Tulsa: My Home Town

Spotted an item today in the Washington Post. "Otis G. Clark," the headline declares, "survivor of Tulsa race riot, dies at 109." The cause of death, the article reported, was not disclosed.

Ninety-one years ago, May 31, 1921, Otis Clark, then 18 years old, was living in Greenwood, a prosperous African American neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, when mobs of white rioters burned the area to the ground and killed an unknown number of victims, possibly as many as 300. The population of Greenwood at the time was about 15,000. The article tells Otis Clark's story. But it happened in my home town.

Sometimes when you research your own family history, you learn things you would just as soon not know. But they happened and can't be undone. In this case, both my maternal grandfather, then a member of the KKK, and my paternal grandfather as well, took part in the riot. The object: "to run those n*****s out of town."

When we see or hear of efforts by some to "return to the thrilling days of yesteryear," we need to know where that path leads. And make sure we never go there again.