Reparations Sought Decades After Race Riot

"The liberal mind-set that is bringing the action in Tulsa is the same liberal mind-set that would bring national reparations," said state Sen. James Williamson, a Tulsa Republican. "There were a lot of wrongs perpetuated against the Oklahoma Indians too. Do we allow them to sue as well? How far do you go? Do the Egyptians today pay for the slavery of Israelites?"

The riot was rarely discussed until 1996, its 75th anniversary, when the Oklahoma Legislature created the Race Riot Commission. Among other findings submitted to the state in 2001, the commission reported that scores of whites were deputized by the Tulsa police that night and that the deputies joined the riot and plundered Greenwood.

"These people were told, 'Go out and get a damn black person' -- except they used more offensive language than that, as you might imagine," said Alfred L. Brophy, a University of Alabama law professor. Brophy, a specialist in race and property law, is to testify today for the plaintiffs.

Analysts call the allegation that the government was complicit in the riot a crucial point. If the strategy succeeds, similar claims could be made in other cities where race-related riots took place, including Houston, Chicago and East St. Louis, Ill. The tactic also could be important in pushing for slavery reparations, because many state and local governments passed laws shoring up the institution of slavery, leaving them open to allegations that they were complicit in the institution, civil rights advocates say.

"This lawsuit is the vanguard of a political movement, the beginning of a national discussion," Brophy said. "There are fundamental issues to address. Is America truly a land of unlimited opportunity? Or is it a place where some people have unlimited opportunity and some people have been left behind? Reparations represent a new way of talking about the Great Society."

These arguments make it clear to state Sen. Charles R. Ford that there is a direct link between the Tulsa lawsuit and the national reparations debate -- and Oklahoma, he believes, must take a stand.

Ford, a Republican, is a Tulsa native, born 10 years after the riots. He said his father was in the masonry business and hid black employees during the riot.

"My concern is that through the process of wanting reparations, history has been rewritten to some degree," he said. "I don't feel that the state of Oklahoma, nor any other governmental agency, is culpable."