Historic Greenwood District--Black Wall Street National Monument Establishment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I wanted to thank the Presiding Officer and several folks because we passed by unanimous consent today a national monuments piece for the Greenwood District in Oklahoma.

On May 31 of 1921, the largest race massacre in American history occurred in my great State of Oklahoma. It was in North Tulsa. That community was burned to the ground and destroyed in a race massacre. It is a scar on our Nation's history and on my State's history, but it is an area that we remember for a reason because we know how far we have come.

The community in North Tulsa and Greenwood--they are turning tragedy into triumph. They are starting new businesses. It is a beautiful area, and it continues to be able to grow and advance, but it still bears the scars of over 100 years ago of the incredible fire and massacre that happened there.

What we did today with unanimous consent didn't change the property rights of any person in Tulsa or in Oklahoma. It didn't add eminent domain. It didn't change codes. It didn't give the Federal Government control of any square inch of my great State. It just gave a designation--a monument designation--to that area. It is very similar to some other places in that it is just a designation so that we will always remember as a nation that something significant happened here.

And it is not just about what happened on that day, May 31, into June 1 of 1921. It is what it was like before, when it was Black Wall Street, a thriving community. It was like what it was like afterward, when people stayed and rebuilt a community. It is like what it is now. It is people with great pride who continue to be able to thrive in that community and still call it Black Wall Street based on the entrepreneurship that is there.

So I appreciate my colleagues who have been involved in this-- Chairman Mike Lee and Ranking Member Martin Heinrich--for their leadership in allowing this to be able to move today, and to Angus King and Cory Booker, who has been my partner in this now for years, to be able to move this particular designation.

I just want to tell the Presiding Officer that I appreciate all of the work of this body in what has actually occurred here and for allowing this to move, because it may not be significant to a lot of people in the country, but it is to us in Oklahoma; it is to the good folks in Greenwood. And it is not a bad thing for us to remember, during this time period, how far we have come and the work that is still yet to come.

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