TULSA, Okla. -- A Tulsa interfaith ministry is picking up where government leaders left off in 1921, mailing reparation checks to 131 race riot survivors, according to the Associated Press.
Most of the survivors were children during the 14-hour conflict that left 38 people dead, most of them black. Many were left homeless following the riot after their homes were attacked with gunfire and torches.
The Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry Reparations Gift Fund has disbursed $28,000 to the remaining survivors, or about $200 each, the Associated Press reports. Ministry leaders said they wanted to show families support and that townspeople had not forgotten the riots.
Tulsa leaders in 1921 promised victims compensation for their losses, but full restitution was never made, according to news reports.
The ministry coalition is supported by Unitarian Universalists, Conservative Jews, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Islamic Society of North America, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church in America and other religious groups.
