TULSA, Okla. (Reuters) – Organizers have canceled plans for an afternoon of speeches and performances commemorating the centennial on Monday of the Tulsa massacre that decimated the city’s affluent African-American district of Greenwood, citing “unexpected circumstances.”
CBS News reported the event was canceled following a dispute between the commission and a lawyer for the victims.
“Due to unexpected circumstances with entertainers and speakers the Centennial Commission is unable to fulfill our high expectations for Monday afternoon’s commemoration event and has determined not to move forward with the event at this time,” Phil Armstrong, the project director of the centennial commission, said in a statement on Friday.
Armstrong’s statement did not address the CBS report, and his office had no further comment. A lawyer for the victims did not respond to a request for comment.
Monday’s “Remember + Rise” event had been slated to include a performance by award-winning musician John Legend and a speech by politician and activist Stacey Abrams. Armstrong said organizers hoped to reschedule the event later in the year.
A candlelight vigil is among the commemoration events still scheduled to take place.
Tulsa is commemorating the 1921 massacre in a series of events in May and June.
After the arrest of an African-American man accused of assaulting a white woman, an allegation that was never proven, white rioters, some of whom were deputized by local authorities, gunned down Black residents and torched homes and businesses.
An estimated 300 people were killed and thousands were made homeless by the destruction.
After the massacre, insurance companies refused to pay damages to the victims, citing riot clauses. No one was ever prosecuted or punished for the mob’s violent acts.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Donna Bryson and Sonya Hepinstall)
