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Tulsa Race Riot Survivors' Quest for Justice

November 23, 2008 10:46 AM

ABC News' Jerika Richardson blogs:

As children, the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race riot witnessed the murders of family members and friends. They watched as their homes were burned and pillaged. Three hundred people died and more than 1,000 residences were burned, a 2001 report on the incident by an Oklahoma state commission estimated.

"Before They Die,"a new documentary chronicling the survivors' stories and their quest for justice, premiered in New York City Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Other screenings are planned for February 2009 to coincide with Black History month. The movie will debut in Chicago on Feb. 24, and filmmakers also plan to show the film in Indianapolis, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

Reginald Turner, CEO of Mportant Films, and Charles J. Ogletree Jr., a law professor at Harvard, produced the documentary as part of The Tulsa Project, a nonprofit foundation to raise awareness and seek justice for its survivors.   

Olivia Hooker, 94, a survivor of the Tulsa race riot and one of the first African-American women to join the U.S. Coast Guard, said individuals in Tulsa worked to cover up the atrocities that occurred in the city’s Greenwood neighborhood.

Click HERE to view a picture of Turner with the Tulsa survivors. From left: Reginald Turner, Otis Clark, Wess Young and Olivia Hooker.

"The oil magnates in Tulsa said it wouldn't be good for Tulsa if this got out," Hooker said. "So they deliberately kept it from getting out."

In the documentary, survivor Eldoris McCondichie, 97, said Greenwood's African-American residents shied away from discussing the riot.

"The reason our people didn't talk about it is because we were afraid of it happening again," she said.

Six years ago, several riot survivors asked Olgetree to help them fight for reparations after hearing him speak at the University of Tulsa College of Law. 

Ogletree filed a lawsuit against the state and city on behalf of the survivors in 2003. The legal team, which included the late Johnnie Cochran, argued that several other repressed groups in U.S. history were awarded reparations. Federal judges dismissed the case.

"We used every ounce of our breath and our commitment to make sure that they, in their lifetime, could tell their children and grandchildren [that] somebody heard them in the wilderness and gave them comfort," said Ogletree. "It was more than about whether or not they get a gold medal, or whether they get an apology, or how much money they get. It was about justice."

In 2007, the survivors appealed to Congress, asking for legislation that would allow them to receive reparations.

At the film's premiere, Turner spoke about how happy he was to be able to see some of the remaining survivors.

"The film is focused on telling the story of the survivors, keeping African-American history alive and broadening awareness of it among all Americans," said Turner, who directed the film. 

The three survivors who attended the New York City premiere, Hooker, Otis Clark and Wess Young, also took time to reflect on another historic event: President-elect Barack Obama's momentous win.

"We had no idea we would be blessed with a black president," said Clark, who, at 105, happens to be older than the state of Oklahoma.

"We're really in a changing world," said Young, 92. "I'm proud ... really proud. It's overdue. ... It's overdue."

"We need somebody in there with good character who doesn't claim to do miracles," said Hooker. “But he [Obama] claims to do right ... and that's what's important, you know. We need to work on teaching children to respect everybody. I have lived to see a new day and this is the beginning.”

ABC News' Sharde Miller contributed to this report.

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