In photos: Tulsa churches honor massacre victims on "holy ground" on centennial's eve
31 May 2021
Tulsa massacre victims were honored by churches across the Oklahoma city on the eve of the 100th anniversary Sunday, with several speakers calling for reparations for survivors and for the economically struggling local area, per AP.
The big picture: The Greenwood District, where some 300 Black residents were killed by a white mob is "holy ground," said Nashville Rev. John Faison during a service at the First Baptist Church of North Tulsa. The centennial honors the victims and "celebrates the resilience and the resurgence of an amazing people," he said, AP reports.
Pictures of AME Church parishioners in Tulsa displayed during commemorations May 30. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Journalist Roland Martin with the Rev. Jesse Jackson lat the AME Church in the Greenwood district during the Tulsa Race Massacre commemorations in Tulsa May 30. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Community members attend a service marking the Tulsa Race Massacre at First Baptist Church North Tulsa in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 30. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
South Carolina Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn is embraced before speaking at the AME Church on May 30. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Go deeper: 100 years after Tulsa Race Massacre, last living survivors urge U.S. to not forget
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.