One day, musing on the subject of humanity, no doubt, the English novelist David Herbert Lawrence proclaimed, “Ethics and equity and the principles of justice do not change with the calendar.”  

Though I agree with the author of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, I unfortunately and ironically find that injustice, particularly in regards to people of African descent, has not historically changed much with the calendar either. Far be it for me to edit the great D.H. Lawrence, but I think exchanging the word do with the word should would have made his statement a more cogent and inclusive declaration. 

A few weeks ago, on June 12, the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s 8 to 1 ruling was more than clear when it dismissed the Lawsuit filed by Mr. Hughes Van  Ellis (102 years old), his older sister, Mrs. Viola Fletcher (109 years old), and Mrs. Lessie Benningfield (108 years old), the three survivors of what many believe is the most devastating pogrom in US history: The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. (Mr. Ellis, God rest his tenacious soul, passed away in 2023. May he rest in eternal peace.)

The dismissal of the Tulsa Massacre case is a microcosm of the United States unwillingness to financially atone for the inhumane and lucrative 246 years of chattel slavery, the documented 3,446 Black men and women lynched under a culture of impunity, and the 77 subjugating years Black people endeavored under Jim Crow conditions.

According to an April 3, 2024 Guardian piece on the subject, written by journalist Ed Pilkington, “More than 100 lawsuits have been filed over the years (since the 1921 Tulsa Massacre) seeking redress for the terrible events, which left 9000 Black residents homeless and drove an entire community into destitution. But not one survivor has ever had their day in court until now.” 

Juxtaposed with the victims of other atrocities that were granted reparations during the modern era, the crimes inflicted upon people of African descent are more than comparable. 

It would be easy to strictly assign racism to the blatant disparity between the Tulsa Massacre survivors and other ethnic groups that were decimated. Easy, because racism was an undeniable component in the murderous two-day destruction of the Greenwood district of Tulsa, and the initial lawsuits that were filed and foiled by the racist public servants in southern American courts of the early to mid 20th century. And easy because antiblack racism continues to taint the American justice system via racial profiling, racial bias during police stop-and-search occurrences, police brutality, grotesque racial sentencing and plea-bargaining disparities (the Kalif Browder ordeal is a good example), and Black and Latino citizens accounting for 51% of the prison population. But as steadfast as racism in the United States still is, placing the dismal results of the Tulsa Massacre Lawsuit solely in a convenient racial box is not the correct diagnosis, or the most productive approach, to the continuous and arduous march towards reparations for Black American citizens. The crusade, it seems, is in desperate need of a better strategic and legal procedure.  

According to the honorable (an exacting) Judge Joseph Blakney Brown Jr, while being interviewed by journalist Sabrina Salvati (on her Youtube show: The Sabby Sabs Podcast):

 “(All States) have sovereign immunity. You cannot sue a municipality, a county, a state, or the Federal government unless they give you permission; by statute… No statutory allocation. That’s called an enablement and an Appropriations Act by somebody’s legislative body. Where is the Black political clout to elect the people that would see to that?”

Judge “Joe Brown,” as he is affectionately called, has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Juris Doctor degree from the UCLA School of Law. He would be a worthy consultant for any legal team seeking reparations and alluded to that opinion during his interview with Salvati while deriding the attorneys at the forefront of the reparations movement:

“Ask somebody that knows. You are asking the wrong people. And some of the lawyers that are on the pedestal, they never even tried a case—they’ve never even briefed a case—they’ve never filed an appeal—they’ve never made any law—but they’ve made big (reputations) because they’ve settled cases for chicken change.”

As withering as Judge Brown’s statements are, my research tells me his instruction that Black political clout has to elect people (or politicians) that will produce an Appropriations Act—to acquire reparations for the Black demographic in the US—appears to be the gateway to success.

A January 30, 2023 piece published on the CrownHeights.info website states that “The Holocaust Claims Processing Office (HCPO) is a unit of the New York State Department of Financial Services. It was created to help Holocaust victims and their heirs recover assets deposited in banks; unpaid proceeds of insurance policies issued by European insurers; and artworks that were lost, looted, or sold under duress. The HCPO does not charge claimants for its services. (And) since its inception,  the HCPO has responded to thousands of  and received claims from all 50 US states and 53 countries. 

Excavating the subject further, I found the following excerpt on a 2021 University of Denver blog:

“The Holocaust Claims Processing Office (HCPO) was established in 1997 by executive order of then-governor of New York, George Pataki, as part of the New York State Banking process.” 

In her Judge Brown interview, Sabrina Salvati shared how Governor Kathleen Hochul has recently doubled down on  Governor Pataki’s state executive order. A quick google search confirmed her claim. An August 10, 2022 article written by Journalist Jeanne Tyler Moodee Lockman,  posted on the New York State Senate website, contains the following announcement:

“New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a package of legislation Wednesday to honor and support the Holocaust survivors in educational, cultural, and financial institutions. The bills will help make sure schools are providing high-quality Holocaust education, require museums to acknowledge art stolen by the Nazi regime, and require the New York State Department of Financial Services to publish a list of financial institutions that voluntarily waive fees for Holocaust reparations payments.”

“As New Yorkers, we are united in our solemn commitment to Holocaust survivors: We will never forget,” said Gov. Hochul. “These are individuals who have endured unspeakable tragedy, but nonetheless have preserved to build lives of meaning and purpose right here in New York. We owe it to them, their families, and the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust to honor their memories and ensure future generations understand the horrors of this era.” 

Despite the literary and verbal claptrap of say the economist Thomas Sowell, racism is still an obstruction in the pursuit of reparations for Black citizens in the US. However, we can no longer allow racism to hide behind the unfulfilled legal and political agency that is ultimately required to achieve such a monumental endeavor. 

The harsh reality is that the playbook civil rights attorneys and leaders have been using has become antiquated and unproductive—and if a new revised edition does not materialize soon, African descendants of slavery may never redeem the unpaid wages, respect, and dignity that was confiscated, to build the alleged, self-proclaimed, citadel of democracy. Let the revision commence—all editors, intellectuals, and legal minds on deck.

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