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May 20, 2021

107-Year-Old Viola Fletcher Recounts Horror of Tulsa Race Massacre in Congressional Hearing
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Three survivors of one of the worst racial terror attacks in U.S.
history testified to Congress Wednesday in favor of reparations, ahead
of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre. Over two days, beginning
on May 31, 1921, racist white mobs set fire to homes, businesses and
churches in Greenwood, a thriving African American business district in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as "Black Wall Street."
One-hundred-seven-year-old Viola Fletcher is the oldest living survivor.

Viola Fletcher: "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 see fire. I still see Black
businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear
the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country
may forget this history, but I cannot. I will not. And other survivors
do not. And our descendants do not."



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