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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 4 Mei 2022

Judge lets Tulsa Race Massacre reparations lawsuit proceed

Marymount University law professor less and living in a hastily constructed
working with the plaintiffs. Miller internment camp.
said that racial and economic dispari-
ties resulting from the massacre con- The city and insurance companies
tinue to this day. never compensated victims for their
losses, and the massacre ultimately
Chamber of Commerce attorney resulted in racial and economic dis-
John Tucker said the massacre was parities that still exist today, the law-
horrible, but the nuisance is not on- suit claims. In the years following
going. the massacre, according to the law-
suit, city and county officials actively
“What happened in 1921 was a really thwarted the community’s effort to
bad deal, and those people did not get rebuild and neglected the Greenwood
a fair shake ... but that was 100 years and predominantly Black north Tulsa
ago,” Tucker said. community in favor of overwhelm-
ingly white parts of Tulsa.
(AP) - An Oklahoma judge ruled my 20-plus years working on this is- Oklahoma sued consumer products Other defendants include the Tulsa
Monday that a lawsuit seeking sue. I just don’t want to see the last giant Johnson & Johnson using the County Board of County Commis-
reparations for the 1921 Tulsa three die without justice. That’s why state public nuisance law for its role sioners, Tulsa Metropolitan Area
Race Massacre can proceed, the time is of the essence.” in the deadly opioid crisis. Initially, a Planning Commission, Tulsa County
bringing new hope for some mea- judge ordered the drugmaker to pay Sheriff and the Oklahoma Military
sure of justice for three survivors The packed courtroom, which Wall the state $465 million in damages. Department.
of the deadly racist rampage who noted may have been over capacity, But the Oklahoma Supreme Court
are now over 100 years old and erupted in cheers and tears after she overturned the Johnson & Johnson The lawsuit seeks unspecified puni-
were in the courtroom for the de- handed down her ruling. verdict, ruling that the public nui- tive damages and calls for the creation
cision. sance law did not apply because the of a hospital in north Tulsa, in addi-
Solomon-Simmons sued under company had no control of the drug tion to mental health and education
Tulsa County District Court Judge Oklahoma’s public nuisance law, say- after it was sold to pharmacies, hospi- programs and a Tulsa Massacre Vic-
Caroline Wall ruled against a motion ing the actions of the white mob that tals, and physicians’ offices and then tims Compensation Fund.
to dismiss the suit filed by civil rights killed hundreds of Black residents prescribed by doctors to patients.
attorney Damario Solomon-Sim- and destroyed what had been the na- The massacre received renewed at-
mons in 2020. The Tulsa-based at- tion’s most prosperous Black busi- Miller said the state court’s ruling in tention in recent years after then-
torney said after Wall announced her ness district continue to affect the the Johnson & Johnson case does not President Donald Trump selected
ruling that it is critical for living sur- city today. The lawsuit also seeks rep- affect the lawsuit. Tulsa as the location for a 2020 cam-
vivors Lessie Benningfield Randle, arations for descendants of victims of paign rally amid the ongoing racial
107, Viola Fletcher, 107, and Hughes the massacre. The massacre happened when an reckoning over police brutality and
Van Ellis, 101. angry white mob descended on a racial violence. Trump moved the
“In public nuisance cases, it is clear 35-block area in Tulsa’s Greenwood date of his June rally to avoid coincid-
“We want them to see justice in their either criminal acts or destruction District, killing people and looting ing with a Juneteenth celebration in
lifetime,” he said, choking back tears. of personal property” constitute a and burning businesses and homes. the city’s Greenwood District com-
“I’ve seen so many survivors die in nuisance, said Eric Miller, a Loyola Thousands of people were left home- memorating the end of slavery.

JonBenet Ramsey’s father wants outside agency to test DNA

(AP) — The father of ahead and test some of the killer.” The statement did not on newly discovered DNA
JonBenet Ramsey is sup- crime scene evidence that address the involvement of The details of the crime and on her clothing pointed to
porting an online petition was never tested for DNA,” Boulder police. video footage of JonBenet the involvement of an “un-
asking Colorado’s gover- he said. “Why that’s never from the pageants propelled explained third party” in her
nor to intervene in the in- been done and will never be Meanwhile, the Boulder Po- the case into one of the high- slaying, and not her parents,
vestigation into her death done by the police baffles lice Department said it has est-profile mysteries in the John and Patsy Ramsey, or
more than 25 years ago by me.” been working with state law United States, unleashing a their son, Burke. That led
putting an outside agency enforcement agencies and series of true-crime books former district attorney Mary
in charge of DNA testing The petition notes that ad- the FBI, on the investigation and TV specials. Lacy to clear the Ramseys of
in the case. vancements in DNA and the and that DNA from the case any involvement, two years
use of genetic genealogy is is regularly checked for any While the district attorney after Patsy Ramsey died of
The 6-year-old was found leading to the solving of more new matches. As of Decem- at the time of JonBenet’s cancer, calling the couple
dead in the basement of her cold case around the country. ber, the Colorado Bureau of death said her parents were “victims of this crime.”
family’s home in Boulder on It criticizes the Boulder Po- Investigation has updated under “an umbrella of suspi-
Dec. 26, 1996, bludgeoned lice Department for not do- over 750 DNA samples from cion” early on, tests in 2008
and strangled, several hours ing enough to use DNA to the investigation with the lat-
after her mother called 911 to solve the case, noting that the est DNA technology, the de-
say her daughter was missing department said at the time partment said in a statement.
and a ransom note had been of the 25th anniversary of
left behind. Her death was JonBenet’s death that it was “We have a shared goal to
ruled a homicide, but nobody “actively reviewing genetic bring justice—and hopefully
was ever prosecuted. DNA testing processes” to some peace—to JonBenet’s
see if those could be applied family and everyone who was
John Ramsey said he wants to the case. impacted by her loss,” Police
DNA evidence that was nev- Chief Maris Herold said in
er tested before to be trans- In a statement, a spokesper- the statement.
ferred away from Boulder son for Gov. Jared Polis said
police to a different agency, “The State will review the The police department was
KUSA-TV reported Sunday. petition and look into how criticized for its initial han-
the state can assist in using dling of the investigation into
“Somehow we’ve got to force new technology to further in- the death of JonBenet, who
the police, or take it away vestigate this cold case and to had competed in beauty pag-
from them, the ability to go identify JonBenet Ramsey’s eants.