Tulsa Race Massacre events cancelled due to ‘unexpected circumstances’ as DHS warns of racist threats

A televised event marking a century since the Tulsa Race Massacre has been cancelled, reportedly due to a recommendation from the Department of Homeland Security.

Featured guests at the memorial were to include singer-songwriter John Legend and political campaigner Stacey Abrams, and planned on airing on the tragedy’s 100 year anniversary and was titled ‘Remember and Rise’.

The decision to halt the event was shared yesterday via a statement by the organisers..

“Due to unexpected circumstances with entertainers and speakers, the Centennial Commission is unable to fulfil our high expectations for Monday afternoon’s commemoration event and has determined not to move forward with the event at this time. We have hopes to reschedule later in this 100th commemorative year,” wrote the The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission.

Aside from concerns about potential acts and speakers, the Department of Homeland Security expressed the possibility of an attack from neo-nazis and white supremacists.

While there had been nothing the Department deemed serious, they said in a note that said “the current Homeland threat remains heightened”.

They also went into detail about the techniques of the white supremacists, and how often they deployed these techniques, writing, “historically have used simple tactics, such as vehicle ramming, small arms, edged weapons, and rudimentary explosive devices to target individuals perceived as having ideologically opposing views, racial minorities, or law enforcement at mass gatherings or crowded public spaces”.

These were used during the 2017 Charlottesville clashes involving white supremacists, who chanted things like “Jews will not replace us” while carrying tiki torches. Vehicle ramming led to the death of counter protester Heather Heyer, who was out on the streets of the Virgina town to oppose them.

The White House reports that President Joe Biden intends to still go and take part in the memorial in Oklahoma and according to those arranging the events, they are still set to happen.

The Tulsa Race Massacre happened in 1921 following an furious group of white people, spurred on my inaccurate allegations of sexual assault against a Black teenage boy, rioted in the Greenwood area of Tulsa between 31 May and 1 June, which they ravaged, murdering hundreds of people and forcing people to flee the area. At the time, the area had been coined ‘The Black Wall Street’.

It is believed to be one of the most violent racial hate crimes in U.S history, but despite this it only hit the national imagination during its depiction in pop culture via television shows such as ‘Watchmen’ and ‘Lovecraft County. Some academic believe it was actively repressed in media and in schools

A full list of commemorative events can be found here.

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