On May 31, 1921, a mob of white Tulsans destroyed the area around Greenwood Avenue, also known as Black Wall Street. The violence culminated on June 1, and ultimately, up to 300 residents died, most of them Black.
The initiative petition would allow Oklahoma voters to decide whether June 1 should be recognized annually as Greenwood Remembrance and Reconciliation Day.
Francetta L. Mays is an associate pastor at the Historic Vernon AME Church in Tulsa's Greenwood District. She filed the initiative petition paperwork earlier this month.
The petition will go through a 90-day period of public feedback on its constitutionality. Then, registered Oklahoma voters will be able to sign the petition. A new law went into effect earlier this year that limits the portion of signatures that can come from Tulsa County itself, although that law is being challenged in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
If the petition receives enough signatures, it would make its way to Oklahomans' ballots as State Question 838.
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