REPAIRING AMERICA
As the federal government gets closer than ever to moving on H.R. 40 — a bill that would designate a committee to study racism in America and propose reparative measures — and local, county and state governments across the country make similar moves, we wanted to track the nation’s progress on making amends for its history of inequity. When the country marked 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre, we looked at, among other things, the loss of Black wealth, housing instability and redlining. We interviewed members of Congress about the federal H.R. 40 battle, and we’re taking a look at how states like Vermont and California are addressing reparations for their residents. We plan to look at reparations and policing, the role of nonprofit organizations and repair and what’s happening at educational institutions. Look for updated content every month.
Gov. Hogan’s actions show states are more unified than federal government on issues related to racism and repair. Read more
While racial justice protests renewed reparations talk, some pushed for (among other things) white people to use Venmo to compensate Black residents. Read more
Efforts pave the way to link descendants to deserved reparations.. Read more
As elders call for promised repair, the city's plan doesn't fix harm, it adds to loss. Read more
Slavery and modern AmericaLack of empathy and hypervigilance are rooted in America’s slave past, and they are reenforced every time we watch a video of police brutality. That stress is killing Black America. Project editor Eileen Rivers talks about multigenerational trauma and how addressing it is vital to reparations. Read more
The nation’s past is not really gone — to the physical and emotional detriment of Black people. Members of Congress and a psychologist who specializes in historical trauma, take a deep look at why our history and our emotional growth reveal the need for reparations on the federal level.
That’s how author and activist Heather McGhee explains race education and reparations. She breaks down what critical race theory is (and what it isn’t) and why she thinks the wealthy are attempting to control the debate. Read more
Black people invented much of American music, but too often get little of the credit (and in many cases even less pay). How rich would this nation’s culture be without Prince? Little Richard? UCLA African American studies professor Marcus Anthony Hunter talks about musical wealth and how repayment, in the case of intellectual property, may not need to come in the form of money. Read more
Musician Aloe Blacc, professor Rashida Z. Shaw McMahon and filmmaker Leigh Blake talk about what they think Black musicians contributed to the industry and what acknowledgment for generations of unattributed work means to them in Reparations Explained.
One sentence from Viola Ford “Mother” Fletcher, the oldest living Tulsa Race Massacre survivor at 107, sums up the Black experience in America better than any other: “Greenwood should have given me the chance to truly make it in this country.”
The nation’s history is riddled with movements and moments that have thwarted the safety, upward mobility, political progress and sometimes mere existence of Black America. Some have been violent, like the white mob that Mother Fletcher watched, at the age of 7, kill Black men in front of her home; or the brutal asphyxiation of unarmed Black man George Floyd, which modern technology allowed us all to see. Others have been political. Voter suppression efforts started more than 100 years ago and continue today.
Black people should have an equal chance to make it in this country, just like any other group. But we don’t. The gaps in success between Black and white people in America when it comes to homeownership (less than 50% for the former and nearly 80% for the latter) and employment are a testament to that.
Mike Thompson, USA TODAY
Viola Ford "Mother" Fletcher confirmed for the nation what she and the rest of Tulsa already knew – the massacre did happen and a white mob killed hundreds. USA TODAY Opinion cartoonist Mike Thompson animated moments from her congressional testimony.
Tiffany Crutcher's great-grandmother was a victim of the Tulsa race massacre. Her twin brother was shot and killed by Tulsa police in 2016. She's battling for them both. Read more
Most were responses to false accusations and erroneous news reports. Others were attempts at eradicating social change. We searched news stories and historical sites and reached out to cities across the country. Here's what we learned about why massacres happened and the reparations given. Search the database
Paige Dillard, Oklahoman
"It's not anything I'm proud of or think is grand," Lessie Benningfield "Mother" Randle said to the USA TODAY Network during a recent interview. The Tulsa Race Massacre "is just something I wish had never happened, and I never learned about."
The residents of Linnentown were pushed out by bulldozers and a city that made the equivalent of $1.8 million by selling the town's land to the University of Georgia. Nearly six decades later, former residents pushed the county to label those actions white supremacist terror and won. Read more
Hayti. Jackson Ward. 15th Ward. Highways ripped apart these thriving communities decades ago. Black female entrepreneur Maggie L. Walker became the first woman to own a bank, and she did that in Richmond, Virginia's Jackson Ward neighborhood in 1903. Learn more about these community successes, and how they can be brought back. Read more
Job and home losses due to racial discrimination have cost the American economy trillions. Marcus Anthony Hunter, a UCLA professor of African American studies and sociology, breaks down the money that could have been propping up the GDP and how those losses relate to massacres like Tulsa. Read more.
Trevon Logan, an economics professor at Ohio State University, breaks it down: The reason massacres like Tulsa happened is because of the political violence that had already defined America. How are Black people still feeling those economic losses? And how has the pattern of political violence continued? Podcast editor Claire Thornton interviews him in 5 Things.
USA TODAY Network property The Oklahoman takes a look at how Greenwood continues to rebuild a century after the massacre and at how trauma spans generations. Read more
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