Oldest living survivor of Tulsa race massacre casts vote for Kamala Harris

Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa race massacre, cast her ballot in Oklahoma on Tuesday at 110 years old for Kamala Harris.

In a photo shared on social media, Fletcher is wearing an “I voted” sticker, and according to CNN journalist Abby Phillip, Fletcher voted for the vice-president, as she had previously said she would.

Fletcher was just seven years old in 1921 when a white mob attacked the city’s “Black Wall Street”, killing an estimated 300 African Americans. The mob also robbed and burned more than 1,200 businesses, churches and homes, which left thousands of people homeless.

In 2021, 100 years after the massacre occurred, Fletcher and other survivors testified before Congress in support of a lawsuit brought in 2020 aimed at getting reparations for the destruction of Greenwood, a once-thriving Black district.

The lawsuit argued that Tulsa’s history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre and noted that the city and insurance companies never compensated the victims.

The lawsuit also argued that the massacre resulted in racial and economic disparities in the region that still exist today.

In 2023, an Oklahoma judge dismissed the lawsuit, undermining efforts to secure some legal justice for the elderly survivors.

That same year, Fletcher released her memoir, Don’t Let Them Bury My Story, which details the impact of the Tulsa massacre on her life and advocates for racial justice.

Lessie Benningfield Randle, one of other last living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, also cast her vote in the 2024 election this week, according to Essence.

Randle, who is 109 years old, told Essence, that if this is her last ballot, “then I’m grateful that it’s for Kamala Harris”.

“My grandchildren deserve a world where taking care of their parents isn’t a financial struggle, medication is affordable and women are free” she said. “And our children deserve a president who will inspire them to learn from history, not a tyrant who will try to erase it.”