Race-baiters, here's your chance

[RadioFan]

OMG, a dedication to a park to memorialize the Tulsa race riot.

Nearly a century after the Tulsa Race Riot devastated black homes and businesses in one of the worst acts of racial violence in American history, Tulsans have dedicated a park to the memory of the tragedy and the ongoing racial reconciliation.

More than 200 people attended Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, many more than organizers had anticipated. The park will be located between Elgin and Detroit avenues just south of the Inner Dispersal Loop.

Among attendees were a number of prominent Oklahomans who helped make the park a reality.

``The John Hope Franklin Center is a project important to Tulsa, but also vital to the promotion of human rights and human dignity throughout Oklahoma,” said Gov. Brad Henry
in a message delivered by Oklahoma Secretary of State Susan Savage, Tulsa’s former mayor.

Also in attendance were Mayor Kathy Taylor, former Mayor Bill LaFortune, longtime champion of the race riot memorial project Julius Pegues and John Hope Franklin himself.

Born in Rentiesville, Franklin, now 93, is among Oklahoma’s favorite sons.

Valedictorian of his graduating class at Booker T. Washington High School, Franklin went on to graduate magna cum laude from Fisk University, and receive his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Franklin, an internationally renowned scholar, was lead historian for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund during the watershed civil rights case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In 1995, he received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“Someday we’ll have the joy and pleasure of complete reconciliation. We’re moving in that direction,” said Franklin Monday. “I hope we get there very soon.”

Wesley Young, 91, who survived the riot and grew up in its aftermath, spoke with poignancy and humor about what the park meant to him.

“This is one of the greatest moments of my life, except for my birthday,” Young said.

Launched in 2001 following the recommendation of the Tulsa Race Riot Commission’s final report, the project had been plagued by financial shortfalls.

The park itself will cost about $5 million and is expected to be completed within six months, said Reuben Gant, president of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce. About $3.7 million for the park came from the state of Oklahoma, $900,000 from the city of Tulsa, and the rest from private donations, he said.

Designed by renowned sculptor and first black astronaut Ed Dwight, the park will include three sculptures and three granite towers, representing hostility, humiliation and hope. The centerpiece will be the Tower of Reconciliation, a 27-foot-tall monument depicting the history of African and Native Americans in Oklahoma, from slavery to the present.

The park is intended to be the first installment in a complex that will ultimately include a center for reconciliation housing archives, gathering spaces, a museum and research facilities, said Gant. The $20 million estimated cost of the center is being raised primarily from private donations, though organizers hope the city and state will eventually contribute, Gant said.

“We’ve got a long way to go on this, but we think its a doable project,” said Gant, who estimates that finalizing the complex will take another two to three years.

Though memorializing Tulsa’s darkest hour has met with resistance from some, many believe it is worthwhile.

The riot occurred in 1921 over a 14-hour period, leaving hundreds injured, thousands homeless and at least three dozen people dead. It is considered one of the worst of its kind in American history.

“The whole premise here is never forget,” said Hannibal Johnson, an author who has written extensively about the black experience in Oklahoma. Johnson cited moves by the Jewish community to memorialize the holocaust as an example of transforming tragedy into hope by ensuring that it never happens again.

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As an alleged UT "history" major, mvscal should bring the funnay on this one.

Place your bets:

1. "Who gives a fuck?" ('sup SFAF?)
2. "The Tulsa race riot, amid the whole of race relations in this country, was an insignificant blip on the radar."
3. "Nobody cares."
4. "Actually, the Tulsa race riot had a significant impact, on the way mvscals are today."
5. "Ah yes, I see the ONogga presidency has had an impact, even before he's sworn in."

My money is on 1, with a close second being 5, followed by 2.

[War Wagon]

Who's doing the "race baiting" here, Radidles?

Last I checked, Oklahoma is still a red state. There are several of them, and they make up a significant part of the country.

[RadioFan]

Who's doing the "race baiting" here, Radidles?

http://www.theoneboard.com/board/

Tell me you knew?

My bad. I forgot you were a compelete dumbfuck.

[KC Scott]

Last I checked, Oklahoma is still a red state. There are several of them, and they make up a significant part of the country.

Last I checked, Wags is still a red neck. There are several of them, and they make up a significant part of the board.

[War Wagon]

My bad.

Quite often.

T1B can be thankful that someone's here to put you in your blowhard place. I didn't ask for the job, but it's sorta' fell to me.

It still amazes that anyone thought you were admin material.

What, you used a credit card to buy in?

That's the only plausible explanation.

[RadioFan]

T1B can be thankful that someone's here to put you in your place.

Bwahh!

'Sup Ang?

[RadioFan]

6. Since when is a mob of Oklahomans killing each other a bad thing?

Good point.

Only back in 1921, there were a bunch of white "upstanding" folks like Wags, walking around in Tulsa.

[rozy]

Dernit, I thought I would open this thread and see a pic of Obama ordering strawberry soda at a Popeyes whilst wearing a shirt that says, "NO MORE BLUE GUMS".

YES WE CAN!!

[RadioFan]

That's right. And they didn't cotton to no nigras puttin' their hands on the white ladies. They lynched a yid the year before so they couldn't have been all bad.

Is that all you have?

Damn, I was hoping to cum.

Sin,

Whitey.