And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: "... With the Native Americans, you could go on forever.'' Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Search for answers in 1921 race riot turns to a Tulsa cemetery 2.22 a.m. ET (732 GMT) November 23, 1999 http://www.foxnews.com/nav/wires_news.sml By Kelly Kurt, Associated Press TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A commission investigating one of the nation's worst acts of racial violence will seek city permission to dig in a Tulsa cemetery in a search for mass graves. The Tulsa Race Riot Commission agreed Monday to move ahead with a plan for limited excavation at Oaklawn Cemetery in its effort to define what happened here 78 years ago. Also Monday, the commission took up the issue of reparations, including scholarships, museums, memorials and direct payments to race riot survivors and victims' families as restitution for one of the nation's worst acts of racial violence. Historians say up to 300 people, mostly blacks, were killed when deputized white mobs burned 36 blocks of the city's black Greenwood business district in May 1921. The National Guard has been accused of being slow to respond and of also being involved in the attack. Rumors of mass graves from the riot have long been disputed. But state archeologist Bob Brooks says ground-penetrating radar has shown signs of disturbed soil and a pit at a roughly 15-square-foot unmarked site in the Oaklawn graveyard. And an elderly man has told investigators that, as a boy, he saw crates of black bodies there in the riot's aftermath. Brooks said excavation of a 3-foot by 6-foot area would enable forensic scientists to determine if any bones date to the time of the riot. "We're not trying to disturb these people,'' he said. "We're just trying to determine if they're there or not.'' Even with city approval, no excavation will likely take place this year, Brooks said. Meanwhile, the commission is scheduled to issue its findings and make a recommendation on reparations to the Legislature in January. A vote on reparations is expected at the commission's next meeting, which has not been scheduled. "I think money talks,'' said commission member Eddie Faye Gates. "It shows you're serious. It's a justice issue.'' But state Sen. Robert Milacek, a fellow commission member, said legislators may not support reparations. "If you do this for Tulsa, where do you stop?'' he said. "... With the Native Americans, you could go on forever.'' The committee on reparations suggested direct payments based on the precedent set by the Florida Legislature in the case of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre. Florida awarded victims' families as much as $150,000 each. Ms. Gates, who has located 64 race riot survivors, said she isn't afraid to fight for reparations. "The Oklahoma Legislature has never gone along easily with laws that benefited minorities and women,'' she said. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<> Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<>
