For city’s darkest day, justice is still to be dispensed （至暗的一天，和未至的正义）
英文原文
for city's darkest day, justice is still to be dispensed
a little more than 100 years ago, black residents of a district in tulsa, oklahoma, were subject to a vicious racial assault by mobs, estimated to have killed as many as 300.
zhao xu
"on may 30, 1921, i went to bed in my family's home in the greenwood neighborhood of tulsa," viola fletcher, 107, told members of a congressional subcommittee in washington in may. "i felt my sleep that night was rich, not just in terms of wealth but in culture, community and heritage. my family had a beautiful home, we had great neighbors and i had friends to play with. … then a few hours (later), all of that was gone." still being able to "smell smoke and see fire", fletcher, who has lived long enough to be called mother fletcher by all who come into her audience, had traveled all the way from her home in tulsa, oklahoma, to washington, so her story could be heard, and the century-old damage done to her and her people could be mended in the slightest possible way. in searing detail, fletcher recounted the killing of her people and the burning of her community by white mobs on may 31 and june 1 of 1921, as seen through the eye of a 7-year-old. known as the tulsa race massacre and perhaps the most horrendous racial violence against black people on us soil in the past century, the event led to the destruction of a 35-square-block neighborhood known as greenwood district in north tulsa. in the aftermath, more than 10,000 black tulsans were left injured, homeless and destitute. it is estimated that as many as 300 were killed, the whereabouts of their remains largely unknown. "i am 107 years old and have never seen justice," fletcher told her listeners on may 19, referring to the fact that no one has ever been held accountable and none of the victims compensated by any level of us government. she was joined in the us capitol by her 100-year-old brother hughes van ellis and through videoconference by their fellow black tulsan lessie benningfield randle, 106. all have spent their life in greenwood. today it would be hard for anyone not there in the years leading up to this calamity to imagine how prosperous the community once was, without the moving images captured by a black baptist minister and amateur filmmaker named solomon sir jones (1869-1936). under his lens, impeccably dressed pedestrians and stylish cars shared the bustling streets lined with clothing stores, movie theaters and hotels. young workers loaded crates of beer onto the back of a van, in a life that after all was well worth toasting. "the african american history in oklahoma is deeply rooted in slavery and linked to land that became first available for black people in the late 1800s," said hannibal johnson, author of the 2020 book black wall street 100: an american city grapples with its historical racial trauma. a major black migration took place in the 1830s and 1840s when native american indians were forcibly removed from the southeastern united states to what was to become the state of oklahoma, he said. "migrating with the tribes were both free and enslaved people of african ancestry, the latter owned by tribal members." after slavery was abolished in 1865, the federal government forced native americans to provide land allotments for blacks. in the late 1800s oklahoma had a number of land runs and land lotteries. the prospect of land ownership attracted blacks, including some relatively wealthy men who came to tulsa and created the black community of greenwood district, mainly by buying land and recruiting other people of african ancestry. booker t. washington, a prominent african american of his era after whom the booker t. washington high school in tulsa was named in 1913, ostensibly called greenwood "the black wall street", a name soon adopted by many others. yet according to johnson, the designation is a misnomer given the absence of banking and investment undertakings, and the community itself being "one of necessity" that was the product of state-sanctioned segregation. in november 1907 oklahoma, right upon its admission as a state, adopted racial segregation laws as its first order of business. commonly known as jim crow laws, they targeted the black as well as other peoples of color, with measures to disenfranchise them and undo their political and economic gains. nine years later the city of tulsa mandated residential segregation by forbidding black or white people from residing on any block where 75 percent or more of residents were members of the other race. abutting tulsa, "greenwood district is in essence black mainstream for those unable to participate in the white-dominated economy", johnson said. one result of this was that wealth created by black tulsans had nowhere else to go but to stay within the 35 blocks, in the form of 200 black-owned businesses, and many affluent families, including four black millionaires. the discovery of oil and natural gas, which led tulsa to proclaim itself the "oil capital" starting in the 1910s, also contributed to the phenomenon. greenwood became known across the us as a model of blacks working productively together and of economic independence. "what was happening in the greenwood district wouldn't be contained within the greenwood district," said karlos hill, associate professor of african american studies at the university of oklahoma, in a previous interview. "some individuals would be pressing for greater inclusion, political and civil rights." yet what was seen by all african americans, especially those from the racism-riven deep south, as "a symbol of what was possible"－to quote hill－was also "an anomaly", according to johnson. "having thrived at a time when the ku klux klan was incredibly active in oklahoma, the community had, up to the point of the massacre, dodged bloody white-on-black violence that had erupted across the us in what's known today as the red summer of 1919. all it needed was a sort of match, an igniter tossed on the embers." that trigger event took place on may 30, 1921, involving dick rowland, 19, a shoeshine boy, and sarah page, 17, a white girl who was an elevator attendant in the drexel building in downtown tulsa. "the boy went to the building, boarded the elevator, something happened and sarah page began to scream," johnson said. "they both ran out of the elevator. what happened there we'll likely never know. but the next day, rowland was arrested and taken to the court." that same afternoon, the local paper the tulsa tribune ran a highly inflammatory article with the headline "nab negro for attacking girl in an elevator", accompanied by an editorial titled "to lynch negro tonight"－something that a white mob immediately sought to do, by gathering on the lawn of the city courthouse, where rowland was in jail on the top floor, and demanding that he be handed over. outside the courthouse, the white mob clashed with a group of blacks who marched there to protect rowland and ensure he at least received a trial. a shot was fired and "things sort of went south from that point", johnson said. the white mob, armed and greatly outnumbering the blacks, shot its way through the greenwood district, firing indiscriminatingly into businesses and residences. this was followed by looting and burning, which lasted for 16 hours until noon on june 1. george monroe, 5, was consumed by terror. "all of a sudden my mother was excited because she saw four men coming toward our house," monroe recalled in the mid-1990s. "all of them had torches, lighted torches on their side coming straight to our house. when these four men came in, they walked right past the bed, straight to the curtains in the house and they set fire to the curtains. as a result, everything in and around was burning." all the time, monroe was hiding under a bed with his older sister, who threw her hand over his mouth to stop him screaming when a rioter unknowingly stepped onto his finger. monroe waited for 75 years to tell his story: in 1996 the tulsa race riot commission, a state-sanctioned task force, was set up to investigate the massacre, and he was among the 108 survivors the commission ultimately located across the country. among other things, the commission found that the city had conspired with the white mob against its black citizens. "we don't know of any approved incident where law enforcement officers were murdering people, but what we do know is that they deputized some people in the white mob and provided them with weapons," johnson said. "the national guard rounded up black people and put them in internment centers in the middle of the massacre. the stated purpose was to protect them, but we know from the survivors that what it did was to leave the greenwood community largely defenseless." according to the tulsa historical society and museum, more than 6,000 black people were held at one point, some for as long as eight days. after the massacre it was official policy to release a black detainee only upon the application of a white person. however, in a report issued by the tulsa city commission two weeks after the massacre, mayor t.d. evans was unequivocal: "let the blame for this negro uprising lie right where it belongs, on those armed negroes and their followers who started this trouble and who instigated it." last september a lawsuit was filed in the oklahoma state court against the city of tulsa by lawyers for the massacre victims and their descendants, including fletcher, ellis and randle, whose appearance before the congressional subcommittee constituted part of that quest for delayed justice. in 2007 the us supreme court upheld lower court rulings that a federal lawsuit seeking damages was barred by the statute of limitations, in effect telling the victims and their descendants that they were too late for any remedy. behind this prolonged fight is what many have called a conspiracy of silence. immediately after the massacre, all original copies of the issue of the tulsa tribune that seems to have incited the mob disappeared, apparently having been destroyed. the relevant page is even missing from the microfilm copy. according to a newspaper report at the time, sarah page, who left the town immediately after the massacre, later wrote a letter to the county prosecutor saying she did not want to press charges against rowland. in fact, the most powerful indictment of the murderous mobs is in the form of picture postcards taken, most likely by its members, and widely distributed after the massacre as souvenirs of the prowess of white supremacy. these images, never showing the need to restrain from depicting bloodstained bodies of black tulsans, feature captions such as "negro slain in tulsa riot", the word riot seen by many as an insidious effort to rewrite history by blaming the blacks. yet there is more to it. "if the damage was occasioned by riot or civil unrest, the insurance policy typically would not pay proceeds," johnson said. "that's why labeling it as a riot was really important at the time. "the push to change really took place two or three years ago, as people in the community wanted to sort of take back the naming rights for the event." while the word massacre captures the horror of the killing, he said, it may have failed to convey the active resistance put up by black tulsans in face of the advancing mobs. back then with tulsa the self-proclaimed oil capital still on its upward trajectory, the city fathers were only too eager to bury what they knew would severely tarnish its image. the victims themselves were too traumatized and too afraid to talk about it, and in fact with the entire community in ruins, many left tulsa, never to return. however, some chose to stay. left to pick up rubble amid smoldering debris, these black tulsans embarked on an arduous rebuilding, one that the city government often did its best to impede. "the city passed an ordinance that you had to rebuild with nonflammable materials, which my grandfather thought was unfair and unreasonable," said john whittington franklin, whose grandfather, buck colbert franklin, was a lawyer in tulsa in the first half of the 20th century. "he fought it successfully all the way to the state supreme court." the rebuilding resumed, with black tulsans encouraged by franklin to use whatever they could find, from old bricks to pieces of wood. for four years the man lived in tents, away from his wife and children, including his son john hope franklin (1915-2009), father of john w. franklin and renowned african american historian. "my grandfather moved 60 miles from the small town of rentiesville to tulsa and opened his law firm in february 1921," john w. franklin said. "my grandmother had planned to join him at the end of may, but the massacre changed everything. my father remembered learning how to fish from my grandmother, something young men usually do with their fathers. the family was reunited in 1925." the would-be historian attended public schools in tulsa, including booker t. wa shingt on high school, one of the very few structures that had escaped destruction in the massacre. he may also have said his sunday prayers at the vernon african methodist episcopal church, burned to the ground during the massacre before being rebuilt by black tulsans the very next year. in the wee hours of july 1, 1921, as the fires burned away the floors above the ground, men, women and children found shelter in the church basement. in 2015, eight years after john hope franklin and his son edited and published the late lawyer's autobiography my life and an era, john w. franklin was presented with his grandfather's manuscript, discovered in a rented storage area. "i wept, i just wept," said the grandson, who first visited his grandfather in tulsa in 1954, at the age of 2. within those 10 pages typewritten on yellowed legal paper, the lawyer, who had dreamed of becoming a novelist, told of one of the greatest tragedies of his era, through the true story of one man with whom he had crossed paths several times. it begins in 1918, soon after world war i, when a young african american veteran named ross feels angry and betrayed because of his treatment despite his military service. it proceeds to an account of ross defending his black community in 1921 during the massacre, and ends 10 years later, with the man, who had lost both his eyesight and his mind in the fires that destroyed his home, sitting in a mental asylum staring blankly into space. somewhere at a street corner in tulsa sits mother ross with her tin cup in hand, begging alms of passersby. in an article published on june 3, 1921, two days after the calamity, the morning tulsa daily world, citing tulsa county deputy sheriff barney cleaver, said "the negroes participating in the fight … were former servicemen who had an exaggerated idea of their own importance". "exaggerated idea" was the expectation of black returnees from the war in europe－400,000 african americans fought in the war－for civil rights, seen through the distorting prism of racism. ellis, one of the massacre survivors who spoke in washington in may, knows all about that expec tat ion, and the crushing disappointment that follows. joining an all-black battalion in the highly segregated us army and fighting in the china-burma-indian theater of world war ii, ellis was asked to "stay at the very bottom of the ship" like his fellow black soldiers. "i put my life on the line for my country," said the old man who at war's end returned home to find himself denied all gi benefits due to the color of his skin. today, at the smithsonian national museum of african american history and culture in washington, a museum for which john hope franklin served as the founding chairman of its scholarly advisory committee, the typewriter on which the historian's father produced his searing eyewitness account is on view in a gallery dedicated to the memory of the massacre. "lurid flames roared and belched and licked their forked tongues into the air. smoke ascended the sky in thick, black volumes and amid it all, the planes－now a dozen or more in number－still hummed and darted here and there with the agility of natural birds of air," b.c. franklin wrote in his manuscripts in 1931, 10 years after the massacre. he was referring to the use of private aircraft by the white mobs, with the attackers either shooting from them or dropping incendiary devices onto the buildings of greenwood. the gallery, whose collection john whittington franklin has helped to build together with curator paul gardullo, also features a number of charred coins collected by young monroe in the days and months after the massacre. in an article written for the museum, gardullo recounted how the boy was able to find solace from searching for coins left behind by the looters. the copper pennies, belonging to black families who preferred to keep their hard-earned wealth at home rather than in a white-owned bank, had withstood the heat of burning to offer a potent metaphor. "the story is ultimately not about massacre but about the indomitable human spirit－perseverance, faith, hope and resilience," johnson said, referring to qualities that he clearly sees as transmittable, although the transmission of wealth itself between different generations of african americans had often been impeded by racially motivated violence. imbued with a sense of righteous defiance, black tulsans rebuilt their homes to such a degree that the national negro business league held its 26th annual convention in greenwood in 1925, the year b.c. franklin got together with his family. the community peaked in the 1940s. in the meantime, despite common belief, there had been, from the very beginning, sporadic but equally heroic efforts from black tulsans to save the memory for later generations. one of them was mary e. jones, who was compelled by the massacre to become a journalist and author, before writing about her experience and that of others in the 1923 book events of the tulsa disaster. "i had no desire to flee," jones said in her book. "i forgot about personal safety and was seized with an uncontrollable desire to see the outcome of the fray." another example involves william d. williams, whose remarkable story is recounted in gardullo's writing for the national museum of african american history and culture. williams, the son of a black couple who owned greenwood's iconic dreamland theater, lived in tulsa in 1921. he later left for college, receiving letters from his mother telling him how hard it was to "pull out" and rebuild, physically and emotionally. the young man eventually returned to tulsa to teach history at his alma mater, booker t. washington high school, where he developed his own curriculum on the massacre. one of his students, don ross, later became an oklahoma state representative and successfully lobbied to create the tulsa race riot commission. williams died in 1984 aged 78, having assembled over the years a scrapbook that includes an obituary notice for his mother. the lady, despite all her effort to "pull out", died in a mental asylum in 1928, a victim of the massacre's long-term trauma. "at every juncture, white americans have taken whatever opportunities and success and ambition that black americans have earned and destroyed it," said jonathan silvers, director of the documentary tulsa: the fire and the forgotten, aired on the us channel pbs on may 31 to mark the massacre's centennial. speaking at an online discussion on the massacre, silvers said he was ed to do the movie by a news story about "mass graves possibly discovered in tulsa" in october 2019. "i've been in a lot of mass graves around the world, and i had no idea that mass graves could exist in our country," said silvers, a veteran journalist with strong interest in "international justice, conflict and human rights". carried on intermittently since that initial discovery, the archaeological digging at tulsa's oaklawn cemetery, in which lie the remains of only two official victims of the tulsa massacre, has unearthed a total of 27 remarked remains. to determine whether or not they are related to the massacre, forensic scientists hope to, among other things, match the remains' features－height, for example－with city records and world war i enrollment documents. some have hailed the excavation as carving "a path toward reconciliation" while others point to the continuing racial tension in a city in which the predominantly black north tulsa is "messed-up" and "empty", in the words of randle, one of the three survivors. damario solomon simmons, the lawyer who spearheads the lawsuit against the city of tulsa on behalf of the massacre victims and descendants, said more than 33 percent of residents in black north tulsa live in poverty compared with less than 14 percent of residents in south tulsa. calling the current situation "the legacy of that violence" in an article for the los angeles times, simmons, born in tulsa, clearly sees in his hometown "an aversion to making amends for systemic racism". last october, barely five months after the murder of george floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by the white policeman derek chauvin in minneapolis, minnesota, a black lives matter mural 75 meters high in greenwood avenue in tulsa was removed by the city overnight. a week later an anti-racism protest attracted numerous armed militia members carrying automatic weapons. the sight, captured by silver's camera crew, is agonizingly evocative for black tulsans aware of the history of the massacre and for those who have lived with it for a century. "i think about the horror inflicted upon black people in this country every day," said fletcher, who in 1921 found herself running past "black bodies… injured or dead … not able to get up and get out of the way of whatever was happening." "recognizing our shared humanity", johnson said, is the only way toward reconciliation. "the holocaust, the 1921 tulsa race massacre, the burning of chinatowns in the 19th century and the rampant anti-asian hate we see now－all these things are connected. part of the reason we have to study those things is to make sure that we understand what can happen in the absence of recognition of our shared humanity." in 1972 the mother of dick rowland, whose elevator encounter with sarah page "started it all", to quote johnson, gave an interview. "she suggested that the two knew one another and that they were actually having some sort of 'illicit' affair," said johnson, referring to the fact that in those days a romantic relationship between a white girl and a black boy could lead to shunning for the former and lynching for the latter. gardullo, the national museum of african american history and culture curator, believes that the stereotype of young black men raping young white women was used with great success from the end of slavery and into the middle of the 20th century. "it was a formula that resulted in untold numbers of lynchings across the nation," he said in a previous interview with smithsonian magazine. "the truth of the matter has to do with the threat that black power… posed to individual and … the whole system of white supremacy." having had her childhood upended and her chance at education stolen from her by the massacre, fletcher spent most of her life as a domestic worker "serving white families", as she puts it. in the 1940s she worked briefly in the shipyards of california supporting her country's world war ii effort and saw, in those and subsequent years, six men in her family joining the us military service. "for 70 years the city of tulsa and its chamber of commerce told us that the massacre didn't happen as if we didn't see it with our own eyes," she said. "our country may want me to forget this history, but i cannot. i will not. and other survivors did not. our descendants do not." zhao xu in new york
译文如下：
至暗的一天和未至的正义
中国日报美国分社记者赵旭
“1921年5月30日，我在塔尔萨市格林伍德区的家中进入梦乡。”
今年5月，107岁的维奥拉·弗莱彻(viola fletcher)来到华盛顿，对国会小组委员会的成员们讲述了100年前的那个晚上。
“那晚，我安然入睡。不仅因为衣食无忧，还因为我所拥有的文化、居住的社区和以后能够继承的遗产。我过着优渥的生活：和家人住在漂亮的房子里，有很棒的邻居，还有一起玩耍的朋友。然而，几个小时后，一切都灰飞烟灭。”
弗莱彻超过百岁的年龄，让几乎所有听她讲话的人，都尊称她为“弗莱彻妈妈”。她从俄克拉荷马州塔尔萨来到华盛顿，就是为了能够让她的故事被更多人听到。这样能让她和她的同胞们在那个夜晚以及之后漫长岁月中所受到的伤害，稍微得到些抚慰。
从一个7岁孩子的视角，弗莱彻讲述了1921年5月31日和6月1日这两天，白人暴徒烧毁她所居住社区以及屠杀居民的残酷细节。这一事件被称为“塔尔萨种族大屠杀”，它是过去一个世纪以来美国土地上发生的最可怕的种族暴力事件，彻底毁灭了由35个街区组成的格林伍德区(greenwood district)。事件发生后，1万多名塔尔萨黑人居民身受重伤、无家可归、一贫如洗，更有多达300人被杀，遗骸至今下落不明。
“活了107年，我从未看到过正义。”5月19日，弗莱彻在听证会上如此控诉。到现在，这场屠杀没有人被追究责任，甚至没有联邦或地方政府对受害者进行赔偿。弗莱彻的弟弟—100岁的休斯·范·埃利斯（hughes van ellis）也来到了听证会现场。姐弟俩的黑人同胞—106岁的莱西·本宁菲尔德·兰德尔（lessie benningfield randle）则以视频会议的形式参加了这次活动。他们三人都在格林伍德区度过了一生。
时至今日，如果没有所罗门·琼斯(solomon sir jones, 1869-1936)所拍摄的生动画面，没有人能想象，在这场灾难发生之前，格林伍德区是何等繁荣。所罗门·琼斯是黑人浸礼会牧师兼业余电影制作人，在他的镜头下，街道两侧是服装店、电影院和酒店，穿着讲究的行人穿行其中，街上行驶着时髦的小轿车，年轻的工人把成箱的啤酒搬到面包车后面—这甜美的生活的确值得开瓶庆祝一下。
“俄克拉荷马州的非裔美国人历史深深植根于奴隶制，与19世纪末黑人首次获得土地有着千丝万缕的联系。”2020年出版的《黑人华尔街百年:一座美国城市与种族主义的较量》一书的作者—汉尼拔·约翰逊(hannibal johnson)如此表述。
19世纪30-40年代，美国发生大规模黑人移民潮，这是由于当时美国印第安人被强行从美国东南部迁移到后来建立的俄克拉荷马州。随部落迁移的既有自由人，也有为部落成员所拥有的非洲血统奴隶。
1865年，奴隶制被废除后，联邦政府要求印第安人把土地分给黑人。因此，19世纪后期，俄克拉荷马州有大量的土地以“先到先得”和彩票的方式征得新主。成为土地所有者的前景吸引着黑人，包括一些相对富有的黑人。正是这些人来到塔尔萨，通过购买土地和招募其他非裔美国人的方式创建了格林伍德区。
布克·t·华盛顿(booker t.washington)就是那个时代杰出的非裔美国人。塔尔萨的布克·t·华盛顿高中在1913年以他的名字被命名。华盛顿称格林伍德区为“黑人华尔街”，这个名字随后被广为人知。然而，在约翰逊看来，这个称呼并不恰当，因为这里并没有银行和投资公司。事实上，格林伍德区本身就是美国当时实行种族隔离政策的产物。
1907年11月，俄克拉荷马州刚成立，就通过了种族隔离法。这一系列法律通常被称为“吉姆·克劳法”，主要针对黑人和其他有色人种，采取一系列措施剥夺黑人的政治权利和经济利益。在9年后，塔尔萨更是强制实行居住隔离政策，禁止黑人居住在白人占75%及以上的街区，反之亦然。
如约翰逊所说，“从根本上说，格林伍德区是那些无法参于到白人主导经济中的黑人所建立的属于他们自己的经济体。”
这种经济分离导致的直接结果是，塔尔萨的黑人创造的财富无处可去，只能留在这35个街区内，存在的形式是200余家黑人拥有的企业和许多富裕家庭，其中还包括4名黑人百万富翁。1910-1920年，石油和天然气的发现使塔尔萨成为“石油之都”，这进一步促使格林伍德区的财富持续增长。
在美国，格林伍德区成为黑人内部合作和经济独立的典范。“在格林伍德发生的事情不会停留在格林伍德内。”俄克拉荷马大学研究非裔美国人历史的卡洛斯·希尔(karlos hill)教授在此前一次采访中说，“格林伍德的崛起启发了黑人们对政治和公民权利提出更多诉求。”
在美国的黑人，尤其是那些来自种族主义肆虐的南方腹地的黑人看来，格林伍德区代表着无限的可能性。然而，在其他人眼中，它的存在本身就很反常。
“格林伍德区走向繁荣的时候，正是三k党在俄克拉荷马州异常活跃之时。全美范围内，针对黑人的种族暴力行为频现，那段时期甚至被称为‘1919红色夏天’。大屠杀发生之前，格林伍德一直成功躲避着暴力行为。然而，只需一根小小的火柴，就可将酝酿已久的种族仇恨点燃，摧毁一切。”
导火索发生在1921年5月30日，当事人是19岁的擦鞋黑人男孩迪克·罗兰(dick rowland)和17岁的白人女孩莎拉·佩奇(sarah page)—一名塔尔萨市中心克莱斯勒大厦的电梯服务员。
约翰逊描述了事件发生的大致经过：男孩走进大楼，搭乘电梯，电梯间里发生了一些事情，莎拉·佩奇开始尖叫，之后两人一起跑出了电梯。我们可能永远不会知道到底发生了什么。第二天，罗兰就被逮捕并送上了法庭。
当天下午，当地报纸《塔尔萨论坛报》刊登了一篇极具煽动性的文章，标题为《抓住那个在电梯间袭击女孩的黑鬼》，并附以一篇题为《今夜绞死黑鬼》的社论。一群白人暴民立即 “响应号召”，聚集在塔尔萨市法院外的草坪上，要求法庭交出被关在顶楼监狱的罗兰。
与此同时，一众黑人也来到法院外，试图保护罗兰，确保他能够接受审判而不是直接被处以私刑。两伙人发生了冲突，一声枪响后，大屠杀就此开始。
白人暴徒携带武器，数量远超黑人，他们一路扫射，打进格林伍德区，向商店和住宅疯狂开火。杀戮、抢劫和焚烧持续了整整16个小时，直到6月1日中午。
当年，只有5岁的乔治·门罗感觉自己被恐怖吞噬了。
上世纪90年代中期，他回忆了这段经历：“突然间，我的母亲惶恐不安，她看到四个白人男子带着火把径直朝我们家走来。进屋后，他们绕过床，走到有窗帘的地方将其点燃。瞬间，周围的一切都燃烧起来。”
此时，门罗和他的姐姐正躲在床下。当一名暴徒无意中踩到他的手指时，姐姐赶忙用手捂住他的嘴巴，不让他叫出来。
等了75年，门罗才终于等到讲述这段经历的那一天。1996年，政府批准成立了塔尔萨种族暴动委员会，专门负责调查这场大屠杀。委员会在全国范围内找到了108名幸存者，门罗是其中之一。
该委员会的调查表明，塔尔萨市政府与白人暴民一起，发起了这场针对黑人的大屠杀。
“没有确切的证据，可以证明政府的执法人员亲自杀人。不过，可以确定的是，他们让一部分白人暴徒成为代理执行人，并提供武器。”约翰逊说，“在大屠杀期间，国民警卫队以保护黑人的名义围捕他们，并将其关进拘留中心。从幸存者那里得知，这样做的真实目的，是为了让格林伍德区在毫无防守的情况下被任意洗劫。”
据塔尔萨历史学会博物馆称，大屠杀期间，有6000多名黑人被关押，其中有些人关押长达8天之久。大屠杀发生后，官方的政策是，一个黑人，只有获得白人为其提交的获释申请，才能够被解除拘留。
大屠杀发生两周后，塔尔萨市委员会发布了一份报告。在报告中，市长t·d·埃文斯(t.d. evans)直接表示：“要将这场黑人暴动归咎于应该为它负全责的人。那些携带武器的黑人和他们的追随者挑起并煽动了这场暴乱。”
去年9月，在俄克拉荷马州法院，大屠杀受害者及其后代，其中包括弗莱彻、埃利斯和兰德尔，通过律师对塔尔萨市发起了一项诉讼。三人在国会小组委员会的出现，正是他们为追求迟到的正义所做出的努力。
2007年，美国最高法院维持了下级法院的判决，认定大屠杀受害者及其后代发起的这项寻求损害赔偿的诉讼因超过诉讼受理期而被禁止。这等于说，任何补救都已经太迟了。
在这场旷日持久的斗争背后，是许多人所说的“合谋铸成的沉默”。
大屠杀发生后，煽动白人暴徒的《塔尔萨论坛报》原版报纸都消失了，甚至连缩微胶片上的版面留底也不见了，这显然是被有意销毁。据当时一份报纸的报道，佩奇在惨案发生后立即离开了当地，并在不久后致信县检察官表示自己并不想起诉罗兰。
事实上，对大屠杀最有力的控诉，来自于一些极有可能是暴徒们自己拍摄的照片。这些照片当时被制成明信片广泛传播，作为宣扬白人至上主义威力的纪念品。这些照片毫不隐晦地展示着塔尔萨黑人血迹斑斑的尸体，并配上诸如“在塔尔萨暴乱中被杀死的黑人”之类的文字。关于“暴乱”一词，很多人认为，这是白人试图通过指责黑人改写历史。然而，他们的目的远不止于此。约翰逊说：“如果损失是由暴乱或内乱引起，保险公司通常不需要支付任何赔偿金。这就是为什么在当时把大屠杀贴上‘暴乱’的标签非常必要。”
“真正为这场暴乱正名所作出的努力，开始于两三年前。”约翰逊说。然而，他也并非全然同意用“屠杀”来命名这次事件。虽然“屠杀”一词体现了杀戮的恐怖，但它未能传达出塔尔萨黑人面对不断推进的暴行进行了积极英勇的抵抗。
当时，自诩为“石油之都”的塔尔萨正处于上升期，城市的缔造者们急于埋葬这段不光彩的历史。与此同时，那些身心饱受摧残、心怀恐惧的受害者们几乎集体选择了缄默，不愿再提及痛苦的往事。事实上，随着整个格林伍德区变成一片废墟，许多人离开了塔尔萨，再也没有回来。
庆幸的是，有人选择留下。尽管市政府百般阻挠，这些人依旧在冒烟的废墟中捡拾着瓦砾，开始艰苦的重建工作。
约翰·w·富兰克林(john w franklin)的祖父巴克·科尔伯特·富兰克林(buck colbert franklin)，一名上世纪前半叶在塔尔萨执业的黑人律师，为重建工作做出了贡献。“该市通过了一项法令，规定人们必须用不易燃的材料重建房屋。我祖父认为这既不公平也不合理。”约翰·富兰克林说，“他把官司一路打到了州最高法院，并且取得了胜利。”
重建工作得以继续后，塔尔萨的黑人在老富兰克林的鼓励下，使用任何他们能找到的建筑材料，可以是旧砖，甚至也可以是木块。重建的4年里，老富兰克林一直住在塔尔萨的一顶帐篷内，远离住在另一座城市的家人，包括自己的儿子，约翰·w·富兰克林的父亲—约翰·霍普·富兰克林(john hope franklin, 1915-2009)，一名享有盛誉的非裔美国历史学家。
“1921年2月，我的祖父从60英里外的勒尼耶维尔小镇（rentiesville）搬到塔尔萨，并开了一家律师事务所。我的祖母原计划五月底搬过去，但大屠杀改变了一切。”约翰·w·富兰克林说，“我的父亲记得自己小时候跟着祖母学钓鱼的经历，而这通常是小孩子和父亲一起做的事情。直到1925年，大屠杀过去四年后，祖父祖母才得以团聚。”
约翰·霍普·富兰克林—这位未来的历史学家，曾就读于塔尔萨的公立学校，包括布克·t·华盛顿高中。这所高中的教学楼是极少数在大屠杀中得以保全的建筑之一，而弗农卫理公会圣公会的黑人教堂(vernon african methodist episcopal church)则在大屠杀中被夷为平地，约翰·霍普·富兰克林很可能曾在周日去过那里做祷告。这座教堂第二年就被塔尔萨的黑人重建。1921年6月1日凌晨，当大火在地面上的楼层熊熊燃烧时，男人、女人和孩子们躲在教堂的地下室避难。
约翰·霍普·富兰克林和儿子共同编辑并出版了老富兰克林的自传《我和我的时代》，八年后即2015年，有人将一份祖父的手稿交到约翰·w·富兰克林手上，它最初在一个出租的小储藏间被发现。
“看着手稿，我哭了，不停地哭。”约翰·w·富兰克林说。1954年，他两岁时，第一次去塔尔萨看望了祖父。
在十页泛黄的律师用纸上，这位曾梦想成为小说家的律师，用打字机敲打出他那个时代最惨烈的悲剧之一。这个真实的故事，通过他本人与同一个人的几次相遇展开。
故事开始于1918年，第一次世界大战结束后不久，一位名叫罗斯的年轻非裔美国退伍军人为他在军队服役后依然受到的歧视感到愤怒。故事中段是在1921年的塔尔萨大屠杀中，罗斯为保护他所在的黑人社区投入战斗。结尾部分发生在大屠杀10年后，在那场烧毁家园的大火中失去视力和思维的罗斯，坐在精神病院里茫然地凝视着天空。在塔尔萨的某个街角，罗斯的老母亲坐在地上，手里拿着锡杯，向路人乞求施舍。
“参加暴动的黑人都是退伍军人，他们对自己的重要性有着不切实际的幻想。”1921年6月3日，在大屠杀发生两天后，《塔尔萨每日世界晨报》上发表的一篇文章如是说。
40万从欧洲战场归来的黑人美军士兵，渴望拥有属于他们的公民权利。从将一切扭曲的种族主义的棱镜看这种期待，就成了“不切实际的幻想”。今年5月，埃利斯作为在华盛顿发表演讲的大屠杀幸存者之一，他深知那种期望，以及随之而来的极度失望。
在当时高度奉行种族隔离的美军中，埃利斯所在的营队全是黑人，在第二次世界大战中参加了中缅印战区的战斗。与其他黑人士兵一样，埃利斯被要求呆在最艰苦的船舱的最底部。“我曾经为我的国家赴汤蹈火。”这位老人说，“战争结束后，我回到家，却发现自己因肤色问题被剥夺了退伍士兵本应享有的福利。”
今天，在位于华盛顿的史密森国家非裔美国人历史与文化博物馆内，老富兰克林曾经用过的那台打字机在一个专门纪念塔尔萨大屠杀的展厅中被展出，他的儿子约翰·霍普·富兰克林曾担任该博物馆学术咨询委员会的创始主席。
“可怕的火焰咆哮着，吐着浓烟，用分叉的舌头舔舐着天空。浓烟滚滚，直冲云霄，在这一片烟雾之中，十余架飞机嗡嗡地叫着，像猛禽一样敏捷地飞来飞去。”1931年即大屠杀发生10年后，老富兰克林在他的手稿中记录下大屠杀当天的情景。他所描述的是白人暴徒们使用的私人飞机，这些人从飞机上要么射击，要么向格林伍德的建筑投掷燃烧弹。
在纪念塔尔萨大屠杀的展厅中，所有展品由约翰·w·富兰克林和馆长保罗·加杜洛(paul gardullo)精心选择并呈现。除了那台打字机，还有烧焦的铜币，那是孩童时代的门罗在大屠杀后几个月里收集到的。
在为博物馆撰写的一篇文章中，加杜洛讲述了这个男孩是如何从抢劫者没有带走的铜币中寻求到丝缕安慰的。这些铜币原本属于富裕的黑人家庭，他们宁愿把辛苦挣来的钱留在家里，也不愿放在白人银行里。铜币经受住了燃烧的高温，劫后余生，这对小门罗来说是一个充满隐喻的存在。
“今天我们讲述塔尔萨的故事，重点不是屠杀，而是一种不屈不挠精神—坚持、信念、希望和坚韧都包含其中。”约翰逊说。在他看来，尽管美国黑人因种族仇恨和暴力等原因常常无法将自己积累的财富传给下一代，然而，他们具备的精神可以传承下去。
被植根于正义感之中的反抗意识激励着，塔尔萨的黑人们在废墟上重建了自己的家园，完成度之高，以至于全美黑人商业联盟于1925年在格林伍德举行了第26届年会。 那一年，正是巴克·科尔伯特·富兰克林迎来与家人团聚的一年。重建后的格林伍德社区蒸蒸日上，在上世纪40年代达到第二个高峰。
与此同时，与人们的普遍印象相反是的，塔尔萨的黑人们为保留大屠杀的记忆所作出的努力从未中止。这种努力需要的勇气，与重建家园不相上下。玛丽·e·琼斯(mary e.jones)是其中的一位，她在1923年出版的《塔尔萨的灾难》一书中讲述了自己和其他受害者的经历。事实上，正是这段经历，让琼斯走上了记者和作家之路。
“我没有逃跑的念头，” 琼斯在她的书中说。“我忘记了个人安危，一种无法控制的欲望抓住了我，我想留下来看看这场冲突的结果。”
另一个凭借一己之力保留大屠杀记忆的例子是关于威廉·d·威廉姆斯 (william d. williams)的。他的非凡故事在加杜罗为美国国家非裔历史与文化博物馆所写的文章中有详细的叙述。威廉姆斯是一对黑人夫妇的儿子，这对夫妇拥有格林伍德最具标志性的建筑 —— 梦幻剧场。 1921年大屠杀爆发之时，威廉姆斯正在塔尔萨，他于此后离开塔尔萨去外面读大学，并在那期间不断接到母亲的书信，向他讲述重建的不易和从巨大的心灵创伤中恢复的艰难历程。 数年后，威廉姆斯回归故里，在他的母校布克·t·华盛顿高中教授历史。在他的教学中，加入了塔尔萨大屠杀这一段。
威廉姆斯的学生之一唐·罗斯(don ross)后来成为俄克拉荷马州的州议会议员，成功游说州政府成立了塔尔萨种族暴乱委员会对大屠杀进行全面调查。
威廉姆斯于1984年去世，享年78岁。多年来，他收集了一本剪贴簿，其中包括他母亲的讣告。这位坚强的女士，尽管用尽全力，还是无法走出大屠杀带给她的阴影，于1928年在一家精神病院离世。
今年 5月31日，美国公共广播公司播出了纪念大屠杀100周年的纪录片《塔尔萨: 炼狱与遗忘》。该纪录片导演乔纳森·西尔弗斯(jonathan silvers)说:“在每一个关键的历史节点，美国白人都将黑人通过自身努力得来的机会和成功强行夺走，并将其摧毁。” 西尔弗斯在一场关于大屠杀的在线讨论中说，这部电影的拍摄，源自于一条2019年10月的新闻报道。报道中称，有可能在塔尔萨发现了埋葬多人的不明墓葬。
作为一名对“国际冲突和人权”有着浓厚兴趣的资深记者，西尔弗斯说:“我去过世界各地的很多掩埋被屠杀者的地方，但我竟不知道我们国家也有这样的地方。”
自第一次发现以来，在塔尔萨奥克劳恩公墓的考古挖掘工作断断续续地进行着。官方记录中那里只埋有两具塔尔萨大屠杀受害者的尸体，然而考古工作者们却重新挖掘标注出另外27具遗骸。为了确定它们是否与大屠杀有关，法医们需要做很多工作，包括把遗骸的特征——例如身高——与塔尔萨市政府的居民记录和一战士兵登记文件进行比对和匹配。
一些人称赞这次挖掘为开辟“和解之路”提供了可能，而另一些人则指出，今天，在以黑人为主的北塔尔萨市，种族关系依旧紧张。 用去到华盛顿的三名幸存者之一兰德尔的话说，那里充斥着“混乱”和“空虚”。
代表大屠杀受害者及其后代起诉塔尔萨市政府的律师达马里奥·所罗门·西蒙斯(damario solomon simmons)说，在黑人聚居的北塔尔萨，33%以上的居民生活在贫困线以下，而相应的数字在以白人为主的南塔尔萨是不到14%。生于塔尔萨的西蒙斯在《洛杉矶时报》撰文称塔尔萨的现状是“那场暴力屠杀的遗产”。时至今日，这位律师仍然在他的家乡感受到一种 “不愿为制度性的种族主义做出任何补偿的情绪”。
去年10月，46岁的黑人乔治·弗洛伊德(george floyd)在明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市被白人警察德里克·肖文(derek chauvin)谋杀仅仅5个月后，塔尔萨市格林伍德大道上一幅75米高的《黑人的命也是命》壁画就在一夜之间被市政府拆除了。
一周后，一场反种族主义的集会上出现了大量的抗议者。这些手持自动枪械，恐吓集会者的白人民兵们出现在塔尔萨大屠杀纪录片导演西尔弗的镜头中。 对于那些了解大屠杀历史的人，对于那些与大屠杀的记忆共处了一个世纪的人，他们的出现不可避免地让人联想到那些痛苦的回忆。
107岁的弗莱彻说: “每一天，这个国家的黑人所遭受的恐怖都在我的脑海中翻腾。” 1921年的那一天，逃生中的她发现自己跑过 “躺倒在地上的黑人，他们有的重伤，有的已经死去。他们无法站起来，更无法躲避正在降临的任何灾难。”
约翰逊认为，“承认人性是我们共有的”是和解的唯一途径。“犹太人大屠杀、塔尔萨、19世纪的唐人街大火，以及我们现在看到的猖獗的反亚裔仇恨，所有这些都是相互关联的。我们必须要了解历史，其中一个重要的原因就是我们要清楚地知道，当我们不认可‘共有的人性’时，会发生什么。”
用约翰逊的话说，1921年，迪克·罗兰与莎拉·佩奇在电梯间的那次相遇“开启了这可怕的一切”。 1972年，迪克·罗兰的母亲在一次采访中暗示两个年轻人彼此认识，而且可能在进行着一段“禁恋”。在那个年代，一个白人女孩和一个黑人男孩之间的浪漫关系可能会导致前者被周遭不容，后者被处以私刑。
美国国家非洲裔美国人历史与文化博物馆馆长加杜洛认为，从废奴运动到20世纪中期，“年轻白人妇女被年轻黑人男子强奸” 成为了某种人们思维中的固有模式。他在此前接受《史密森杂志》采访时说:“这种模式在全美导致了无数名黑人被白人动用私刑处死。然而事情的真相，却是与黑人的崛起和他们享有的权利对个别白人和整个白人至上主义体系构成的威胁有关。”
塔尔萨大屠杀彻底摧毁了弗莱彻的童年，也夺走了她受教育的机会。用她自己的话说，她人生的大部分时间都在做女佣，“为白人家庭服务”。20世纪40年代，她曾在加州的造船厂短暂工作，以微弱的力量支持二战中的美国。那些年以及其后的几年间，她家中有6位男性成员应征入伍。
“70年来，塔尔萨市政府和市商会反复告诉我们，大屠杀并没有发生过，就好像我们没有亲眼目睹它一样。” 弗莱彻说。“也许我的国家希望我忘记这一切，然而我无法也不会忘记，其他幸存者也不会，我们的后代也不会。
