For city’s darkest day, justice is still to be dispensed （至暗的一天，和未至的正義）
英文原文
for city's darkest day, justice is still to be dispensed
a little more than 100 years ago, black residents of a district in tulsa, oklahoma, were subject to a vicious racial assault by mobs, estimated to have killed as many as 300.
zhao xu
"on may 30, 1921, i went to bed in my family's home in the greenwood neighborhood of tulsa," viola fletcher, 107, told members of a congressional subcommittee in washington in may. "i felt my sleep that night was rich, not just in terms of wealth but in culture, community and heritage. my family had a beautiful home, we had great neighbors and i had friends to play with. … then a few hours (later), all of that was gone."??still being able to "smell smoke and see fire", fletcher, who has lived long enough to be called mother fletcher by all who come into her audience, had traveled all the way from her home in tulsa, oklahoma, to washington, so her story could be heard, and the century-old damage done to her and her people could be mended in the slightest possible way.??in searing detail, fletcher recounted the killing of her people and the burning of her community by white mobs on may 31 and june 1 of 1921, as seen through the eye of a 7-year-old. known as the tulsa race massacre and perhaps the most horrendous racial violence against black people on us soil in the past century, the event led to the destruction of a 35-square-block neighborhood known as greenwood district in north tulsa. in the aftermath, more than 10,000 black tulsans were left injured, homeless and destitute. it is estimated that as many as 300 were killed, the whereabouts of their remains largely unknown.??"i am 107 years old and have never seen justice," fletcher told her listeners on may 19, referring to the fact that no one has ever been held accountable and none of the victims compensated by any level of us government. she was joined in the us capitol by her 100-year-old brother hughes van ellis and through videoconference by their fellow black tulsan lessie benningfield randle, 106. all have spent their life in greenwood.??today it would be hard for anyone not there in the years leading up to this calamity to imagine how prosperous the community once was, without the moving images captured by a black baptist minister and amateur filmmaker named solomon sir jones (1869-1936). under his lens, impeccably dressed pedestrians and stylish cars shared the bustling streets lined with clothing stores, movie theaters and hotels. young workers loaded crates of beer onto the back of a van, in a life that after all was well worth toasting.??"the african american history in oklahoma is deeply rooted in slavery and linked to land that became first available for black people in the late 1800s," said hannibal johnson, author of the 2020 book black wall street 100: an american city grapples with its historical racial trauma.??a major black migration took place in the 1830s and 1840s when native american indians were forcibly removed from the southeastern united states to what was to become the state of oklahoma, he said. "migrating with the tribes were both free and enslaved people of african ancestry, the latter owned by tribal members."??after slavery was abolished in 1865, the federal government forced native americans to provide land allotments for blacks. in the late 1800s oklahoma had a number of land runs and land lotteries. the prospect of land ownership attracted blacks, including some relatively wealthy men who came to tulsa and created the black community of greenwood district, mainly by buying land and recruiting other people of african ancestry.??booker t. washington, a prominent african american of his era after whom the booker t. washington high school in tulsa was named in 1913, ostensibly called greenwood "the black wall street", a name soon adopted by many others. yet according to johnson, the designation is a misnomer given the absence of banking and investment undertakings, and the community itself being "one of necessity" that was the product of state-sanctioned segregation.??in november 1907 oklahoma, right upon its admission as a state, adopted racial segregation laws as its first order of business. commonly known as jim crow laws, they targeted the black as well as other peoples of color, with measures to disenfranchise them and undo their political and economic gains.??nine years later the city of tulsa mandated residential segregation by forbidding black or white people from residing on any block where 75 percent or more of residents were members of the other race.??abutting tulsa, "greenwood district is in essence black mainstream for those unable to participate in the white-dominated economy", johnson said.??one result of this was that wealth created by black tulsans had nowhere else to go but to stay within the 35 blocks, in the form of 200 black-owned businesses, and many affluent families, including four black millionaires. the discovery of oil and natural gas, which led tulsa to proclaim itself the "oil capital" starting in the 1910s, also contributed to the phenomenon.??greenwood became known across the us as a model of blacks working productively together and of economic independence. "what was happening in the greenwood district wouldn't be contained within the greenwood district," said karlos hill, associate professor of african american studies at the university of oklahoma, in a previous interview. "some individuals would be pressing for greater inclusion, political and civil rights."??yet what was seen by all african americans, especially those from the racism-riven deep south, as "a symbol of what was possible"－to quote hill－was also "an anomaly", according to johnson.??"having thrived at a time when the ku klux klan was incredibly active in oklahoma, the community had, up to the point of the massacre, dodged bloody white-on-black violence that had erupted across the us in what's known today as the red summer of 1919. all it needed was a sort of match, an igniter tossed on the embers."??that trigger event took place on may 30, 1921, involving dick rowland, 19, a shoeshine boy, and sarah page, 17, a white girl who was an elevator attendant in the drexel building in downtown tulsa.??"the boy went to the building, boarded the elevator, something happened and sarah page began to scream," johnson said. "they both ran out of the elevator. what happened there we'll likely never know. but the next day, rowland was arrested and taken to the court."??that same afternoon, the local paper the tulsa tribune ran a highly inflammatory article with the headline "nab negro for attacking girl in an elevator", accompanied by an editorial titled "to lynch negro tonight"－something that a white mob immediately sought to do, by gathering on the lawn of the city courthouse, where rowland was in jail on the top floor, and demanding that he be handed over.??outside the courthouse, the white mob clashed with a group of blacks who marched there to protect rowland and ensure he at least received a trial. a shot was fired and "things sort of went south from that point", johnson said.??the white mob, armed and greatly outnumbering the blacks, shot its way through the greenwood district, firing indiscriminatingly into businesses and residences. this was followed by looting and burning, which lasted for 16 hours until noon on june 1.??george monroe, 5, was consumed by terror.??"all of a sudden my mother was excited because she saw four men coming toward our house," monroe recalled in the mid-1990s. "all of them had torches, lighted torches on their side coming straight to our house. when these four men came in, they walked right past the bed, straight to the curtains in the house and they set fire to the curtains. as a result, everything in and around was burning."??all the time, monroe was hiding under a bed with his older sister, who threw her hand over his mouth to stop him screaming when a rioter unknowingly stepped onto his finger.??monroe waited for 75 years to tell his story: in 1996 the tulsa race riot commission, a state-sanctioned task force, was set up to investigate the massacre, and he was among the 108 survivors the commission ultimately located across the country.??among other things, the commission found that the city had conspired with the white mob against its black citizens.??"we don't know of any approved incident where law enforcement officers were murdering people, but what we do know is that they deputized some people in the white mob and provided them with weapons," johnson said. "the national guard rounded up black people and put them in internment centers in the middle of the massacre. the stated purpose was to protect them, but we know from the survivors that what it did was to leave the greenwood community largely defenseless."??according to the tulsa historical society and museum, more than 6,000 black people were held at one point, some for as long as eight days. after the massacre it was official policy to release a black detainee only upon the application of a white person.??however, in a report issued by the tulsa city commission two weeks after the massacre, mayor t.d. evans was unequivocal: "let the blame for this negro uprising lie right where it belongs, on those armed negroes and their followers who started this trouble and who instigated it."??last september a lawsuit was filed in the oklahoma state court against the city of tulsa by lawyers for the massacre victims and their descendants, including fletcher, ellis and randle, whose appearance before the congressional subcommittee constituted part of that quest for delayed justice.??in 2007 the us supreme court upheld lower court rulings that a federal lawsuit seeking damages was barred by the statute of limitations, in effect telling the victims and their descendants that they were too late for any remedy.??behind this prolonged fight is what many have called a conspiracy of silence.??immediately after the massacre, all original copies of the issue of the tulsa tribune that seems to have incited the mob disappeared, apparently having been destroyed. the relevant page is even missing from the microfilm copy. according to a newspaper report at the time, sarah page, who left the town immediately after the massacre, later wrote a letter to the county prosecutor saying she did not want to press charges against rowland.??in fact, the most powerful indictment of the murderous mobs is in the form of picture postcards taken, most likely by its members, and widely distributed after the massacre as souvenirs of the prowess of white supremacy. these images, never showing the need to restrain from depicting bloodstained bodies of black tulsans, feature captions such as "negro slain in tulsa riot", the word riot seen by many as an insidious effort to rewrite history by blaming the blacks.??yet there is more to it. "if the damage was occasioned by riot or civil unrest, the insurance policy typically would not pay proceeds," johnson said. "that's why labeling it as a riot was really important at the time.??"the push to change really took place two or three years ago, as people in the community wanted to sort of take back the naming rights for the event."??while the word massacre captures the horror of the killing, he said, it may have failed to convey the active resistance put up by black tulsans in face of the advancing mobs.??back then with tulsa the self-proclaimed oil capital still on its upward trajectory, the city fathers were only too eager to bury what they knew would severely tarnish its image. the victims themselves were too traumatized and too afraid to talk about it, and in fact with the entire community in ruins, many left tulsa, never to return.??however, some chose to stay. left to pick up rubble amid smoldering debris, these black tulsans embarked on an arduous rebuilding, one that the city government often did its best to impede.??"the city passed an ordinance that you had to rebuild with nonflammable materials, which my grandfather thought was unfair and unreasonable," said john whittington franklin, whose grandfather, buck colbert franklin, was a lawyer in tulsa in the first half of the 20th century. "he fought it successfully all the way to the state supreme court."??the rebuilding resumed, with black tulsans encouraged by franklin to use whatever they could find, from old bricks to pieces of wood. for four years the man lived in tents, away from his wife and children, including his son john hope franklin (1915-2009), father of john w. franklin and renowned african american historian.??"my grandfather moved 60 miles from the small town of rentiesville to tulsa and opened his law firm in february 1921," john w. franklin said. "my grandmother had planned to join him at the end of may, but the massacre changed everything. my father remembered learning how to fish from my grandmother, something young men usually do with their fathers. the family was reunited in 1925."??the would-be historian attended public schools in tulsa, including booker t. wa shingt on high school, one of the very few structures that had escaped destruction in the massacre. he may also have said his sunday prayers at the vernon african methodist episcopal church, burned to the ground during the massacre before being rebuilt by black tulsans the very next year. in the wee hours of july 1, 1921, as the fires burned away the floors above the ground, men, women and children found shelter in the church basement.??in 2015, eight years after john hope franklin and his son edited and published the late lawyer's autobiography my life and an era, john w. franklin was presented with his grandfather's manuscript, discovered in a rented storage area.??"i wept, i just wept," said the grandson, who first visited his grandfather in tulsa in 1954, at the age of 2.??within those 10 pages typewritten on yellowed legal paper, the lawyer, who had dreamed of becoming a novelist, told of one of the greatest tragedies of his era, through the true story of one man with whom he had crossed paths several times.??it begins in 1918, soon after world war i, when a young african american veteran named ross feels angry and betrayed because of his treatment despite his military service. it proceeds to an account of ross defending his black community in 1921 during the massacre, and ends 10 years later, with the man, who had lost both his eyesight and his mind in the fires that destroyed his home, sitting in a mental asylum staring blankly into space. somewhere at a street corner in tulsa sits mother ross with her tin cup in hand, begging alms of passersby.??in an article published on june 3, 1921, two days after the calamity, the morning tulsa daily world, citing tulsa county deputy sheriff barney cleaver, said "the negroes participating in the fight … were former servicemen who had an exaggerated idea of their own importance".??"exaggerated idea" was the expectation of black returnees from the war in europe－400,000 african americans fought in the war－for civil rights, seen through the distorting prism of racism. ellis, one of the massacre survivors who spoke in washington in may, knows all about that expec tat ion, and the crushing disappointment that follows.??joining an all-black battalion in the highly segregated us army and fighting in the china-burma-indian theater of world war ii, ellis was asked to "stay at the very bottom of the ship" like his fellow black soldiers. "i put my life on the line for my country," said the old man who at war's end returned home to find himself denied all gi benefits due to the color of his skin.??today, at the smithsonian national museum of african american history and culture in washington, a museum for which john hope franklin served as the founding chairman of its scholarly advisory committee, the typewriter on which the historian's father produced his searing eyewitness account is on view in a gallery dedicated to the memory of the massacre.??"lurid flames roared and belched and licked their forked tongues into the air. smoke ascended the sky in thick, black volumes and amid it all, the planes－now a dozen or more in number－still hummed and darted here and there with the agility of natural birds of air," b.c. franklin wrote in his manuscripts in 1931, 10 years after the massacre. he was referring to the use of private aircraft by the white mobs, with the attackers either shooting from them or dropping incendiary devices onto the buildings of greenwood.??the gallery, whose collection john whittington franklin has helped to build together with curator paul gardullo, also features a number of charred coins collected by young monroe in the days and months after the massacre.??in an article written for the museum, gardullo recounted how the boy was able to find solace from searching for coins left behind by the looters. the copper pennies, belonging to black families who preferred to keep their hard-earned wealth at home rather than in a white-owned bank, had withstood the heat of burning to offer a potent metaphor.??"the story is ultimately not about massacre but about the indomitable human spirit－perseverance, faith, hope and resilience," johnson said, referring to qualities that he clearly sees as transmittable, although the transmission of wealth itself between different generations of african americans had often been impeded by racially motivated violence.??imbued with a sense of righteous defiance, black tulsans rebuilt their homes to such a degree that the national negro business league held its 26th annual convention in greenwood in 1925, the year b.c. franklin got together with his family. the community peaked in the 1940s.??in the meantime, despite common belief, there had been, from the very beginning, sporadic but equally heroic efforts from black tulsans to save the memory for later generations. one of them was mary e. jones, who was compelled by the massacre to become a journalist and author, before writing about her experience and that of others in the 1923 book events of the tulsa disaster.??"i had no desire to flee," jones said in her book. "i forgot about personal safety and was seized with an uncontrollable desire to see the outcome of the fray."??another example involves william d. williams, whose remarkable story is recounted in gardullo's writing for the national museum of african american history and culture. williams, the son of a black couple who owned greenwood's iconic dreamland theater, lived in tulsa in 1921. he later left for college, receiving letters from his mother telling him how hard it was to "pull out" and rebuild, physically and emotionally. the young man eventually returned to tulsa to teach history at his alma mater, booker t. washington high school, where he developed his own curriculum on the massacre.??one of his students, don ross, later became an oklahoma state representative and successfully lobbied to create the tulsa race riot commission.??williams died in 1984 aged 78, having assembled over the years a scrapbook that includes an obituary notice for his mother. the lady, despite all her effort to "pull out", died in a mental asylum in 1928, a victim of the massacre's long-term trauma.??"at every juncture, white americans have taken whatever opportunities and success and ambition that black americans have earned and destroyed it," said jonathan silvers, director of the documentary tulsa: the fire and the forgotten, aired on the us channel pbs on may 31 to mark the massacre's centennial. speaking at an online discussion on the massacre, silvers said he was ed to do the movie by a news story about "mass graves possibly discovered in tulsa" in october 2019.??"i've been in a lot of mass graves around the world, and i had no idea that mass graves could exist in our country," said silvers, a veteran journalist with strong interest in "international justice, conflict and human rights".??carried on intermittently since that initial discovery, the archaeological digging at tulsa's oaklawn cemetery, in which lie the remains of only two official victims of the tulsa massacre, has unearthed a total of 27 remarked remains. to determine whether or not they are related to the massacre, forensic scientists hope to, among other things, match the remains' features－h(huán)eight, for example－with city records and world war i enrollment documents.??some have hailed the excavation as carving "a path toward reconciliation" while others point to the continuing racial tension in a city in which the predominantly black north tulsa is "messed-up" and "empty", in the words of randle, one of the three survivors.??damario solomon simmons, the lawyer who spearheads the lawsuit against the city of tulsa on behalf of the massacre victims and descendants, said more than 33 percent of residents in black north tulsa live in poverty compared with less than 14 percent of residents in south tulsa. calling the current situation "the legacy of that violence" in an article for the los angeles times, simmons, born in tulsa, clearly sees in his hometown "an aversion to making amends for systemic racism".??last october, barely five months after the murder of george floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by the white policeman derek chauvin in minneapolis, minnesota, a black lives matter mural 75 meters high in greenwood avenue in tulsa was removed by the city overnight.??a week later an anti-racism protest attracted numerous armed militia members carrying automatic weapons. the sight, captured by silver's camera crew, is agonizingly evocative for black tulsans aware of the history of the massacre and for those who have lived with it for a century.??"i think about the horror inflicted upon black people in this country every day," said fletcher, who in 1921 found herself running past "black bodies… injured or dead … not able to get up and get out of the way of whatever was happening."??"recognizing our shared humanity", johnson said, is the only way toward reconciliation. "the holocaust, the 1921 tulsa race massacre, the burning of chinatowns in the 19th century and the rampant anti-asian hate we see now－all these things are connected. part of the reason we have to study those things is to make sure that we understand what can happen in the absence of recognition of our shared humanity."??in 1972 the mother of dick rowland, whose elevator encounter with sarah page "started it all", to quote johnson, gave an interview. "she suggested that the two knew one another and that they were actually having some sort of 'illicit' affair," said johnson, referring to the fact that in those days a romantic relationship between a white girl and a black boy could lead to shunning for the former and lynching for the latter.??gardullo, the national museum of african american history and culture curator, believes that the stereotype of young black men raping young white women was used with great success from the end of slavery and into the middle of the 20th century.??"it was a formula that resulted in untold numbers of lynchings across the nation," he said in a previous interview with smithsonian magazine. "the truth of the matter has to do with the threat that black power… posed to individual and … the whole system of white supremacy."??having had her childhood upended and her chance at education stolen from her by the massacre, fletcher spent most of her life as a domestic worker "serving white families", as she puts it. in the 1940s she worked briefly in the shipyards of california supporting her country's world war ii effort and saw, in those and subsequent years, six men in her family joining the us military service.??"for 70 years the city of tulsa and its chamber of commerce told us that the massacre didn't happen as if we didn't see it with our own eyes," she said.??"our country may want me to forget this history, but i cannot. i will not. and other survivors did not. our descendants do not."??zhao xu in new york
譯文如下：
至暗的一天和未至的正義
中國日報美國分社記者趙旭
“1921年5月30日，我在塔爾薩市格林伍德區(qū)的家中進入夢鄉(xiāng)?！?/p>
今年5月，107歲的維奧拉·弗萊徹(viola fletcher)來到華盛頓，對國會小組委員會的成員們講述了100年前的那個晚上。
“那晚，我安然入睡。不僅因為衣食無憂，還因為我所擁有的文化、居住的社區(qū)和以后能夠繼承的遺產(chǎn)。我過著優(yōu)渥的生活：和家人住在漂亮的房子里，有很棒的鄰居，還有一起玩耍的朋友。然而，幾個小時后，一切都灰飛煙滅?！?/p>
弗萊徹超過百歲的年齡，讓幾乎所有聽她講話的人，都尊稱她為“弗萊徹媽媽”。她從俄克拉荷馬州塔爾薩來到華盛頓，就是為了能夠讓她的故事被更多人聽到。這樣能讓她和她的同胞們在那個夜晚以及之后漫長歲月中所受到的傷害，稍微得到些撫慰。
從一個7歲孩子的視角，弗萊徹講述了1921年5月31日和6月1日這兩天，白人暴徒燒毀她所居住社區(qū)以及屠殺居民的殘酷細節(jié)。這一事件被稱為“塔爾薩種族大屠殺”，它是過去一個世紀以來美國土地上發(fā)生的最可怕的種族暴力事件，徹底毀滅了由35個街區(qū)組成的格林伍德區(qū)(greenwood district)。事件發(fā)生后，1萬多名塔爾薩黑人居民身受重傷、無家可歸、一貧如洗，更有多達300人被殺，遺骸至今下落不明。
“活了107年，我從未看到過正義。”5月19日，弗萊徹在聽證會上如此控訴。到現(xiàn)在，這場屠殺沒有人被追究責(zé)任，甚至沒有聯(lián)邦或地方政府對受害者進行賠償。弗萊徹的弟弟—100歲的休斯·范·埃利斯（hughes van ellis）也來到了聽證會現(xiàn)場。姐弟倆的黑人同胞—106歲的萊西·本寧菲爾德·蘭德爾（lessie benningfield randle）則以視頻會議的形式參加了這次活動。他們?nèi)硕荚诟窳治榈聟^(qū)度過了一生。
時至今日，如果沒有所羅門·瓊斯(solomon sir jones, 1869-1936)所拍攝的生動畫面，沒有人能想象，在這場災(zāi)難發(fā)生之前，格林伍德區(qū)是何等繁榮。所羅門·瓊斯是黑人浸禮會牧師兼業(yè)余電影制作人，在他的鏡頭下，街道兩側(cè)是服裝店、電影院和酒店，穿著講究的行人穿行其中，街上行駛著時髦的小轎車，年輕的工人把成箱的啤酒搬到面包車后面—這甜美的生活的確值得開瓶慶祝一下。
“俄克拉荷馬州的非裔美國人歷史深深植根于奴隸制，與19世紀末黑人首次獲得土地有著千絲萬縷的聯(lián)系?！?020年出版的《黑人華爾街百年:一座美國城市與種族主義的較量》一書的作者—漢尼拔·約翰遜(hannibal johnson)如此表述。
19世紀30-40年代，美國發(fā)生大規(guī)模黑人移民潮，這是由于當(dāng)時美國印第安人被強行從美國東南部遷移到后來建立的俄克拉荷馬州。隨部落遷移的既有自由人，也有為部落成員所擁有的非洲血統(tǒng)奴隸。
1865年，奴隸制被廢除后，聯(lián)邦政府要求印第安人把土地分給黑人。因此，19世紀后期，俄克拉荷馬州有大量的土地以“先到先得”和彩票的方式征得新主。成為土地所有者的前景吸引著黑人，包括一些相對富有的黑人。正是這些人來到塔爾薩，通過購買土地和招募其他非裔美國人的方式創(chuàng)建了格林伍德區(qū)。
布克·t·華盛頓(booker t.washington)就是那個時代杰出的非裔美國人。塔爾薩的布克·t·華盛頓高中在1913年以他的名字被命名。華盛頓稱格林伍德區(qū)為“黑人華爾街”，這個名字隨后被廣為人知。然而，在約翰遜看來，這個稱呼并不恰當(dāng)，因為這里并沒有銀行和投資公司。事實上，格林伍德區(qū)本身就是美國當(dāng)時實行種族隔離政策的產(chǎn)物。
1907年11月，俄克拉荷馬州剛成立，就通過了種族隔離法。這一系列法律通常被稱為“吉姆·克勞法”，主要針對黑人和其他有色人種，采取一系列措施剝奪黑人的政治權(quán)利和經(jīng)濟利益。在9年后，塔爾薩更是強制實行居住隔離政策，禁止黑人居住在白人占75%及以上的街區(qū)，反之亦然。
如約翰遜所說，“從根本上說，格林伍德區(qū)是那些無法參于到白人主導(dǎo)經(jīng)濟中的黑人所建立的屬于他們自己的經(jīng)濟體?！?/p>
這種經(jīng)濟分離導(dǎo)致的直接結(jié)果是，塔爾薩的黑人創(chuàng)造的財富無處可去，只能留在這35個街區(qū)內(nèi)，存在的形式是200余家黑人擁有的企業(yè)和許多富裕家庭，其中還包括4名黑人百萬富翁。1910-1920年，石油和天然氣的發(fā)現(xiàn)使塔爾薩成為“石油之都”，這進一步促使格林伍德區(qū)的財富持續(xù)增長。
在美國，格林伍德區(qū)成為黑人內(nèi)部合作和經(jīng)濟獨立的典范?！霸诟窳治榈掳l(fā)生的事情不會停留在格林伍德內(nèi)?！倍砜死神R大學(xué)研究非裔美國人歷史的卡洛斯·希爾(karlos hill)教授在此前一次采訪中說，“格林伍德的崛起啟發(fā)了黑人們對政治和公民權(quán)利提出更多訴求?！?/p>
在美國的黑人，尤其是那些來自種族主義肆虐的南方腹地的黑人看來，格林伍德區(qū)代表著無限的可能性。然而，在其他人眼中，它的存在本身就很反常。
“格林伍德區(qū)走向繁榮的時候，正是三k黨在俄克拉荷馬州異常活躍之時。全美范圍內(nèi)，針對黑人的種族暴力行為頻現(xiàn)，那段時期甚至被稱為‘1919紅色夏天’。大屠殺發(fā)生之前，格林伍德一直成功躲避著暴力行為。然而，只需一根小小的火柴，就可將醞釀已久的種族仇恨點燃，摧毀一切?！?/p>
導(dǎo)火索發(fā)生在1921年5月30日，當(dāng)事人是19歲的擦鞋黑人男孩迪克·羅蘭(dick rowland)和17歲的白人女孩莎拉·佩奇(sarah page)—一名塔爾薩市中心克萊斯勒大廈的電梯服務(wù)員。
約翰遜描述了事件發(fā)生的大致經(jīng)過：男孩走進大樓，搭乘電梯，電梯間里發(fā)生了一些事情，莎拉·佩奇開始尖叫，之后兩人一起跑出了電梯。我們可能永遠不會知道到底發(fā)生了什么。第二天，羅蘭就被逮捕并送上了法庭。
當(dāng)天下午，當(dāng)?shù)貓蠹垺端査_論壇報》刊登了一篇極具煽動性的文章，標題為《抓住那個在電梯間襲擊女孩的黑鬼》，并附以一篇題為《今夜絞死黑鬼》的社論。一群白人暴民立即 “響應(yīng)號召”，聚集在塔爾薩市法院外的草坪上，要求法庭交出被關(guān)在頂樓監(jiān)獄的羅蘭。
與此同時，一眾黑人也來到法院外，試圖保護羅蘭，確保他能夠接受審判而不是直接被處以私刑。兩伙人發(fā)生了沖突，一聲槍響后，大屠殺就此開始。
白人暴徒攜帶武器，數(shù)量遠超黑人，他們一路掃射，打進格林伍德區(qū)，向商店和住宅瘋狂開火。殺戮、搶劫和焚燒持續(xù)了整整16個小時，直到6月1日中午。
當(dāng)年，只有5歲的喬治·門羅感覺自己被恐怖吞噬了。
上世紀90年代中期，他回憶了這段經(jīng)歷：“突然間，我的母親惶恐不安，她看到四個白人男子帶著火把徑直朝我們家走來。進屋后，他們繞過床，走到有窗簾的地方將其點燃。瞬間，周圍的一切都燃燒起來?！?/p>
此時，門羅和他的姐姐正躲在床下。當(dāng)一名暴徒無意中踩到他的手指時，姐姐趕忙用手捂住他的嘴巴，不讓他叫出來。
等了75年，門羅才終于等到講述這段經(jīng)歷的那一天。1996年，政府批準成立了塔爾薩種族暴動委員會，專門負責(zé)調(diào)查這場大屠殺。委員會在全國范圍內(nèi)找到了108名幸存者，門羅是其中之一。
該委員會的調(diào)查表明，塔爾薩市政府與白人暴民一起，發(fā)起了這場針對黑人的大屠殺。
“沒有確切的證據(jù)，可以證明政府的執(zhí)法人員親自殺人。不過，可以確定的是，他們讓一部分白人暴徒成為代理執(zhí)行人，并提供武器?！奔s翰遜說，“在大屠殺期間，國民警衛(wèi)隊以保護黑人的名義圍捕他們，并將其關(guān)進拘留中心。從幸存者那里得知，這樣做的真實目的，是為了讓格林伍德區(qū)在毫無防守的情況下被任意洗劫?！?/p>
據(jù)塔爾薩歷史學(xué)會博物館稱，大屠殺期間，有6000多名黑人被關(guān)押，其中有些人關(guān)押長達8天之久。大屠殺發(fā)生后，官方的政策是，一個黑人，只有獲得白人為其提交的獲釋申請，才能夠被解除拘留。
大屠殺發(fā)生兩周后，塔爾薩市委員會發(fā)布了一份報告。在報告中，市長t·d·埃文斯(t.d. evans)直接表示：“要將這場黑人暴動歸咎于應(yīng)該為它負全責(zé)的人。那些攜帶武器的黑人和他們的追隨者挑起并煽動了這場暴亂?！?/p>
去年9月，在俄克拉荷馬州法院，大屠殺受害者及其后代，其中包括弗萊徹、埃利斯和蘭德爾，通過律師對塔爾薩市發(fā)起了一項訴訟。三人在國會小組委員會的出現(xiàn)，正是他們?yōu)樽非筮t到的正義所做出的努力。
2007年，美國最高法院維持了下級法院的判決，認定大屠殺受害者及其后代發(fā)起的這項尋求損害賠償?shù)脑V訟因超過訴訟受理期而被禁止。這等于說，任何補救都已經(jīng)太遲了。
在這場曠日持久的斗爭背后，是許多人所說的“合謀鑄成的沉默”。
大屠殺發(fā)生后，煽動白人暴徒的《塔爾薩論壇報》原版報紙都消失了，甚至連縮微膠片上的版面留底也不見了，這顯然是被有意銷毀。據(jù)當(dāng)時一份報紙的報道，佩奇在慘案發(fā)生后立即離開了當(dāng)?shù)?，并在不久后致信縣檢察官表示自己并不想起訴羅蘭。
事實上，對大屠殺最有力的控訴，來自于一些極有可能是暴徒們自己拍攝的照片。這些照片當(dāng)時被制成明信片廣泛傳播，作為宣揚白人至上主義威力的紀念品。這些照片毫不隱晦地展示著塔爾薩黑人血跡斑斑的尸體，并配上諸如“在塔爾薩暴亂中被殺死的黑人”之類的文字。關(guān)于“暴亂”一詞，很多人認為，這是白人試圖通過指責(zé)黑人改寫歷史。然而，他們的目的遠不止于此。約翰遜說：“如果損失是由暴亂或內(nèi)亂引起，保險公司通常不需要支付任何賠償金。這就是為什么在當(dāng)時把大屠殺貼上‘暴亂’的標簽非常必要?！?/p>
“真正為這場暴亂正名所作出的努力，開始于兩三年前?！奔s翰遜說。然而，他也并非全然同意用“屠殺”來命名這次事件。雖然“屠殺”一詞體現(xiàn)了殺戮的恐怖，但它未能傳達出塔爾薩黑人面對不斷推進的暴行進行了積極英勇的抵抗。
當(dāng)時，自詡為“石油之都”的塔爾薩正處于上升期，城市的締造者們急于埋葬這段不光彩的歷史。與此同時，那些身心飽受摧殘、心懷恐懼的受害者們幾乎集體選擇了緘默，不愿再提及痛苦的往事。事實上，隨著整個格林伍德區(qū)變成一片廢墟，許多人離開了塔爾薩，再也沒有回來。
慶幸的是，有人選擇留下。盡管市政府百般阻撓，這些人依舊在冒煙的廢墟中撿拾著瓦礫，開始艱苦的重建工作。
約翰·w·富蘭克林(john w franklin)的祖父巴克·科爾伯特·富蘭克林(buck colbert franklin)，一名上世紀前半葉在塔爾薩執(zhí)業(yè)的黑人律師，為重建工作做出了貢獻?！霸撌型ㄟ^了一項法令，規(guī)定人們必須用不易燃的材料重建房屋。我祖父認為這既不公平也不合理。”約翰·富蘭克林說，“他把官司一路打到了州最高法院，并且取得了勝利?！?/p>
重建工作得以繼續(xù)后，塔爾薩的黑人在老富蘭克林的鼓勵下，使用任何他們能找到的建筑材料，可以是舊磚，甚至也可以是木塊。重建的4年里，老富蘭克林一直住在塔爾薩的一頂帳篷內(nèi)，遠離住在另一座城市的家人，包括自己的兒子，約翰·w·富蘭克林的父親—約翰·霍普·富蘭克林(john hope franklin, 1915-2009)，一名享有盛譽的非裔美國歷史學(xué)家。
“1921年2月，我的祖父從60英里外的勒尼耶維爾小鎮(zhèn)（rentiesville）搬到塔爾薩，并開了一家律師事務(wù)所。我的祖母原計劃五月底搬過去，但大屠殺改變了一切?！奔s翰·w·富蘭克林說，“我的父親記得自己小時候跟著祖母學(xué)釣魚的經(jīng)歷，而這通常是小孩子和父親一起做的事情。直到1925年，大屠殺過去四年后，祖父祖母才得以團聚。”
約翰·霍普·富蘭克林—這位未來的歷史學(xué)家，曾就讀于塔爾薩的公立學(xué)校，包括布克·t·華盛頓高中。這所高中的教學(xué)樓是極少數(shù)在大屠殺中得以保全的建筑之一，而弗農(nóng)衛(wèi)理公會圣公會的黑人教堂(vernon african methodist episcopal church)則在大屠殺中被夷為平地，約翰·霍普·富蘭克林很可能曾在周日去過那里做禱告。這座教堂第二年就被塔爾薩的黑人重建。1921年6月1日凌晨，當(dāng)大火在地面上的樓層熊熊燃燒時，男人、女人和孩子們躲在教堂的地下室避難。
約翰·霍普·富蘭克林和兒子共同編輯并出版了老富蘭克林的自傳《我和我的時代》，八年后即2015年，有人將一份祖父的手稿交到約翰·w·富蘭克林手上，它最初在一個出租的小儲藏間被發(fā)現(xiàn)。
“看著手稿，我哭了，不停地哭?！奔s翰·w·富蘭克林說。1954年，他兩歲時，第一次去塔爾薩看望了祖父。
在十頁泛黃的律師用紙上，這位曾夢想成為小說家的律師，用打字機敲打出他那個時代最慘烈的悲劇之一。這個真實的故事，通過他本人與同一個人的幾次相遇展開。
故事開始于1918年，第一次世界大戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后不久，一位名叫羅斯的年輕非裔美國退伍軍人為他在軍隊服役后依然受到的歧視感到憤怒。故事中段是在1921年的塔爾薩大屠殺中，羅斯為保護他所在的黑人社區(qū)投入戰(zhàn)斗。結(jié)尾部分發(fā)生在大屠殺10年后，在那場燒毀家園的大火中失去視力和思維的羅斯，坐在精神病院里茫然地凝視著天空。在塔爾薩的某個街角，羅斯的老母親坐在地上，手里拿著錫杯，向路人乞求施舍。
“參加暴動的黑人都是退伍軍人，他們對自己的重要性有著不切實際的幻想。”1921年6月3日，在大屠殺發(fā)生兩天后，《塔爾薩每日世界晨報》上發(fā)表的一篇文章如是說。
40萬從歐洲戰(zhàn)場歸來的黑人美軍士兵，渴望擁有屬于他們的公民權(quán)利。從將一切扭曲的種族主義的棱鏡看這種期待，就成了“不切實際的幻想”。今年5月，埃利斯作為在華盛頓發(fā)表演講的大屠殺幸存者之一，他深知那種期望，以及隨之而來的極度失望。
在當(dāng)時高度奉行種族隔離的美軍中，埃利斯所在的營隊全是黑人，在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)中參加了中緬印戰(zhàn)區(qū)的戰(zhàn)斗。與其他黑人士兵一樣，埃利斯被要求呆在最艱苦的船艙的最底部。“我曾經(jīng)為我的國家赴湯蹈火?！边@位老人說，“戰(zhàn)爭結(jié)束后，我回到家，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己因膚色問題被剝奪了退伍士兵本應(yīng)享有的福利。”
今天，在位于華盛頓的史密森國家非裔美國人歷史與文化博物館內(nèi)，老富蘭克林曾經(jīng)用過的那臺打字機在一個專門紀念塔爾薩大屠殺的展廳中被展出，他的兒子約翰·霍普·富蘭克林曾擔(dān)任該博物館學(xué)術(shù)咨詢委員會的創(chuàng)始主席。
“可怕的火焰咆哮著，吐著濃煙，用分叉的舌頭舔舐著天空。濃煙滾滾，直沖云霄，在這一片煙霧之中，十余架飛機嗡嗡地叫著，像猛禽一樣敏捷地飛來飛去?！?931年即大屠殺發(fā)生10年后，老富蘭克林在他的手稿中記錄下大屠殺當(dāng)天的情景。他所描述的是白人暴徒們使用的私人飛機，這些人從飛機上要么射擊，要么向格林伍德的建筑投擲燃燒彈。
在紀念塔爾薩大屠殺的展廳中，所有展品由約翰·w·富蘭克林和館長保羅·加杜洛(paul gardullo)精心選擇并呈現(xiàn)。除了那臺打字機，還有燒焦的銅幣，那是孩童時代的門羅在大屠殺后幾個月里收集到的。
在為博物館撰寫的一篇文章中，加杜洛講述了這個男孩是如何從搶劫者沒有帶走的銅幣中尋求到絲縷安慰的。這些銅幣原本屬于富裕的黑人家庭，他們寧愿把辛苦掙來的錢留在家里，也不愿放在白人銀行里。銅幣經(jīng)受住了燃燒的高溫，劫后余生，這對小門羅來說是一個充滿隱喻的存在。
“今天我們講述塔爾薩的故事，重點不是屠殺，而是一種不屈不撓精神—堅持、信念、希望和堅韌都包含其中?！奔s翰遜說。在他看來，盡管美國黑人因種族仇恨和暴力等原因常常無法將自己積累的財富傳給下一代，然而，他們具備的精神可以傳承下去。
被植根于正義感之中的反抗意識激勵著，塔爾薩的黑人們在廢墟上重建了自己的家園，完成度之高，以至于全美黑人商業(yè)聯(lián)盟于1925年在格林伍德舉行了第26屆年會。 那一年，正是巴克·科爾伯特·富蘭克林迎來與家人團聚的一年。重建后的格林伍德社區(qū)蒸蒸日上，在上世紀40年代達到第二個高峰。
與此同時，與人們的普遍印象相反是的，塔爾薩的黑人們?yōu)楸Ａ舸笸罋⒌挠洃浰鞒龅呐奈粗兄埂＿@種努力需要的勇氣，與重建家園不相上下?，旣悺·瓊斯(mary e.jones)是其中的一位，她在1923年出版的《塔爾薩的災(zāi)難》一書中講述了自己和其他受害者的經(jīng)歷。事實上，正是這段經(jīng)歷，讓瓊斯走上了記者和作家之路。
“我沒有逃跑的念頭，” 瓊斯在她的書中說。“我忘記了個人安危，一種無法控制的欲望抓住了我，我想留下來看看這場沖突的結(jié)果。”
另一個憑借一己之力保留大屠殺記憶的例子是關(guān)于威廉·d·威廉姆斯 (william d. williams)的。他的非凡故事在加杜羅為美國國家非裔歷史與文化博物館所寫的文章中有詳細的敘述。威廉姆斯是一對黑人夫婦的兒子，這對夫婦擁有格林伍德最具標志性的建筑 —— 夢幻劇場。 1921年大屠殺爆發(fā)之時，威廉姆斯正在塔爾薩，他于此后離開塔爾薩去外面讀大學(xué)，并在那期間不斷接到母親的書信，向他講述重建的不易和從巨大的心靈創(chuàng)傷中恢復(fù)的艱難歷程。 數(shù)年后，威廉姆斯回歸故里，在他的母校布克·t·華盛頓高中教授歷史。在他的教學(xué)中，加入了塔爾薩大屠殺這一段。
威廉姆斯的學(xué)生之一唐·羅斯(don ross)后來成為俄克拉荷馬州的州議會議員，成功游說州政府成立了塔爾薩種族暴亂委員會對大屠殺進行全面調(diào)查。
威廉姆斯于1984年去世，享年78歲。多年來，他收集了一本剪貼簿，其中包括他母親的訃告。這位堅強的女士，盡管用盡全力，還是無法走出大屠殺帶給她的陰影，于1928年在一家精神病院離世。
今年 5月31日，美國公共廣播公司播出了紀念大屠殺100周年的紀錄片《塔爾薩: 煉獄與遺忘》。該紀錄片導(dǎo)演喬納森·西爾弗斯(jonathan silvers)說:“在每一個關(guān)鍵的歷史節(jié)點，美國白人都將黑人通過自身努力得來的機會和成功強行奪走，并將其摧毀?！?西爾弗斯在一場關(guān)于大屠殺的在線討論中說，這部電影的拍攝，源自于一條2019年10月的新聞報道。報道中稱，有可能在塔爾薩發(fā)現(xiàn)了埋葬多人的不明墓葬。
作為一名對“國際沖突和人權(quán)”有著濃厚興趣的資深記者，西爾弗斯說:“我去過世界各地的很多掩埋被屠殺者的地方，但我竟不知道我們國家也有這樣的地方。”
自第一次發(fā)現(xiàn)以來，在塔爾薩奧克勞恩公墓的考古挖掘工作斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地進行著。官方記錄中那里只埋有兩具塔爾薩大屠殺受害者的尸體，然而考古工作者們卻重新挖掘標注出另外27具遺骸。為了確定它們是否與大屠殺有關(guān)，法醫(yī)們需要做很多工作，包括把遺骸的特征——例如身高——與塔爾薩市政府的居民記錄和一戰(zhàn)士兵登記文件進行比對和匹配。
一些人稱贊這次挖掘為開辟“和解之路”提供了可能，而另一些人則指出，今天，在以黑人為主的北塔爾薩市，種族關(guān)系依舊緊張。 用去到華盛頓的三名幸存者之一蘭德爾的話說，那里充斥著“混亂”和“空虛”。
代表大屠殺受害者及其后代起訴塔爾薩市政府的律師達馬里奧·所羅門·西蒙斯(damario solomon simmons)說，在黑人聚居的北塔爾薩，33%以上的居民生活在貧困線以下，而相應(yīng)的數(shù)字在以白人為主的南塔爾薩是不到14%。生于塔爾薩的西蒙斯在《洛杉磯時報》撰文稱塔爾薩的現(xiàn)狀是“那場暴力屠殺的遺產(chǎn)”。時至今日，這位律師仍然在他的家鄉(xiāng)感受到一種 “不愿為制度性的種族主義做出任何補償?shù)那榫w”。
去年10月，46歲的黑人喬治·弗洛伊德(george floyd)在明尼蘇達州明尼阿波利斯市被白人警察德里克·肖文(derek chauvin)謀殺僅僅5個月后，塔爾薩市格林伍德大道上一幅75米高的《黑人的命也是命》壁畫就在一夜之間被市政府拆除了。
一周后，一場反種族主義的集會上出現(xiàn)了大量的抗議者。這些手持自動槍械，恐嚇集會者的白人民兵們出現(xiàn)在塔爾薩大屠殺紀錄片導(dǎo)演西爾弗的鏡頭中。 對于那些了解大屠殺歷史的人，對于那些與大屠殺的記憶共處了一個世紀的人，他們的出現(xiàn)不可避免地讓人聯(lián)想到那些痛苦的回憶。
107歲的弗萊徹說: “每一天，這個國家的黑人所遭受的恐怖都在我的腦海中翻騰?！?1921年的那一天，逃生中的她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己跑過 “躺倒在地上的黑人，他們有的重傷，有的已經(jīng)死去。他們無法站起來，更無法躲避正在降臨的任何災(zāi)難?！?/p>
約翰遜認為，“承認人性是我們共有的”是和解的唯一途徑。“猶太人大屠殺、塔爾薩、19世紀的唐人街大火，以及我們現(xiàn)在看到的猖獗的反亞裔仇恨，所有這些都是相互關(guān)聯(lián)的。我們必須要了解歷史，其中一個重要的原因就是我們要清楚地知道，當(dāng)我們不認可‘共有的人性’時，會發(fā)生什么?！?/p>
用約翰遜的話說，1921年，迪克·羅蘭與莎拉·佩奇在電梯間的那次相遇“開啟了這可怕的一切”。 1972年，迪克·羅蘭的母親在一次采訪中暗示兩個年輕人彼此認識，而且可能在進行著一段“禁戀”。在那個年代，一個白人女孩和一個黑人男孩之間的浪漫關(guān)系可能會導(dǎo)致前者被周遭不容，后者被處以私刑。
美國國家非洲裔美國人歷史與文化博物館館長加杜洛認為，從廢奴運動到20世紀中期，“年輕白人婦女被年輕黑人男子強奸” 成為了某種人們思維中的固有模式。他在此前接受《史密森雜志》采訪時說:“這種模式在全美導(dǎo)致了無數(shù)名黑人被白人動用私刑處死。然而事情的真相，卻是與黑人的崛起和他們享有的權(quán)利對個別白人和整個白人至上主義體系構(gòu)成的威脅有關(guān)?！?/p>
塔爾薩大屠殺徹底摧毀了弗萊徹的童年，也奪走了她受教育的機會。用她自己的話說，她人生的大部分時間都在做女傭，“為白人家庭服務(wù)”。20世紀40年代，她曾在加州的造船廠短暫工作，以微弱的力量支持二戰(zhàn)中的美國。那些年以及其后的幾年間，她家中有6位男性成員應(yīng)征入伍。
“70年來，塔爾薩市政府和市商會反復(fù)告訴我們，大屠殺并沒有發(fā)生過，就好像我們沒有親眼目睹它一樣。” 弗萊徹說?！耙苍S我的國家希望我忘記這一切，然而我無法也不會忘記，其他幸存者也不會，我們的后代也不會。
