Bronze Memorial Plaques Tell Story of Tulsa Race Riots

Tulsa, OK (PRWEB) October 31, 2010, Article:

The mostly untold story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riots now has a permanent voice at John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park in Tulsa.

The park features a majestic 25-foot-tall bronze tower encircled by 12 large bronze memorial plaques that faithfully recount what ignited, and transpired during and after, one of the most tragic race-related events in our nation’s history. Until now, the story has been largely suppressed. However, the plaques now make public a chronicle of injustice, fear, vigilante behavior, and extraordinary loss and destruction.The bronze plaques are the work of sign company Impact Signs.

“It is painful to realize that what can only be described as ‘ethnic cleansing’ took place in our nation, and that it has been virtually wiped from the history books,” said U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. “No one was ever convicted for this outrage.”

“Racism, and its violent manifestations, are part of (the) nation’s past that we cannot avoid,” Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich, said.

Impact Signs VP Shabbir Moosabhoy states, “Participating on this historic project has been an honor for us. Having been selected to do the work is quite humbling.”