Requiem for the Massacre: A Black History on the Conflict, Hope, and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Fox Sports analyst Young (Let It Bang) mixes memoir and history in this provocative study of the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. A century after white mobs destroyed the prosperous Black enclave of Greenwood, Young reflects on his own experiences as a Black teenager in Tulsa struggling under fierce pressure from his parents to succeed by assimilating to the city’s white culture. Eventually feeling triumph in his decision to stay (“One of my most prominent acts of resistance and self-determination has been to buy a house here”), Young is at his strongest when he critiques Tulsa’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the massacre, pointing out how events meant to bridge the city’s racial divides only reinforced them: ceremonies largely attended by white Tulsans took place in locales difficult for Black Tulsans to reach, while a mixed crowd attending a q&a with the creators of the HBO series Watchmen (which takes place in Tulsa) were subjected to a graphic scene from the series depicting an attempted lynching. Though some of Young’s digressions run long, he skillfully captures the insidious workings of racism. The result is a fierce and poignant portrait of the aftereffects of racial violence. (Nov.)