Tulsa’s First Black Mayor Says He Plans To Address The City’s Ugly History Head-On

Mayor-elect Monroe Nichols faces pressure regarding cash reparations for a century-old race massacre.

Earlier this month, former Oklahoma state Rep. Monroe Nichols (D) was elected the first Black mayor of Tulsa. Among other plans, Nichols wants to help heal a community still grappling with the legacy of a racist massacre that killed at least 300 people more than a century ago.

The Department of Justice recently announced a review of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a two-day event in 1921 when a white mob terrorized a 35-square block area known as “Black Wall Street,” which consisted mostly of affluent homes and thriving Black-owned businesses.

There has been a sustained push in Tulsa for the city government to issue reparations of some kind to the descendants of those affected by tragedy, and to the larger community of Greenwood, the neighborhood that now stands on the site of the massacre. Nichols told HuffPost he supports the effort to resolve the pain that descendants of the massacre ― and the two remaining survivors of the event, both now over 100 years old ― still face. But he has not yet established a hard stance on reparations.

Nichols’ campaign was based on rehabilitating Tulsa’s education system and addressing affordable housing issues in order to combat homelessness. Black Tulsa residents have long suffered from a dearth of economic opportunity, Nichols said.

“My election was a strong statement that Tulsans are ready to respectfully and meaningfully close a painful chapter in our city’s history and move forward together,” he told HuffPost in an email. “My time in office is about the future and I don’t believe a better future is possible until we do the hard work of healing the wounds of the past.”