Different Eras, Same Machine: Tulsa 1921, DCPS RelayGate 2021--The Politics of Racialized Harm

America’s response to the destruction of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street and DC’s handling of RelayGate are linked by a common pattern: the state enables racialized harm to Black communities, then deploys silence, delay, and technicalities to evade full repair while preserving the power and profit structures that caused the harm.

Not identical crimes but the same governing logic:

Both Tulsa 1921 and RelayGate--under DC Mayor Bowser's mayoral control of DC Public Schools--show how government actors and their corporate cronies can target Black communities, inflict large‑scale damage, and then:

• - Deny or minimize responsibility.

• - Obstruct accountability processes.

• - Offer at most partial, conditional “repair” that protects institutions and vendors while leaving Black people with lasting loss.

Paralles that link these moments:

Parallel 1: Targeting Black Power

Tulsa, 1921

• Greenwood, a thriving Black economic center, destroyed

• Hundreds killed; 35 blocks leveled

• Black wealth and autonomy deliberately targeted

DC, 2025

• Relay imposed most aggressively in Wards 7 & 8

• “No-excuses” training narrowed curriculum and intensified punishment

• Black children treated as problems to be managed, not people to be educated

Parallel 2: State Complicity + Profit

Tulsa

• City officials and police enabled the massacre

• Post-violence plans sought to seize Black land for white commercial use

DC

• Ethics findings show a DCPS superintendent took $170,000 from Relay

• Schools pressured into costly Relay contracts at the expense of children

• Favored vendor enrichment driven by political backing—not community consent

Parallel 3: Silencing Truth-Tellers

Tulsa

• Massacre erased from textbooks and public record

• Survivors denied justice through legal technicalities

DC

• Principals and educators punished for raising concerns

• Poor evaluations, non-renewal, termination for whistleblowing

• Message sent: naming racism carries consequences

Parallel 4: “Repair” Without Reparations

Tulsa

• $105M initiative funds projects, not survivors

• No direct compensation for stolen Black wealth

DC

• No restitution for the wrongfully terminated

• No restoration of diverted funds

• No reckoning with educational and emotional harm

In Essence:

• Black communities are disciplined when they build power

• State authority enforces racialized control

• Institutions protect themselves and their cronies

• Harm might be acknowledged—but never fully repaired

The same system that burned Black Wall Street now sanctions racialized experiments on Black children in schools—often carried out by Black gatekeepers of that machine—who punish anyone who resists, and, when exposed, deny the harm while fighting fiercely in court to avoid paying the full debt.

VOTE DC

DC residents must scrutinize every candidate running for office.

• Ask the hard questions.

• No free passes.

• Were they silent and complicit in RelayGate?

Demand they name the harm, condemn it unequivocally, guarantee repair, and it will never be repeated.