Monday, May 31, 2021

The Ghosts of Tulsa

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY SERIES


The Ghosts of Tulsa

 

One hundred years ago

The good white folks of Tulsa Oklahoma

Armed with rifles and handguns

Gasoline and flame

Marched on the Greenwood District

Where the black folks lived and prospered

 

After two days of rampage and murder

Hundreds lay dead and thousands injured

The district dissolved in charred remains

The headline in the local paper read:

Two Whites Dead in Race Riot

 

The once booming businesses of

Greenwood no longer existed

The people had no choice but to leave

Nothing remained but fear and terror

To be buried in the deep dark hollows

Of their collective psyche

And the knowledge that this could

Happen to people with darker skin

Anywhere in the land of the free

 

The survivors moved away

But the spirits of the dead still

Roam those bloodstained streets

Still scream in horror

Still call out to loved ones

Buried in the smoldering rubble

 

How is it possible for anyone

To live and work and pray on these

Hallowed grounds of shame?

 

How can people sleep with the cries

Of women and children still

Ringing in the air?

 

Some crimes cannot be forgotten

Some towns can never atone

Some reparations will never be enough

 

Sand Creek

Wounded Knee

The Tulsa Massacre

 

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