The Democrats Abroad Reparations Task Force extends heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Hughes Van Ellis, one of the last three known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, who passed away this week at the age of 102.
Mr. Ellis was one year old when his family was forced to abandon their home in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood. They fled for their lives as white law enforcement officers and deputized civilians launched a coordinated, murderous assault on the flourishing community, known as Black Wall Street.
Despite the racist horrors he endured in America, Mr. Ellis chose to serve in the United States Army during World War II. He was assigned to a segregated anti-aircraft battalion in Burma.
Unfortunately, when Mr. Ellis returned to America, he found the country he served still unwilling to recognize his equal humanity, and government officials hell-bent on covering up the racial violence the Greenwood community had experienced.
A lifelong champion for justice, Mr. Ellis did not let his advanced years hold him back in his quest for acknowledgement and repair. He embarked on a historic legal battle for reparations from the City of Tulsa and other defendants, shared powerful testimony before the United States Congress, received a visit from President Joe Biden, and got a royal welcome and dual citizenship from the West African country of Ghana. But he never received the reparations he was owed.
Mr. Ellis is survived by many loved ones, including his 109-year-old sister and fellow survivor, Viola Ford Fletcher, who recently published a memoir about her family’s experiences entitled Don’t Let Them Bury My Story.
Indeed, we cannot let the City of Tulsa, the State of Oklahoma, or the United States government bury the stories of survivors like Mr. Ellis. The time for reparations for the atrocities of the Tulsa Race Massacre is long overdue. We must secure justice for the two precious remaining survivors – Ms. Fletcher and Ms. Lessie Benningfield Randle – in their lifetimes.
In the words of Mr. Ellis, “All we are asking for is a chance to be treated like a first-class citizen who is truly a beneficiary of the promise that this is a land where there is 'liberty and justice for all.’”
Justice for Greenwood! Reparations Now!