(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
As President Donald Trump holds his first rally since the coronavirus pandemic gripped the nation, the city hosting him — Tulsa, Oklahoma — invokes a dark history of horrific violence toward African Americans.
For over 18 hours, from May 31 to June 1, hundreds of Black people were murdered and thousands were left without homes in what is now called the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Injured and wounded men are being taken to hospital by National guardsmen after racially motivated riots, also known as the “Tulsa Race Massacre”, during which a mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, US.
Including the well-known desolation of the all-Black community of Rosewood, Florida, now listed in this collective of violence are at least 26 cities, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Omaha, Elaine, Charleston, Columbia, Houston, and the aforementioned Tulsa where the president is hosting his rally during this season of racial angst during Juneteenth.
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So as Trump gathers thousands in Tulsa in an attempt to reinvigorate his presidential campaign amid a tipping point over race in America, the deep and dark history of the city and beyond stands glaringly in the background.