When I decided to drive 800 miles round trip from Omaha to Tulsa to report on the 104th PGA Championship, held May 19–22 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I was very conscious of the city’s history with the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, an event that all people, especially people of color, will never forget.
As I write this article, it has been 100 years and 358 days since that tragedy. So in my mind, I not only want to report on the golf tournament but also pay homage and respect to the people and families of this most ugly page in US history in which 35 square blocks were destroyed, 300 Black people were killed,10,000 were displaced and no white person was ever arrested or charged.
Much of Greenwood was destroyed during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. (Library of Congress/AFP/Getty Images)
Of course, I am eager to chronicle the on course accomplishments of Cameron Champ, Harold Varner III, Wyatt Worthington II, and Tiger Woods but as a Black journalist, I cannot and should not forget or ignore the off-course activities regarding Greenwood also known as Black Wall Street.
This week, on Wednesday, May 18, the three remaining victims/survivors of Greenwood each over 100 years of age were given a lump sum $1 Million dollars by the New York-based foundation, Business for Good. The foundation’s vision and values are that Business can shatter barriers, it can give access, it can be an equalizer. Inequity is real and persistent but not inevitable. Ed Mitzen, co-founder of the foundation with his wife Lisa, presented the check. He stated, “We felt like it shouldn’t be this hard to get some sense of relief for what they went through. We just want to help.”
In 2001, the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, which was tasked by the state of Oklahoma with investigating the massacre, recommended that officials conduct excavations to search for mass graves of massacre victims. The commission also recommended that the state make “direct payments to riot survivors and descendants.” But no state or city reparations have been paid to survivors or descendants.
What was golf doing in 1921?
Well In 1921, British golfer Jim Barnes won the US Open, President Warren Harding even attended the final day of the event and presented Barnes with the championship medal.
Barnes also won $500 for his win. The renowned Bobby Jones was an amateur and finished 5th with a 23-over par performance in that same tournament.
Citing an article written by James D. Robenalt in the Washington Post on June 21,2020 “President Warren G. Harding spent the weekend worrying over how to respond to the massacre. Finally, he decided to accept a commencement invitation from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the nation’s first degree-granting historically Black institution. He would use that moment in 1921 to seek healing and harmony — and several months later in Alabama, he would go much further with daring remarks about equality. That was how a Republican president addressed racially fraught events nearly a century ago.”
Robenalt continued to write in that same article
“Despite the demagogues, the idea of our oneness as Americans has risen superior to every appeal to mere class and group,” Harding declared. “And so, I wish it might be in this matter of our national problem of races.”
Few people could have missed the symbolism of Harding’s June 6 visit to Lincoln, Pa., near the small town of Oxford, about five miles north of the Maryland border. The university had been founded as the Ashmun Institute in 1854 but changed its name after the Civil War in tribute to the assassinated president. Early on, it was known as “the Black Princeton.”
Harding wanted to acknowledge the searing anguish of Tulsa not just for African Americans there but also across the nation.
A delegation from a Black Baptist convention visits Marion, Ohio, and the home of Warren G. Harding to show its support for the 1920 presidential campaign. In office, Harding repeatedly addressed racial issues. (photo: Ohio History Connection)
Formed in 2017, the then-Tulsa Race Riot Centennial Commission decided to refer to the event as a massacre “based on community input.” The rationale, members said, was “to shed the name given by the offenders and reclaim the narrative of our history.”
Support for the name change also came from long-held dissatisfaction that black residents victimized during the massacre were unable to recoup restitution because insurance claims didn’t cover calamities attributed to riots.
You see for me, golf and the history of African Americans in this nation are intertwined. We should all pause and learn from the past whether 100 years ago, or the last hole.
From left, Tulsa Race Massacre survivors Hughes Van Ellis Sr., Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, wave and high-five supporters from
a horse-drawn carriage before a march in Tulsa on May 28, 2021. The three known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre are
receiving a $1 million donation from a New York philanthropic organization. They will share the donation. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Clearly, there are lessons to be learned on and off the course and we have to keep a scorecard on each so we can gauge our progress. While not totally satisfied with the progress made to date in either front, I am encouraged more now than ever before. I do acknowledge that much has been done as conscious and intentional efforts are being taken by several people and pray that more will continue to be done.
We learn from Life; we learn from Golf or at least we should.
As I complete this article Tiger has withdrawn from the tournament. Cameron Champ and Wyatt Worthington II missed the cut. Harold Varner III finishes T-48. Mito Pereira was leading the tournament until his ball found the creek on 18, he also double-bogeyed 18 missing a chance for a 3-way playoff. Justin Thomas won the championship in a 3-hole cumulative score playoff over Will Zalatoris.
Many lessons can be taken from Tulsa this week.
Oh, well I suppose it is a time of reflection for everybody.
AAGD EXECUTIVE EDITOR JIM BEATTY WORKING AT THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, SOIUTHERN HILLS IN TULSA, OKLA.
2022 PGA Championship Media Center
