AHC: avert the Tulsa race riot of 1921

That tragedy was a classic case of miscommunications and rumors spiraling out of control when superimposed on an atmosphere already charged with bigotry. But apparently it all started with a very simple, everyday accident that got misinterpreted in the worst way possible: a young black man was arrested on assault charges--yet the young white woman who had been thought to be the victim declined to press any charges on the reasonable grounds that nothing happened.

As was all too often the case in that time in that general part of the US, a black man accused of assaulting a white woman was the intended target of a lynch mob. However, the sheriff stood his ground, did his job, and ensured the young black man in custody was kept safe. He tried to disperse the mob without much success--and at some point a group of blacks, many of whom were World War I veterans, showed up to offer their services in support of the sheriff and his deputies. They were rightly turned away on the grounds that they could easily inflame the would-be lynch mob even worse--and as the two groups separated, a shot was fired...and the fuse was lit.

So...what could one do to avert the worst race riot in US history? Google it if you're not familiar--and realize that the topic until recently was all but completely taboo in Tulsa in particular and Oklahoma in general.
 
... Google it if you're not familiar--and realize that the topic until recently was all but completely taboo in Tulsa in particular and Oklahoma in general.

I remember being told by a Oklahoma native back in the 1970s, the riot was organized by business interests. Tulsa had one of the largest & wealthiest African American business communities. When the riot ran out that was pretty much ashes. I don't know what the facts are with that, but there been more than a few other riots accused of similar instigation by one power group against another.

There were other race riots against Americans of color in that era. The Afro American population of Chicago fled to the south suburbs circa 1919. Locally in my home town a riot that ostensibly burned out a riverside shanty town of Colored folks & undesirables also by coincidence ran off the laborers building a competing railroad thru town.

This was the era of the revived Klan, of the 'Americanism' movement, of the rise of isolationism, the decline of the Populists and Progressives, the voter sentiment that led to the constipated political vibe of the Coolidge years. Avoiding the Tulsa riot and destruction of a vibrant AA community helps offset all that in a small way.
 
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