Lakers: Two Tulsa Massacre Survivors Honored at LA-OKC Game

It has been exactly 100 years since the tragic events that took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Thunder may not be a team in the running for a playoff seed this season, but they have been doing things off the court to show they do care about their community around Oklahoma.

During the intermission between the first and second quarter against the Lakers, the Thunder bought out two or the remaining three survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Viola Ford Fletcher and her brother Hughes Van Ellis, ages 107 and 100 respectively, were introduced to fans of the Paycom Center.

We are proud to welcome two of the three known living survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, 107-year old Viola Fletcher and her brother 100-year old Hughes Van Ellis, who are attending their first NBA game! pic.twitter.com/LlCyOq5jMU

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 11, 2021

LeBron James was asked about this moment after the game and he praised the Thunder organization for honoring events like this.

“I think that’s an unbelievable moment, not only the two survivors but just continuing to highlight that moment in time. For the city here to continue to recognize it, I think it’s an unbelievable thing. They do well by their people here, they highlight things that are unjust or things that are great.”

LeBron on the Tulsa Massacre survivors at the game tonight: “I think that’s an unbelievable moment, not only the two survivors but just continuing to highlight that moment in time. And for the city here to continue to recognize it, I think it’s an unbelievable thing.” pic.twitter.com/bZrvZ0PGGd

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) December 11, 2021

James and Russell Westbrook have produced their own documentaries that talk about the 1921 tragic events. With CNN, James’ Springfield Entertainment produced Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street and Westbrook’s Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre that came out on the History Channel. Both documentaries came out earlier this year to mark the 100-year anniversary.

Exactly a century ago in Greenwood, a neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a group of white cohorts, many who were deputized by the police came to the courthouse to lynch a 19-year-old black teenager, Dick Rowland. Rowland was falsely accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old white female. In a two-day tragic event, the white mob burned down about 35-square blocks in Greenwood, killing roughly around 300 black people, and leaving over 10,000 black residents homeless in the area.

It is good to see the Thunder organization doing their part in remembering these events that have been downplayed in our history books over the years. A part of bettering society is to know our past, so we do not let history repeat itself.