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How Four California Cities Are Approaching Reparations for Black Residents
Ike Turner, Mother Fletcher, as she is affectionately known, takes readers on a poignant and harrowing journey through her experiences as the oldest survivor and last living witness of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921.
From being a terrified 7-yearold awakened in the middle of the night to flee her burning Greenwood neighborhood, to her role as a 107-year-old matriarch testifying before Congress, Fletcher seeks justice for the families affected by this immense tragedy.
Fletcher’s vivid prose recounts the violence she witnessed and experienced during the massacre. Memories of the white mob, shootings of Black men, bodies in the streets, burning buildings, and the sound of airplanes overhead haunt her to this day. While the nation may have forgotten this history, Fletcher carries its weight, determined to ensure it is never buried or erased.
By Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media
The California Reparations Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans will hold its last inperson meeting on June 29 in Sacramento.
The meeting will take place in the First Floor Auditorium of the March Fong Eu Secretary of State Building, located at 1500 11th Street.
The task force will submit its final report to the California Legislature. If approved, California could become the first state to provide reparations to the descendants of enslaved Black Americans.
Task force vice-chairperson Rev. Amos Brown said the state Legislature must “do the right thing” before leaving San Francisco for a speaking engagement in Jackson, Miss., to recognize the
60th anniversary of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers assassination on June 12, 1963. “It’s now time for some deliberate action,” said Brown, the pastor of Third Street Baptist Church in San Francisco. “If they don’t provide support action, or forms of reparations in this nation, and in this state, they will be giving credence to bigotry, racism, and inhumanity towards Black folks.”
During the past 24 months, while the state reparations task force held public hearings and listened to expert testimony to uncover historic wrongdoings and discriminatory policies against descendants of enslaved Blacks in order to determine appropriate compensation, some cities in California started their own reparations efforts.
In June 2021, the city of Los Angeles established the Repa-
PUBLIC NOTICE rations Advisory Commission (RAC), a seven-member task force comprised of activists, academicians, attorneys, racial justice advocates, and more. It is supported by Los Angeles’ Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department’s Office of Racial Equity.
The RAC advises the city on the formation of a reparations pilot program for Californians who are descendants of enslaved Black Americans in the Los Angeles area, according to Khansa T. “Friday Jones” Jones-Muhammad, a member of the commission. The RAC provides recommendations for the format, function, and goals of the initiative, including strategies and opportunities to seek public or private funding.
In April, RAC hosted its first in-person forum at the California
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Tale: 109-Year-Old Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor Releases Memoir
By Tamara Shiloh
A memoir written by the oldest survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre has assured that her testimony before the U.S. Congress two years ago won’t be the last we hear of Viola Ford Fletcher.
In March, two months before the 102nd anniversary of an armed white mob’s destruction of Greenwood, a thriving Black community of Tulsa, Okla., Mocha Media Inc. proudly announced the release of Fletcher’s book, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words.”
This groundbreaking memoir marks the 102nd anniversary of the tragic event on May 30, 1921, that remains the worst incident of racial violence in U.S. history.

Co-authored by her grandson,
Tulsa in 1921 was deeply segregated but Greenwood’s ‘Black Wall Street’ thrived as a prosperous business district, home to 10,000 Black residents. However, dreams of generational wealth were shattered when racial violence claimed hundreds of Black lives. Survivors, who lost loved ones and millions of dollars in property, were forcibly interned in camps without accountability for the atrocities committed against them.
These traumatized citizens faced a hostile country that used military force against them and threatened their lives if they shared their stories. For 102 years, survivors patiently awaited acknowledgment, a voice, and restoration.
Fletcher lived in fear and silence until her grandson, Ike Howard, a retired military veteran, encouraged her to conquer her fears and share her truth. Recognizing the significance of her experiences, he believed her longevity was a blessing, enabling her to reveal the truth about Tulsa.