The Original Justice for living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa/Greenwood Race Massacre Act seeks to compensate the surviving victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when a violent white mob attacked and destroyed the prosperous Black community of Greenwood, killing hundreds and displacing approximately 10,000 residents. Currently, only two survivors are known to be alive: 111-year-old Viola Ford Fletcher and 110-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle. The bill would authorize the Treasury Department to pay each living survivor $20.8 million total—comprising $10.4 million in compensatory damages and $10.4 million in punitive damages—drawn from the federal Judgment Fund, with payments to begin within 30 days of certification by the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. The payments are justified based on the federal government's failure to prevent or prosecute the massacre and historical precedents in which Congress compensated victims of other mass injustices, such as Japanese Americans interned during World War II and September 11th victims. The legislation frames the payment as full settlement of all claims survivors may have against the federal government related to the massacre.
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