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Crews to begin removing soil on possible mass graves connected to Tulsa Race Massacre
Tulsa's predominantly black Greenwood District was burned down and hundreds killed in a 1921 white race riot.
Using ground-penetrating radar, tentative surveys were done in 1997/1998. This new effort builds off of those survey's. Anomalies were found that indicate possible mass graves at Oaklawn Cemetery and the ground where the Interstate 244 bridge crosses the Arkansas River. Whites would have disposed of black bodies at Oakland Cemetery and Newblock Park. Blacks would have buried victims at the Washington Cemetery. Mass graves indicate [to me] a hurried endeavor done without order and reverence. Probably the best that could be done now is a memorial plaque at verified sites.
Reminds me somewhat of Father Patrick Desbois, a French priest whose forensic team in 2002 began locating/documenting the mass grave sites of Holocaust victims in Ukraine and Belarus. They primarily rely on local eyewitness testimony to direct them to a specific site and then they gingerly and respectfully use forensic methods for verification. But that methodology is rapidly running out of time. A ten year old witness in 1943 would be ~87 years old today.
Tulsa's predominantly black Greenwood District was burned down and hundreds killed in a 1921 white race riot.
Using ground-penetrating radar, tentative surveys were done in 1997/1998. This new effort builds off of those survey's. Anomalies were found that indicate possible mass graves at Oaklawn Cemetery and the ground where the Interstate 244 bridge crosses the Arkansas River. Whites would have disposed of black bodies at Oakland Cemetery and Newblock Park. Blacks would have buried victims at the Washington Cemetery. Mass graves indicate [to me] a hurried endeavor done without order and reverence. Probably the best that could be done now is a memorial plaque at verified sites.
Reminds me somewhat of Father Patrick Desbois, a French priest whose forensic team in 2002 began locating/documenting the mass grave sites of Holocaust victims in Ukraine and Belarus. They primarily rely on local eyewitness testimony to direct them to a specific site and then they gingerly and respectfully use forensic methods for verification. But that methodology is rapidly running out of time. A ten year old witness in 1943 would be ~87 years old today.
