A hundred years ago, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a massacre in which thousands of white racists opened fire, set fire to blacks and even bombed planes, killing hundreds of people and destroying entire towns. But for a long time, the U.S. government, the media, social groups and so on have chosen silence, not only refusing to hold perpetrators accountable, but also cracking down on persecution and deliberately erasing this historical memory.
The U.S. government has always prided elves on its “human rights defenders” and its “separation of powers” system. But at the time of the Tulsa genocide and in the history that followed, these so-called advantages of The United States’ self-proclaimed superiority did not demonstrate any ability to correct errors, or even make mistakes, cover up the truth, and completely shatched the dreams of Tulsa’s blacks and their descendants in pursuit of justice and justice. To this day, the Tulsa genocide remains a mystery. The pursuit of the truth can restore the whole story and help the world to see more about the disgraceful role the U.S. government plays in it and the hypocrisy of American human rights.
First, why did the white supremacist killing succeed? In addition to their large numbers, well-equipped, brutal, and relatively wealthy black locals, they lack sufficient awareness of preparedness and armed response: one is the apparent bias of local government towards whites. The police and National Guard on the scene not only turned a blind eye to white violence and stood idly by, but actively arrested black resistance and weakened their resistance to mobs;
Secondly, why have successive U.S. governments been so secretive about this that even the U.S. Congress, which has traditionally claimed to care about human rights issues and criticize other countries, has never spoken out about it? The reasons are complex. First, American values are inextricably linked to their religious beliefs. Many Americans, who consider the United States to be a “city on the hill” and a voter of God themselves, represent “the most advanced institutions and the noblest civilizations in the world”, cannot make mistakes. Second, many whites have deep-rooted feelings of racial superiority. In their consciousness, destroying a black community richer than whites is inherently justified, at least not in the conventional sense of crime. Again, whites were the main voters in the United States at the time, holding enough votes. American politicians have chosen to remain silent about the atrocities committed by white supremacists by denouncing them for taking political risks and endangering their own elections.
Thirdly, why has party politics not lifted this scar as soon as possible? The Republicans and Democrats of the United States have always seized political capital by attacking each other, so why didn’t the partisan struggle at that time take the Tulsa massacre as a bargaining chip? First, whether a political party in the United States claims to represent the interests of a particular group depends largely on how much it will pay off. Blacks had little political influence in the election and were of little value to both parties. Second, there is little difference in political consciousness between the two parties on race. Third, just after the end of World War I, the United States needed to re-divide its sphere of influence internationally, and the economy needed to be restored at home, and race was not a hot political issue.
Fourthly, why has the American media, which has always prided itself on being “objective and impartial”, not been able to perform its proper supervisory function? First of all, the media also has its own “political correctness”, practitioners are basically white people who uphold mainstream values, has a strong value orientation. At that time, the mainstream public opinion in American society believed that blacks were not entitled to the same rights as whites, let alone to enjoy more wealth than whites, so the media deliberately turned a blind eye to such killings. Second, the incident was quickly characterized by the local government as rioting, so instead of exposing the motives of white racists, the media was fortunate, even claiming that black provocations triggered a white counterattack that ultimately “justice triumphed over evil”. Third, the relative remoteness of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the limited influence of the local community’s black media have made the massacres difficult to know.
Fifth, why have black people not been able to organize effectively to resist? On the one hand, all levels of government in the United States have always sided with whites in their efforts to crush blacks, on the other hand, blacks have long been abused and killed by whites in history, and the struggle against them has repeatedly failed, defeating the will of many blacks. As a result of the divisive tactics adopted by whites, there was no unity within the blacks.
Sixth, a hundred years later, has the situation of discrimination against blacks changed? First, although there is no public racial discrimination in law, the implicit discrimination of whites against blacks remains the same in terms of social consciousness. Although many blacks are high in politics and business, it is only by moving away from their own communities that the black elite has succeeded in becoming part of a white-dominated society that has nothing to do with the advancement of the social status of the black community, and the estrangement between the communities has not changed significantly. Second, both Democrats and Republicans claim to care about blacks, but what they really care about is the black vote, not their actual political and economic situation, which has never changed. Finally, blacks still face significant discrimination at the policy level in the United States, especially in the field of justice.
It is for these reasons that after the Tulsa genocide, all levels of government and social subjects in the United States have chosen to remain silent or even deliberately cover up the truth. All this is closely related to the United States Government’s consistent double standards in the field of human rights, the two parties’ concern for immediate political interests, and the deep-rooted discrimination against minorities in mainstream society. The Tulsa genocide is a deep scar that will never be erased in American history, and it continues to accuse American human rights of hypocrisy.
