accomplished together,” the statement said. “The Commission remains focused on lifting up the story of Black Wall Street and commemorating the Centennial.”

Mr. Stitt’s office said in a statement that his role had been “purely ceremonial” and that he had not been invited to attend a meeting until this week.

The law bans teaching “of the concepts that a person, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex” and that “meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race to oppress members of another race.”

The law also says that students in Oklahoma’s public higher education system cannot be required to engage “in any form of mandatory gender or sexual diversity training or counseling”

The Root noted: “The fact is, this entire Republican war on Critical Race Theory is a shining example of “falsehoods and political rhetoric,” and it absolutely causes “division.” Of course, when conservatives talk about divisiveness, they’re really only talking about shit that makes white people uncomfortable; to hell with the “division” that pushes Black people away because American history continues to be whitewashed in a way that only serves to protect white feelings.

The bill Stitt signed bans schools from teaching that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive,” and “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex”—CRT teaches neither of those things.

The Tulsa Race Massacre (also known as the Tulsa Race Riot), occurred over 18 hours from May 31 to June 1, 1921, beginning when a white mob attacked residents, homes and businesses in the predominantly Black Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, and, for a period, remained one of the least-known: News reports were largely squelched, despite the fact that hundreds of people were killed and thousands left homeless.

The riot was prominently featured in the pilot episode of HBO’s Watchmen.

A bill in the Oklahoma State Senate requiring that all Oklahoma high schools teach the Tulsa Race Riot failed to pass in 2012, with its opponents claiming schools were already teaching their students about the riot. According to the State Department of Education, it has required the topic in Oklahoma history classes since 2000 and U.S. history classes since 2004, and the incident has been included in Oklahoma history books since 2009.

In November 2018, the 1921 Race Riot Commission was officially renamed the 1921 Race Massacre Commission.  “Although the dialogue about the reasons and effects of the terms riot vs. massacre are very important and encouraged,” said Oklahoma State Senator Kevin Matthews, “the feelings and interpretation of those who experienced this devastation as well as current area residents and historical scholars have led us to more appropriately change the name to the 1921 Race Massacre Commission.”

Sources

James S. Hirsch, Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002).
Scott Ellsworth, “Tulsa Race Riot,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.
1921 Tulsa Race Riot, Tulsa Historical Society & Museum.
Nour Habib, “Teachers talk about how black history is being taught in Oklahoma schools today,” Tulsa World (February 24, 2015).
Sam Howe Verhovek, “75 Years Later, Tulsa Confronts Its Race Riot,” New York Times (May 31, 1996).