By: Journalist Kaytly Clift (OSU)
The legislative piece, ORU-502 written by Burris (ORU), titled, “New Generation Justice” is a piece included on the orders of the day for Thursday.
The Tulsa Race Massacre was an incident of racial violence in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the year 1921. This was one of the deadliest instances of racial violence in the state at the time, and many citizens lost their homes, businesses and even their lives.
As a descendant of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Burris said, “This has been an ongoing fight for the last 100 years, and a lot of people might have forgotten about it, but nothing has changed.”
She said that even though it was 100 years ago, there are still two survivors fighting in the trial in the Oklahoma Supreme Court, but they are over 100 years old and were just children when the event happened.
This new law states “…the descendants of victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre shall receive reparations totaling one million dollars dispersed in monthly payments for twelve (12) years.”
“Descendants of victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre shall be granted a renewable scholarship of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) disbursed in monthly payments over a period of twelve (12) years.”
This bill will essentially give the descendants of the victim’s compensation to help with buying a house or business, as well as giving them a renewable scholarship to help them pursue upper education at an eligible university in the state of Oklahoma.
Although Burris considered expanding the list of eligible universities outside of Oklahoma, starting where the incident occurred would ensure that the citizens who are going to receive the compensation stayed in Oklahoma. Keeping it in the home state would allow for the funds to go back to communities that need them.
“We need those people to come back and rebuild the community,” said Burris. “And it’s going to benefit Oklahoma as a whole, its education, and what’s more important than education, owning property and investing in communities.”
This bill will be presented in the House on Thursday, and if passed, will be sent to the Senate Chambers.