B-Mack's Expressions @tumultuousearwax - Tumblr Blog

Staten Island, New York-based soul artist Bruce Mack returns with his new single "Duckgrease Burning at the Crabhouse".

Although the word “Blaxploitation” has become an acceptable one to describe African-American films released from the early-to-late 1970s, ma

Let’s not let women’s rights be taken away.

Not sure if he’s calling for a ride, but that bike looks like it’s talking to him… #contrasts #culture_clashes

2nd Installment - Say A Name for Black Greenwood - My Tribute To Black America’s Western Mecca

It’s a little different when you make a personal connection... name, face, lineage, and the fact that it wasn’t only in Tulsa, Ok that this took place. Neither was it the first, and I doubt the days that followed were of sunshine and tulips. This the reason I’ve stretched this tribute over a period of time following this massacre of black life. This was not a “race war” as noted on some of the plaques and in publications to make it seem as though “no one” is responsible. Like George Floyd... the Greenwood “Tulsa Race Massacre” speaks for all the other Black towns in the U.S., it’s people and their families that were flooded, burned, bombed, hung, relocated, shot, flattened, etc....

Start of 2nd Installment - Say A Name for Black Greenwood - My Tribute To Black America’s Western Mecca

Thought it would be great to share this story I came across by author-Samatha Stephens before posting my 2nd installment ‘Black Greenwood’. This is a great story of a woman learning about her family through the endeavors of her great-grandfather. It is a story of Black struggle, independence and success. Part of this story took place during the era of Black folk thriving in Greenwood, Tulsa. It takes place in Charleston, West Virginia, but has distinct parallels. It shows you how some of us were rolling post Reconstruction.

Say A Name For Black Greenwood - My Tribute to Black America’s Western Mecca

#brucemacksmusic

Plaques of the businesses and lives lost on Black Wall Street during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The first installment, read on...

Say A Name For Black Greenwood: The 100th Anniversary (By Bruce Mack)

At the start of 2019’s summer, I took a road trip to Colorado with a friend to visit her grandchildren. She could’ve taken a plane, but she wanted to see some of the country and do some hiking as well, so I said yes! Being that far west, I asked if we could take the long way back on the return to New York so I could make my “pilgrimage to Mecca” the town of Greenwood in Tulsa, OK. She was cool with it, but was not aware of it’s importance to me.

I had known about the Tulsa Race Massacre since I was about 16, after seeing some story on what was possibly a PBS show, but don’t quote me on that. At that point it was still being called a “race riot”. In any case, it remained as a shock and confirmation of the degree of racial hatred and brutal violence existing among many White-folk in the U.S. This raised my level of awareness like none of the stories of slavery had done, because 1921 didn’t seem that far away. Truth is, two numbers (18 and 19) can create the illusion of a vast distance apart - like “along time ago, in the before times...”. Yeah, I know, I know... what about all those brutal terrorist crimes (Emmet Till, The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, Murders of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, the multitude of lynchings known and unknown) I had read about or heard of that took place between 1921 and 1974? Well, not to take one iota of focus, study or sympathy away from any one of those tragic moments, but for a 16-yr old to learn of an entire town or the entire black “half” of a town being slaughtered anywhere was blood-boiling. This to me was next level genocide that no one spoke of and made me wonder why and think of something I hate... FEAR. So even though this was going to be a short trip (less than a day), I had to pay homage.

I move on to say Black Wall Street may have been one of the finer and esteemed developments of the seven principals of #kwanzaa (if you will), but it didn’t take place in only the business district of that town, the massacre included the residential areas.

Note: At the time the plaques were laid and posted in honor of Black families who’s lives businesses were destroyed in Greenwood, the incident was still being called a “Race Riot” which gives the impression 2 parties were equally involved, and therefore the matter is over. But since then there have been multiple studies of what occurred, and the Smithsonian Institute has upgraded this to a MASSACRE. For those who may not know, these are not just words being thrown around. Look it up. I am not here to tell the full story, just to say a few names, as that is something rarely done in documents that speak of this tragedy.

And let it be known, there were other black towns in which the same thing or similar took place; Rosewood-Florida, Slocum-Texas, Seneca Village (nka Central Park)-New York, North Brentwood-Maryland, Weeksville-Brooklyn (NY), Mound Bayou-Mississippi, Glenarden-Maryland and Blackdom-New Mexico. In honor and great respect of all the families of these injustices, I thank you for all you’ve gone through to show the way. If you know of others, please SAY THEIR NAMES right here.

I will say the names of just a few of the Black families and their business’ represented via plaques I photographed in Greenwood-Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Btw, I want to thank Dr. Freeman Culver of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce and Dr. Melvin Easiley of the Urban League of Greater Tulsa for taking some time to chat. At the time, they were talking of plans to honor the 100th Anniversary and I had hoped to be involved, but COVID-19 changed all of that... Thank you gentlemen just the same and hopefully we’ll do something in the near future.

First Installation (Forgive me, my photography sucks like an unhealthy vacuum, here):

I open with the 1st photo, facing south on Greenwood Avenue, from which we entered town, looking into what is left of and was know as Black Wall Street. The point I am standing is under Interstate 244 aka the Crosstown Expressway which was built after what used to be the “heart of Black Wall Street” was bulldozed in 1967 due to economic decline - obviously with plans to build what would later be named Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Expressway.

#My Pilgrimage to Black America's Mecca