Showing posts with label Black Wall Street. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Wall Street. Show all posts

2.26.2023

GDW Event Alert: THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA HOLDS CITIZENSHIP CEREMONY FOR MOTHER FLETCHER AND UNCLE REDD

By Gloria DULAN-Wilson
Hello All
Happy BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023

THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA HOLDS CITIZENSHIP CEREMONY FOR 

MOTHER FLETCHER AND UNCLE REDD


I have just received some exciting news - and just in time for Black History Month: It appears that two of my Oklahoma Homies - and surviving members of the 1921 Black Walls Street Massacre , in Greenwood, Oklahoma -a Black suburb of Tulsa, will be receiving the highest honor of Ghana, that of Ghanian Citizenship from the President of Ghana, on Tuesday, February 28, 2023.

Viola Fletcher, now 108 years old, and her brother, Hughes Van Ellis, 102, at a ceremony hosted by Diaspora African Forum- (DAF-Accra, Ghana) in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and the Ministry of Interior. They will hold a citizenship ceremony at the Embassy of the Republic of Ghana in Washington, DC. 


 

 

Voila Ford Fletcher and Hughes Van Ellis often referred to as Mother Fletcher and Uncle Redd, are two of the  three survivors of ‘’Black Wall Street Massacre,’’ also known as the Tulsa Race Massacre of May 31-June  1,1921. This horrific event took place during the worst 2 days that Mother Fletcher can remember, as a small  girl of 6 clutching her baby brother of just 6 months, her family barely got out alive when mobs of white  residents attacked Black residents and destroyed homes and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa,  Oklahoma. The event is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. The  attackers burned and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of one of the wealthiest Black communities in the  United States, colloquially known as ‘’Black Wall Street.’  

So moved were the founders of DAF, after listening to Mother Fletcher’s testimony recounting the horror of  those days before the U.S. Congress in January 2021 that they decided to propose a visit that would give her  more positive memories. Thus, in August 2021, the two iconic figures visited the Republic of Ghana as guests  of DAF and the Government of Ghana. In just 8 days, these energetic and tireless Centenarians attended  thirteen (13) events in just eight (8) days. Mother Fletcher said that this visit was a ‘’dream come true ’’ visiting their African roots through the welcoming gateway of Ghana. 

Ike Howard, grandson to Mother Fletcher expressed his gratitude to H.E Erieka Bennett (Founder & Head of  Mission, DAF) and Dr. Toni Luck (Co-Founder, DAF) for the upcoming citizenship ceremony for Mother  Fletcher and Uncle Redd. ‘’I would like to thank D.A.F for recruiting us to be Ambassadors for travel to Ghana  under the remarkable leadership of Ambassador Erieka Bennett and Dr Toni Luck. The family is extremely grateful and honored to receive citizenship from the Ghanaian government. We wish all a long life and  prosperity.’’ 

 


 

As the month of February is designated Black History Month, The Republic Ghana, the home of Pan  Africanism and reaching hands across the ocean to Africa’s children in the Diaspora is elated to grant citizenship to these heroic survivors of the Tulsa Massacre.

This is such huge news!!

If you will recall, in 2021, during the 100th Commemoration of the Wall Street Massacre - at the ages of 105 and 100 respectively - were flown to Ghana to meet the president and the Ashantahene and be honored there. It had been Mother Fletcher's lifelong dream to go to Ghana. Many speculated that at her advanced age, it might not be feasible. But Tony Regusters and Toni Luck, and a combined auspices of Our Black Truth, a Black social media organization of African and African American Activists and historians, that made it happen.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/Tony+Regusters++Black+Wall/QgrcJHsbcVNwTgMhnJjMxltqvLwhgWjpXTB?compose=FZGHWgGRmk

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As a fellow Oklahoman, I am exceedingly proud of all they have endured and accomplished. Greenwood was one of 67 all Black Towns in Oklahoma Territory - which later became a state in 1907. Black people owned their own businesses, homes, had excellent educationaly systems, and people pulled together. Viola and Hugh epitomize the spirit of Oklahoma that my parents, grandparents, great grands, etc. grew up with. 




My admiration and congratulations to them, and the brothers and sisters of Greenwood who withstood the racist onslaught, and turned everything around by virtue of their might, creativity, discipline and unity.

 

Facebook: Diaspora African Forum 

Twitter: Diaspora African Forum (@forumdiaspora)  

Instagram: @diasporaafricanforumofficial 

Diaspora African Forum – info@diasporaafricanforum.org 

Contact: +233 302 780 923

Charity K. Frimpong – 055 45 45 900 

At the posting of this story, it was not mentioned as to whether or not the ceremony would be live streamed. For further information log onto:

Diaspora African Forum – info@diasporaafricanforum.org 


NOW THAT YOU KNOW

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

 

Gloria DULAN-Wilson

 



6.01.2021

GDW EVENT ALERT: Subject: HARLEM'S 1ST ANNUAL BLACK WALL STREET FESTIVAL PREMIERS TUESDAY JUNE 1




By Gloria DULAN-Wilson

Hello All:

I am so proud of my New York Brothers and Sisters for commemorating the tragedy and travesty that was Greenwood, Oklahoma, also known as BLACK WALL STREET. As an Oklahoman, I am well aware of the building ire that has grown ever since the PBS documentary about Black Wall Street.  I was impressed because so many of our brothers and sisters, who had doubted that Black people even existed in Oklahoma, immediately resonated to the series of events.  Especially brother/friend, Michael Green, who immediately wrote a play about it in the 80s, and continued to present it over the next three decades - regardless of who came to see it. 
Now we have a critical mass, because time has caught up with the victims and perpetrators.
I am sending a copy of this flyer to my Black Oklahoma Homies!  They will be so happy to know that Brothers and Sisters in Harlem are with them in solidarity.

This is a link to the article I posted on Green Wood, Oklahoma.  Please also read at your leisure.
https://gloria-dulan-wilson.blogspot.com/2021/05/icymi-commemorating-black-wall-street.html
 
They did it and hid it, but truth crushed to earth will rise again.  And always remember one main thing:  Black people in Oklahoma had guns and fought back - they did not duck and run; the bomb was dropped because the caucasoids were losing the fight. 
I am proud of my brothers and sisters in Oklahoma and Harlem, USA
Stay Blessed & 
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria DULAN-Wilson 
 
 
SHADES OF TRUTH THEATRE
VOZA RIVERS/NEW HERITAGE THEATRE GROUP
AND
THE ROBEY THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENT
HARLEM'S 1ST ANNUAL
BLACK WALL STREET FESTIVAL

PREMIERING
TUESDAY JUNE 1, 2021
QUEENS PUBLIC LIBRARY
In June 1921, a series of events nearly destroyed the entire Greenwood area of Tulsa Oklahoma. Built on what had formerly been Indian Territory, the community grew and flourished as a Black economic and cultural mecca—until May 31, 1921 when a white mob began a rampage through some 35 square blocks, decimating the community. Armed rioters, many deputized by local police, looted and burned down businesses, homes, schools, churches, a hospital, hotel, public library, newspaper offices and more. While the official death toll of the Tulsa race massacre was 36, historians estimate it may have been as high as 300. As many as 10,000 people were left homeless. The incident stands as one most horrific acts of racial violence, and domestic terrorism, ever committed on American soil.

FEATURING 3 SHORT PLAYS
The Plan 
Written & Directed by Michael Green
Double V (The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel) 
Written by Levy Lee Simon & Directed by Ben Guillory
Junebug's Great Plane Ride 
Written by Joseph Lawrence Thompson

PREMIERING JUNE 1, 2021
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

CLICK NOW TO REGISTER & VIEW



VOZA RIVERS/ NEW HERITAGE THEATRE GROUP | 229 West 135th Street, New York City, NY 10030
NOW THAT YOU KNOW 

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Stay Blessed & ECLECTICALLY BLACK






 
  
FOR ADDITIONAL INFO CLICK ON https://gloria-dulan-wilson.blogspot.com/2021/05/icymi-commemorating-black-wall-street.html  

Gloria DULAN-Wilson

6.12.2020

Message to my Black OKLAHOMA HOMIES: Don't let the ersatz president hijack Juneteenth in Tulsa

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:




I totally understand the kind of devious, nefarious kind of thinking the authoritarian personality operates from - and how they really think they have you over a barrel by invading our sacred holiday of Juneteenth and the celebration of those lives that were lost during the conflagration now know as Black Wall Street.  It won't the be first time a wannabe dictator has imposed his presence by way of intimidation over what he considers "underlings" because he thinks he's the big sh-t (yeah, I said it!)  But as we all know, he ain't sh-it.
So, you don't have to show up.  You can hold Juneteenth anywhere you wish.  You can do it in small gatherings, in churches, on scattered sites.  You don't have to have the stench of racism mar what has been a traditional celebration in our Oklahoma Families for more than 150 years.  The thing they overlook is that we Black people rebuilt the entire town of Greenwood ourselves - we didn't need government subsidies, or hand outs - and we restored the homes, schools, businesses, and other institutions and continued to thrive until the 60s when dis-integration came about and devastated a lot of Black owned businesses - partly because we got amnesia and thought (as Johnnie Cochran said, "the white man's ice was colder).  
We are a mighty people in Oklahoma.  At least when I lived there, and when I grew up there and when I participated in the sit ins and kneel ins and pray ins and other demonstrations under the wonderful guidance and mentorship of Ms. Clara Luper.   We were there before the invasion of 1889.  We had already built our own towns, schools, businesses.  We already owned our own homes, land, farms.  We had already educated our children and each other.  We are a mighty people and vermin can't take that away from us.
I truly hope the original spirit of those Black men and women who pioneered Oklahoma, long before there was a civil war, long before there was a Juneteenth, long before there was an emancipation proclamation, we already had our own all Black towns that were thriving, and no tyrant can intimidate us into a forced march to hear his preprogrammed lies just for a photo opportunity similar to the one he staged at the Church in DC.
Celebrate Juneteenth - but don't allow it to be desecrated by a person who would just as soon see you in chains that to do anything that is of benefit for you.  

Below are some excerpts from articles recently covering this issue - My commentaries  and responses are in red. 
Stay Blessed  

The BlackList Pub:
A new level of depravity

New rule for Trump campaign rallies: DON'T SUE IF YOU GET THE VIRUS

As President Trump moves to resume indoor campaign rallies, his campaign has added a twist to his optimistic push to return to life as it was before the pandemic: Attendees cannot sue the campaign or the venue if they contract the virus at the event.
“By clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to Covid-19 exists in any public place where people are present,” a statement on Mr. Trump’s campaign website informed those wishing to attend his June 19 rally in Tulsa, Okla. “By attending the rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to Covid-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors or volunteers liable for any illness or injury.”
Mr. Trump’s rally in Tulsa, the site of a massacre of black residents in 1921, will be on Juneteenth, a prominent African-American holiday recognizing the end of slavery in the United States. The rally will also be his first since the pandemic forced most of the country into quarantine three months ago, a campaign official said Wednesday. Polls have shown former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. establishing a substantial lead over Mr. Trump.
Oklahoma, a state Mr. Trump won four years ago by 36 percentage points, began lifting restrictions on businesses on April 24 and moved into Phase 3 of its reopening on June 1, allowing summer camps to open and workplaces to return with full staffing.

Of the four states the president announced this week as sites for rallies, three — Florida, Arizona and North Carolina — are seeing rising virus caseloads, while Oklahoma’s infection numbers are steady but not falling.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends that people avoid mass gatherings and stay out of crowded places.
 FROM BUSINESSINSIDER:
  • President Donald Trump is planning to restart his campaign rallies, which had been put on pause because of the novel coronavirus.
  •  
  • His first rebooted rally is scheduled for June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, The New York Times reported.  WATCH OUT MY BLACK OKLAHOMA HOMIES - THE CREATURE IS TRYING TO WALK AMONG YOU - in fact you need to give his "rebooting" the boot!!
  •  
  • Juneteenth, celebrated June 19, is a holiday to celebrate the end of slavery and is commemorated by Black Americans as an independence day.
  •  
  • NOTE:  Juneteenth started in Texas. It was brought to Oklahoma when many Black Texans fled the still racist state after the Civil War. They brought the celebration with them.  Eventually it caught on and was celebrated in Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas.  I remember when we would have picnics, bar-b-ques, and massive family and neighborhood gatherings.  I would eat so much wonderful food. 
  • In 1921, the Tulsa Race Massacre claimed the lives of as many as 300 African Americans, according to The Tulsa Historical Society and Museum.
President Donald Trump is planning to restart his campaign rallies after pausing them because of the novel coronavirus, which has infected nearly 2 million people in the US and killed more than 112,000.

Some quickly pointed out that Trump's first rally would be held on Juneteenth — a holiday to celebrate the end of slavery that is commemorated by Black Americans as an independence day — in a city where a race massacre took place 99 years ago.
According to CNN, hundreds of African Americans died during the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.

In a statement, the Trump campaign adviser ⁦Katrina Pierson defended the move.
"As part of the party of Lincoln, Republicans are proud of the history of Juneteenth, which is the anniversary of the last reading of the Emancipation Proclamation," Pierson wrote.
She should choke on even having Lincoln's sacred name come out of her mouth! In case you don't remember:  THE CURRENT REPUBLYCON PARTY IS NO LONGER THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF LINCOLN, AND HAS NOT BEEN SINCE THE DEMOCRATS, WHO WERE PISSED OFF AT LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON FOR PASSING THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT AND THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT, IN 1964 AND 1965 - THEY LEFT THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND INVADED THE ORIGINAL REPUBLICAN PARTY OF LINCOLN THINKING IT WOULD BE A WAY THEY COULD VOTE JOHNSON OUT OF OFFICE AND RETURN THE U.S. TO THE GOOD OLD BOY RACIST DIXICRAT MENTALITY THEY HAD ENJOYED.  Oklahoma was one of the states affected by this jump.  Most Black people in Oklahoma, including my Mom and Dad, were LINCOLN REPUBLICANS, and always voted Republican because they carried forward the principles and policies established by Abraham Lincoln when he founded the Abolitionist party in 1854. And, of course because of the Emancipation Proclamation which freed slaves in all rebellious states (Oklahoma was a Territory and slavery was not allowed there).  ABRAHAM LINCOLN HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS CURRENT INCARNATION OF THE REPUGLYCONS (aka Republicans)  - HE WOULD ALSO HAVE RESCUED THE POOR INNOCENT ELEPHANT WHO GOT TRAPPED INTO BEING A SYMBOL OF A PARTY THAT IS SO TOTALLY AGAINST ALL THEY STAND FOR. 

The Tulsa race massacre happened 99 years ago

Tensions between white and Black Americans in the city were high because of the success of the Greenwood District, known as "Black Wall Street," which had more than 300 Black-owned businesses.

Mechelle Brown, the director of programs at the Greenwood Cultural Center, told CNN that white people at the time would make comments like, "How dare these Negroes have a grand piano in their house, and I don't have a piano in my house."  These Black people had been in Oklahoma Territory (which became a state in 1907) from at least 1835.  We already owned our own homes, there were 67 all Black towns.  Blacks and Indians got along very well. Did not have or need white people to do anything for them.  We thrived.  When they opened the so called unoccupied lands to settlement/invasion, on April 22, 1889, it opened Oklahoma up to the same kind of racism that permeated the rest of the US. The rednecks were jealous.  They were trying to impose their racist rules on Black and Indian Oklahomans.  It's what they do.  It's who they are.  They can't be happy if we're happy.  They don't want us to thrive, for whatever reason, it sticks in their craw. 



White armed mobs stormed Greenwood after an incident in which Sarah Page, a 17-year-old white girl who operated an elevator, initially claimed she was assaulted by Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old Black man who took the elevator.  The building was a Black owned office building.  They should never have even given her a job. 

"This particular day after the elevator doors closed and Sarah Page and Dick Rowland were alone in the elevator a few moments, there was a scream," Brown told CNN.
The account of events varies, as the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum points out. As CNN wrote: "Other historic accounts say Rowland tripped leaving the elevator, grabbed Page's arm, she screamed and an onlooker went to authorities."
Rowland reportedly ran after the incident but was arrested later and charged by local authorities, though Page declined to press charges. Rumors circulated that she was raped.
Typical redneck racist excuse - they are so jealous of Black men, they would try to use rape as an excuse if they couldn't find any other reason for going after them.  

 After an "inflammatory" story in the local paper, the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum said, the confrontations started between a group of Black and white men, who confronted each other in front of the courthouse where Rowland was being held. After gunshots were fired, the Black men retreated to Greenwood, before a white mob destroyed and looted the district.  Uh, not exactly correct!!  The white mobs tried to do a shoot out against the Black men.  They found out, to their surprise and dismay, that our brothers and sisters were armed to the teeth, and not easily intimidated. We gave back as many shots as they did.  We backed them out of the communities and made it difficult for them to get in and destroy our homes.  It was for this reason they dropped incendiary devices on our homes - they were actually losing the battle.  Black people in Oklahoma had guns and weren't afraid to use them (most of us still do).  They always protected their own.  (if you want to read the truth, read STAKING A CLAIM - By Jake Simmons - it was so riveting, I read it in less than 2 days!!)

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 1,200 houses and 35 square blocks were destroyed in just one day. By the end of the massacre, Black Wall Street was decimated, and photos showed Black people dead in the street. The Tulsa Historical Society and Museum said "contemporary reports of deaths began at 36" but "historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died."  The fact that they were able to destroy so many homes in such a short period of time also shows this was planned and premeditated.  The false accusation was a catalyst, a ruse used to destroy Black homes and Black people.

'Oklahoma schools did not talk about it'

Despite the magnitude of destruction, the massacre was largely ignored and missing from the educational curriculum in the state.
"Oklahoma schools did not talk about it," Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told the CNN affiliate KFOR in 2018. "In fact, newspapers didn't even print any information about the Tulsa Race Riot. It was completely ignored. It was one of those horrible events that everyone wanted to sweep under the rug and ignore."  True.  I never heard about this until they did the documentary BLACK WALL STREET on PBS in the late 1980s.  I was in total shock - especially since we had been taught Black and Indian history, along with American history from Kindergarten.  I used to regularly visit Tulsa and Greenwood with my best friend, who had relatives there - but nothing was ever said. The homes and businesses were thriving and elegant. So I had absolutely no idea all this horror had transpired.  Talk about burying an incident.   I couldn't ask my mom, she wasn't born until 1923; my dad was born in 1921, but of course he wouldn't have had any knowledge of it either.

June 1 marked the 99th anniversary of the massacre, as protests for racial justice continued across the country after the May 25 killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis.

Planning rallies while behind in the polls

In her statement, Pierson (T-rump's mouthpiece) also went on to call out Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee. She alluded to Biden's widely panned remarks last year in which he talked up his ability to compromise by emphasizing how he was able to work with segregationist senators decades ago.

"Joe Biden spent last Juneteenth raising money at a private fundraiser and defending comments he made celebrating his work with segregationist senators," she wrote.
As The Times noted, the decision to restart rallies during a pandemic comes with Trump far behind Biden in national opinion polling.   I can't imagine any self conscious, intelligent, Black man or woman voting for T-rump - Like Biden Said on Charlamagne Da God - "If You Vote For T-rump, You're Not Black!"
Trump won Oklahoma, a deep-red state, by 36 points in the 2016 election. The state began lifting its coronavirus lockdown on April 24. Experts, however, warn that the risk of catching the coronavirus is not over, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends avoiding mass gatherings.
Not only can you be at risk for coronavirus - but the contamination of your mind is an even greater problem.

Oklahoma had recorded 7,480 cases of the coronavirus and 355 deaths, as of Wednesday. According to The Times, it's unlikely that any social-distancing measures will be put in place at Trump's rally, and attendees will most likely not be required to wear masks. Some campaign officials, however, said they were considering providing hand sanitizer.
"Americans are ready to get back to action, and so is President Trump," Brad Parscale, the president's campaign manager, said in a statement earlier in the week, according to The Times. "The Great American Comeback is real, and the rallies will be tremendous."


To my Black and Original Nation Brothers and Sisters in Oklahoma, don't allow this ersatz president use you for his footstool.  Stand up and make sure you are not anywhere near his efforts to invade our sacred ceremonies and traditions for his own negative and nefarious ends.  He means us no good. 
NOW THAT YOU KNOW
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Mobilize to make sure you VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT.   No more years of T-rump!




Stay Blessed & 
ECLECTICALLY BLACK 














Gloria Dulan-Wilson




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