greenwood, home to what was then called black wall street. many american history classes in high school still did not include that story. today in the greenwood neighborhood in tulsa,oklahoma, the president of the united states told that story. through the night and in to the morning, the mob terrorized greenwood and tortured with guns and a mob tied a black man by a waist with his head banging along the pavement as they drove off. a murder black family drove over the fence of their homes outside. couples knelt by the beds and
shooting at will. a mob tied a black man by the way s to the back of their truck with his head begging along the pavement as they drove off. a murdered black family took over the fence of their home outside. a couple knelt by their bed praying to god with their heart and their soul with a shot in the back of their heads. private planes dropping explosives. the first and only of its kind on an american city, here in tulsa. my fellow americans, this was not a riot. this was a massacre. [applause] that applause was for the
and it is [inaudible] we have to look at the ugliness of our past, but we have to be willing to believe these things happened or else we leave ourselves open to them being re-committed in the present and future. that s why i chose that particular piece of the president s speech that he was going into those real details, and not flinching. i want to take a moment to listen to viola fletcher, 107 years old one of the last living with victims of this massacre. she testified on may 19th to a house hearing. let s listen to what she said. i will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. i still see black men being shot, black bodies lying in the street, i still smell smoke and
of may 31st, 1921, an angry white mob stormed through tulsa s greenwood neighborhood, also known as black wall street. in less than 24 hours, more than 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed. an estimated 300 black americans killed. all after allegations that were never proven, that a black man assaulted a white woman in an elevator. today, what no president has ever done, standing in tulsa, putting words to the horror of what happened. 100 years ago, at this hour, on this first day of june, smoke darkened the tulsa sky. rising from 35 blocks of greenwood, they were left in ash and ember, razed in rubble. the mob terrorized greenwood, torches and guns, shooting at will. a mob tied a black man by the waist to the back of their truck with his head banging along the pavement as they drove off.
finally we have to and finally we must address what remains the stain on the soul of america. what happened in greenwood was an act of hate and domestic terrorism with the through line that exists today still. just close your eyes and remember what you saw in charlottesville four years ago on television. neo-nazis, white supremacists, the kkk coming out of those fields at night in virginia with lightled torches, the veins bulge as they were screaming. just close your eyes and picture what it was. well, mother fletcher said when she saw the insurrection at the capitol on january the 9th it broke her heart. will a mob of violent white extremists, thugs said reminded her of what happened here in greenwood 100 years ago. look around at the various hate