Click Image to Enlarge.May 31, 2009 is the 88th Anniversary of America's least known and worst act of domestic terrorism. Come see the LA Premier of our Feature Documentary Film Before They Die! which chronicles the survivors journey for justice in their own words. Meet 106 yr. old Otis Clark, 94 yr. old Dr. Olivia Hooker, 91 yr. old Wess Young. They will be joined by the 5 survivors living here in Southern California for a post screening reception and Talk Back moderated by Professor Ogletree and Congresswoman Waters. Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see, experience, touch and change history. Help Us, Help Them....Before They Die!
Tickets/Donation $20.00 Adults, $12.00 Students W/ ID, Children under 6 Free Available at Box Office, RSVP appreciated below. All tickets and Donations are tax deductible.
For more information on the film, event sponsorship or on making a Donation please visit the Before They Die! website by clicking the post's title or call Reggie Turner at 323 798 8634. The Tulsa Project, Inc is a 501(c) (3) public charity.
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Will the Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Get Justice Before They Die?
Los Angeles, California - May 26, 2009 –
At 106 years old, Mr. Otis Clark has been waiting 88 years for justice. He and the other survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot have never been compensated for what they lost during that horrific event. Mr. Clark remembers being shot at while he and a friend were trying to get an ambulance to help wounded people, lying in the dusty streets. When Dr. Olivia Hooker asked her mother if it was hailing, her mother showed her the machine gun the National Guard has set up on the side of the hill, and said that her country was shooting at them. These are but two of the stories that survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot tell. Before the September 11, 2001 tragedy, the Oklahoma City bombing, the internment of Japanese-Americans in camps in the U.S. during World War II, there was the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, the least known and worst act of domestic terrorism in the history of America. In less than 24 hours over 42 square blocks of the black section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as “Black Wall Street,” were burned to the ground by a white mob that had been deputized by the sheriff. More than 10,000 people were displaced overnight and an estimated 300 killed. The photographs look like a war zone.
In 1999 the State of Oklahoma set up a commission to look at the issue of reparations for the Survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot. Despite the Tulsa Race Riot Commission 2001 recommendations that the Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot should receive reparations for what they lost during the riot, the City of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma have not offered anything in the way of compensation. They have appropriated $5 million in funds for monuments and a museum but not for direct payments to the survivors. It appears that the City of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma are waiting for the Survivors to die and along with them any claims for reparations.
Armed with the 2001 findings and recommendations of the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, the Survivors took their case against the City and State to Federal Court. They were represented by a high powered legal team lead by Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree and the late Johnnie Cochran. At each step along the legal process, the courts acknowledged that a great wrong had been done to the victims of the Tulsa Race Riot. But their case was denied, nevertheless, based on a technicality. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. How ironic, that when viewing a clip of the new documentary, “Before They Die!” that follows the Survivors case through the courts, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer would say that he was "moved to tears by the event, the film and the stories of the Survivors".
The victims of ‘9/11’, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Japanese-Americans from the World War II internment camps have all been compensated. The Survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot are still waiting, hoping that they will see justice and compensation before they die.
May 31, 2009 marks the 88th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. To commemorate the anniversary a series of events have been scheduled in Los Angeles May 31.
At 8:00 AM on Sunday May 31, 2009 the survivors, Prof. Ogletree and the films Producer/Director Reggie Turner will attend First AME morning worship. At 11:00 am they will be guests at West Angeles COGC. They will be joined by religious and civic leaders from across America and the other living and able survivors. At 7:30 PM there will be a screening of the documentary Before They Die! The story of the Survivors’ 6 year odyssey through the Federal courts to the Supreme Court to Congress last year in search for legal recourse, remedy and justice will Premiere. Proceeds from the film will go to the Tulsa Project, Inc. a non-profit organization created to provide direct cash payments to the living survivors... Before They Die! Immediately after the film a Town Hall “Talk Back” will be held to discuss the film and how it will be used to inform the public about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, the legacy of the riot and what it holds for the future.
The film is the cornerstone of an effort to generate knowledge of this hidden historical event, and to stimulate Americans to contribute online to provide compensation directly to the victims. The non-profit, Tulsa Project Fund. Inc. has been established specifically for that purpose. Our goal is to accomplish what the legal and legislative branches of our government have failed to do. To right this wrong, to no longer simply look backward: To Step Forward from our history, by embracing our present responsibility to make life better for these victims while we have to opportunity to do so.
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