In this program JJ Citron, the 2019 Colgate Upstate Institute fellow at NAHOF and currently a member of the NAHOF Cabinet of Freedom, will demonstrate how both civilians and Tulsa’s city government collaborated to attack residents and businesses of the Greenwood District, also known as “Black Wall Street.” This lethal combination of mob mentality and racism resulted in the looting and burning of 35 city blocks in Tulsa, OK. This program will explore the state-citizen collaboration, as well as the aftermath of such violence. Citron will fast forward to September 2020, where survivor Lessie Benningfield Randle filed a lawsuit for reparations. She will also cover the October 2020 discovery of twelve unmarked coffins, presumably massacre victims. In this way, the program will discuss the Tulsa Massacre in the context of both when it occurred in 1921 and the present day. Citron graduated summa cum laude with Honors in Peace and Conflict Studies from Colgate University in 2020. From June-September 2020, she examined the intersection between race, technology, and law as a Research Assistant at the University of Washington’s Tech Policy Lab. She spent the fall at NextGen PA working as a Field Organizer.
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