What Should We Do About the Tulsa Massacre?

The Memory of Tulsa Should Drive Us to Act

Recently, the news has been full of stories about the horrendous massacre and destructive race riot that occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma 100 years ago this weekend. That event was among the worst and most shocking in the long, tragic history of racism in the United States. In a prosperous and peaceful neighborhood, hundreds of black people were killed, and millions of dollars of property was destroyed by a white mob. Families saw their children killed. Family wealth that was the product of years of struggle and labor was wiped out in a few hours.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should remember these tragic events, but we should also remember the words of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address because they apply to us now just as much as they applied to his audience in 1863:

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us … that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

The work of building a just and equitable society in our country is far from finished. There is much still remaining to be done. The racism of the past has produced inequities in the present. We cannot go back and undo what was done in the past, but we can work to reduce or eliminate the inequities of the present, and remembering the events of Memorial Day Weekend in 1921 should reinforce our commitment to that task.

What Should We Do?

In his book, How to be an Antiracist by Ibram Kendi shows us what that means.  He tells us that the job of an anti-racist is to reduce and ultimately eliminate “racial inequity.” And what is racial inequity?

Racial inequity is when two or more racial groups are not standing on approximately equal footing. Here’s an example of racial inequity: 71 percent of white families lived in owner-occupied homes in 2014, compared to … 41 percent of black families.

The job of antiracists is to work to eliminate inequities of this kind. Two approaches to this work have been proposed. One is to focus on reparations. In this approach, payments are made to black people to counterbalance the effects of past racism. Pres. Biden’s proposal for payments to black farmers is an example of this approach. Ta-Nehisi Coates discussion of reparations for black Americans is a broader example.

The other approach to eliminating the inequities of our society is to focus on broad, redistributive policies that are not directed explicitly at black people but that reduce the racial wealth gap because black people fall disproportionately into the groups that are benefited by such policies. William Darity’s proposal for a publicly funded trust fund for every child is an example. Forgiving students’ debts is another example. It would reduce the racial wealth gap because black people carry more debt on average than white people do.

Both of these approaches are valid, and each of them has its place. Both require action, and we must act. As we remember the horror of the Tulsa Massacre, we must find in it a motive to act to reduce the inequities of our own time. It is not enough for us white people to recognize and accept that our prosperity has been built in part on such events. It is not enough to be “woke.” Ringing our hands and bowing our heads in shame will not do anything to reduce the wealth gap between black and white Americans. Purging our hearts of the sin of racism is good, but it is not the goal. The goal is to build a just society.

To do that, we must act, and our actions must be political. We must support policies like those mentioned above that deal with the inequities of our time. We cannot erase the injustices of our past, but we can make our society more just now, and that is what we must do as we remember the Tulsa Massacre.

Saving the Planet and Social Justice: the Logic of President Biden's Plan

 Is There a Connection?

How is the fight to against climate change connected to the fight for social justice? The answer is not obvious, and indeed, the two could conflict with one another. After all, if climate change is truly a threat to the survival of our society and economy, perhaps we shouldn’t worry right now about social justice. Perhaps, we should focus all of our attention on saving ourselves from the imminent destruction that Greta Thunberg and others have been warning us about, and later, when we have the leisure to do so, we can worry about making our society better.

From this point of view, the coal miners in West Virginia and the oil field workers in Louisiana are collateral damage in the fight to save our planet. It is unfortunate that they should suffer, but their suffering is for the greater good. By the same token, this is not the time to be worrying about racial justice. Of course, black lives matter, but right now, we cannot divert resources from saving the planet to retraining our police. Of course, we need to provide a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants, but right now, we have more pressing problems to deal with.

Why is this wrong? Why do we need to worry about social justice now? Why can’t we put off the difficult and frustrating fight for social justice until we have saved our planet?

Maybe, We Need a Revolution

There are two ways to answer this question. One is based on a fundamental critique of our society. That critique says that our environmental problems are merely the latest symptoms of our real problem, which is that our capitalist system is so exploitative at its heart that it can never provide either social justice or a solution to the problem of climate change. Holders of this view say that capitalism is based on an ideology of greed and short-term thinking, and unless we can replace capitalism with a better system, we are kidding ourselves if with think that we can save our planet. In effect, this approach says that we cannot solve the problem of climate change without a revolution.

Maybe, We Need a Coalition

The second answer to the question of why we should worry now about social justice accepts our system as it is and focuses on the need to build a political coalition to support solving the climate change problem. The fight to save our planet will demand much of our political system. Big changes will be required, and they cannot take place unless they are demanded by a strong political coalition. From this point of view, the problem is to design a solution to the climate problem that not only solves the problem but also provides immediate, tangible benefits to all of the groups that join the coalition. In effect, this approach says that we can save our planet without a revolution but only if we do it in a way that increases social justice in our society.

President Biden's American Jobs Plan

The recognition of the need to build a coalition underlies Pres. Biden’s American Jobs Plan.  He has presented it not as a solution to the climate crisis but as a plan to stimulate the American economy. Under this plan, thousands of companies will profit; millions of workers will get good jobs; clean water will be provided to communities now suffering from water that is contaminated with lead; women and minorities will benefit from increased wages in home health services; displaced workers, members of minority groups and other workers will benefit from free post-secondary education; and oh, by the way, we will mitigate the effects of climate change by improving public transportation, supporting the development of electric cars and expanding the production and transmission of green energy.

I don’t know whether Pres. Biden’s effort will succeed, but I believe that he is right in principle. We cannot separate the fight to save our planet from the fight for social justice. We cannot save our planet unless we do so in a way that increases social justice by providing benefits for most of our people.