Seattle showed up and showed out to commemorate the 100-Year Anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. In 1921, on May 31 and June 1st, the Tulsa police deputized and armed hundreds of white individuals to shoot at Black residents and bomb and set fire to thriving Black-owned businesses and residences in the Greenwood District of Oklahoma. Before this violent attack, that area of thriving Black families, business owners and entrepreneurs was known as "Black Wall Street."
Honoring and uplifting their accomplishments and loss, with Africatown Community Land Trust and Black Dot Underground, we took over South Jackson and lined the streets with over 140 Black Businesses! With a wide variety of Black vendors, entrepreneurs, leaders, and artists, the space was filled with Black joy, resistance, success, and celebration. Check out Converge Media's video of the event here.
Leaders provided the history behind the 100th Anniversary, named local policy and decisions that divested from and continue to actively harm this region’s Black community; and, as always, uplifted the opportunity to take collective action toward building a new normal rooted in equity.
As we know Black businesses received virtually none of the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) federal COVID relief. Use your voice alongside thousands of supporters to make sure the next tranche of relief is distributed equitably through out Seattle and Martin Luther King Jr. County. Demand at least $300M in American Relief Plan Act funding directly into the local Black community here.