Tulsa (was: Oppression, Racism and Other Happy Things)

[Ebony]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "L. Inman" <linman6868 at a...> wrote:
> > I am from Tulsa, Oklahoma, home of The Race Riot that expands in 
ever-widening news circles since the State Commission was formed on 
the subject, and you wouldn't believe the "collective amnesia" that 
some whites attempt to enforce even 80 years later.  Or perhaps you 
would.
> 

What Lisa is referring to is the Tulsa riot in 1921, during which 
just about the entire black business district was burned to the 
ground.  Estimated deaths--300.  Estimated injuries--800.

But the thing is, back in the Golden Age of American history Tulsa 
happened over and over again.  It happened in Rosewood, a place about 
50 miles away from where my mother's family is from.  It happened in 
a town in Alabama that my grandfather would never name, when he was 
three years old.  It happened time and time again.

What gets me is that our nation chooses to amplify Watts 1965, 
Detroit 1967, and L.A. 1992.  This is why the word "riot" now 
connotes an out-of-control, angry sea of black faces.

"Riot" used to mean something altogether different.  And it looked a 
whole lot different too.  

We choose to silence Wilmington 1898, Atlanta 1906, St. Louis 1917, 
Chicago 1919, Tulsa 1921, Rosewood 1922, Detroit 1922 and 1943... and 
I could go on.  I would wager that only a handful of Americans know 
about the Red Summer of 1919, when my great-grandfather and thousands 
of other black men (mostly servicemen returning from WWII) were 
lynched.  Damage claims?  Wrongful death suits?  Whatever.

The problem is that people know next to nothing about what was going 
on in black America after Reconstruction and before the Second World 
War.  Few know about the Exodusters, about the number of business and 
cultural districts when building the nation's highway system, about 
all-black townships whose biggest problem was digging a new well.  
Writer Zora Neale Hurston grew up in one of these towns.

What I liken this to is the practice of obliterating records in 
ancient times.  

In closing, Lisa, you might have more in common with the blacks in 
your community than you think.  Let me give a personal example from 
here at HP4GU... Sunday chat last week.
  
The topic of hip-hop music came up.  One or two people (can't 
remember when or how) expressed surprise that I'm an avid listener of 
rap music, and said that I didn't "seem" like someone who was into 
hip-hop culture.  I found that hilarious!  Not only have I loved rap 
music since I was little (*real* rap--not some of the crap that 
they're trying to pass off for it these days!), I've written critical 
articles about hip-hop culture *and* for a brief second in the middle 
of high school was part of a ragtag group of girl rappers.  (Rap is 
the music, hip-hop is the surrounding culture including art, 
clothing, attitude, etc.).  I listen in every category now, but my 
zone is definitely stuff with bass.  ;-)
 
Now, if we'd all met at, say, an online music conference, I'd say 
that most people would say they didn't have all that much in common 
with me.  I'd definitely be in the urban section of things (rap, R&B, 
soul, gospel, some Latin, some reggae and world music, and some 
pop)... 90% of the time when people talk about music around the 
fandom I'm totally lost.  And I daresay that if I began to start 
going on and on about artists who are often the topics of *Source* 
and *Vibe* articles, and host BET's 106&Park, lots of my friends 
would be lost.  So I don't... I have other outlets for that interest 
of mine.

Since we're all around these parts to discuss Harry Potter, we all 
have at least that in common.  Often we find that we have many, many 
other things in common as well.

Because of my burgeoning interest in speculative fiction in general, 
and Rowling's lovely series in particular, I've ventured out of my 
comfort zone quite a bit.  And I've been a better person thanks to 
all the wonderful folks I've met through the fandom.

That really has nothing to do with race and culture.  Has everything 
to do with being human.

--Ebony AKA AngieJ (who spent an entire summer in high school at 
Michigan doing a sociology research project on 20th-century American 
riots, and that selfsame summer wishing she could marry Tupac 
Shakur.  Ah, 1992.)