Suit filed for riot survivors
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Feb 25, 2003
1/20/13 at 8:14 AM
Riot survivor Otis Clark (left) shakes the hand of
attorney Johnnie Cochran with Randall Robinson
looking on during a press conference at the
Greenwood Cultural Center about reparations for
the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
KELLY KERR / Tulsa World
Tulsa, its Police Department and
the state are named in the lawsuit,
which seeks unspecified damages.
A legal team including Johnnie Cochran and
some of the nation's most successful tort and civil
rights lawyers sued the city of Tulsa, the Tulsa
Police Department and the state of Oklahoma on
Monday on behalf of more than 200 survivors and
descendants of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, was
filed in U.S. District Court in Tulsa. The attorneys
said they took the case on a pro bono basis.
"This is one of the most important moments in
the history of the black struggle in the United
States and the world," said Randall Robinson, an
author and civil rights activist. "This is an enormously critical moment in the history . . . of race
relations in America."
Harvard law professor Charles
Ogletree, who spearheads the legal team, said he doesn't expect
any obstacles to winning the lawsuit.
Others, however, pointed out
one very big problem -- the
statute of limitations for tort
claims from the riot expired in
1923.
To get around that, the lawsuit
argues that the statute of limitations should be waived because
of new evidence uncovered by a
legislative race riot commission
and published in its 2001 report.
It also argues that the 1997
statute authorizing the riot commission effectively reopened the
case and that by passing a 2001
bill implementing some of the riot commission's recommendations, the state tacitly accepted
all of the recommendations,
which include cash payments to
survivors and descendants. This,
the suit contends, restarted the
clock when the commission released its report two years ago.
"As of Feb. 28, 2001, notice
was served that a terrible wrong
had been done here," Ogletree
said. "It met with palpable silence."
Mark Stodghill, president of
the Tulsa Reparations Coalition,
said the unwillingness of state
and city leaders to discuss reparations led to the legal action.
He said a conflict management
session, paid for by the coalition
and its supporters, was largely
ignored.
"The state is interested in giving money only to a memorial.
The city is silent," Stodghill said.
Others in the audience of
about 100 at a press conference
at the Greenwood Cultural Center said the memorial, which has
the greatest support among the
general public, is the least important of the five remedies recommended by the race riot commission.
"A memorial is nice, but it
doesn't apologize for what happened," said Darrel Christopher
of the Tulsa Reparations Coalition.
City Attorney Martha Rupp
Carter said late Monday that the
city had not yet been served and
reserved comment. Charlie
Price, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office,
said the state had not been
served, either.
Ogletree said the case has
been assigned to senior U.S.
District Judge James O. Ellison.
Tulsa author Eddie Faye
Gates, who over the years has
known almost 200 riot survivors,
said Monday was a satisfying
day for her.
"There were times I almost
lost faith," she said, "but it looks
as though something will finally
happen."
The 16-hour riot on May 31-June 1, 1921, was one of the
deadliest and most destructive
on record. Property losses were
estimated at $3 million to $5 million. Hundreds of homes and
businesses were destroyed, and
an unknown number of people
were killed. Thirty-eight deaths
have been verified, although
most authorities think the toll
was considerably higher.
The suit contends that the riot
was the result of actions by the
state, the city and the Tulsa Police Department during the period leading up to the riot and
during the riot itself.
One of the most controversial
aspects of the case from the
very start was the Police Department's deputization of hundreds
of private residents during the
night of May 31-June 1, when
authorities categorized the melee
as a "black invasion" of downtown Tulsa.
Witnesses later said some of
these special deputies used their
badges to plunder and burn the
black district.
In some cases, regular officers
were identified as having participated in the mayhem.
Residents by the hundreds
filed claims against the city following the riot, and almost all of
their claims were rejected. Property owners then turned to the
state courts, which also ruled
against them.
Several of the attorneys at
Monday's press conference
spoke of the suit not only in
terms of redressing the riot but
as a symbol of racial injustice.
Dennis Sweet, an attorney
from Jackson, Miss., said, "This
is important for the folks up
here. It's important for the future."
Where the case fits in the international reparations movement
is unclear. Stodghill said it could
have some implications but that
the focus should be on the riot
survivors.
Nevertheless, such groups as
N'COBRA -- the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in
America -- distributed materials
at the press conference, and
most of the attorneys from outside Oklahoma are slavery reparations advocates.
Local attorneys involved in the
suit are James Goodwin, Leslie
Mansfield, Jim Lloyd and Sharon
Cole Jones.
Other attorneys of record are
the following:
Charles J. Ogletree Jr., Harvard Law School.
Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, N'COBRA
chief legal consultant, University
of California, Santa Barbara.
Michele A. Roberts, Shea and
Gardner, Washington, D.C.
Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., Cochran, Cherry, Givens & Smith,
New York.
Dennis C. Sweet III, Langston
Sweet & Freese, Jackson, Miss.
Eric J. Miller, Harvard Criminal Justice Institute, Cambridge,
Mass.
Michael D. Hausfeld, Cohen,
Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, Washington, D.C.
Suzette M. Malveaux, Cohen,
Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, Washington, D.C.
Rose Sanders, aka Faya Ora
Rose Toure, Selma, Ala.
Willie E. Gary, Gary, Williams,
Parenti, Finney, Lewis, McManus, Watson & Sperando, Stuart,
Fla.
Lorenzo Williams, Gary, Williams, Parenti, Finney, Lewis,
McManus, Watson & Sperando,
Stuart, Fla.
J.L. Chestnut, Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders, Pettaway, Campbell
& Albright, Selma, Ala.
Joseph M. Sellers, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, Washington, D.C.
Tricia Purks Hoffler, Gary,
Williams, Parenti, Finney, Lewis,
McManus, Watson & Sperando,
Stuart, Fla.
Randy Krehbiel, World staff writer, can
be reached at 581-8365 or via e-mail at
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com.
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