6/16/2020
Tulsa's Black Residents Grapple with the City's Racist History and Police Brutality Ahead of Trump's Rally
Breaking Newstags: racism, Oklahoma, Donald Trump, Tulsa
This week, the world's eyes have shifted back to Tulsa, years after the spotlight left following Terence Crutcher's murder [by Tulsa Police]. But for [his sister] Tiffany, the problems and the fight for justice -- not just for her brother but for thousands of others -- continues.
It's a fight that has been waged here in this deeply segregated city for more than 100 years -- intertwining the city's modern-day inhabitants with the struggle of their ancestors, some of whom were murdered and displaced during the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst racially-motivated massacres on American soil in the last century.
"It's just simply a continuation of what's been going on for years," Crutcher said. "The same culture that burned down Black Wall Street and killed innocent people and ran my great grandmother from her home with the same culture, the same police and culture that killed Terence."
The atmosphere in Tulsa over policing has been tense for years -- and the protests over Floyd's death in the custody of Minneapolis police only heightened them.
Then came President Donald Trump's announcement that he would host a campaign rally in the city on Juneteenth --- a holiday celebrated annually by Tulsa's black residents, which marks when slaves in Texas first learned that they had been freed, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
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