A century after a race massacre, Tulsa finally digs for suspected mass graves (begins today)

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/13/tulsa-digs-mass-graves-race-massacre-oaklawn-cemetery/


Excavation for suspected mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre will begin at Oaklawn Cemetery on Monday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The excavation at Oaklawn Cemetery, delayed for months by the pandemic, begins Monday morning

By DeNeen L. Brown

July 13, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

TULSA — Nearly a century after a brutal race massacre left as many as 300 black people dead, this city plans to begin digging Monday for suspected mass graves from the violence.

A team of scientists, archaeologists and forensics anthropologists are scheduled to remove a top layer of soil gather at the city-owned Oaklawn Cemetery, where geophysical radar scans last year detected anomalies consistent with mass graves.

Although the scientists said their radar findings are promising, the only way to determine precisely what lies beneath the ground is to dig. The excavation was delayed for three months by the coronavirus pandemic.

It comes weeks after President Trump appeared in Tulsa at a campaign rally, which drew more than 6,000 people to an indoor arena where few people wore masks. Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Bruce Dart said last week that a spike in new coronavirus cases in Tulsa may be linked to Trump’s rally and the protests it generated.

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[bobbieinok]

1. Tulsa city council to vote Wednesday on mandatory masks (have heard)

Bynum called for vote

[sunflowerseed]

2. Probably not going to happen today, it's raining.