“Killers of the Flower Moon,” nominated for seven Golden Globes on Monday, unspools a dark chapter in our nation’s history, unknown to many: “the Osage Reign of Terror.” Greed and inhumanity in 1920s Oklahoma drove meticulously orchestrated murders and the appropriation of the Osage Nation’s significant oil wealth. Central to this exploitation was the theft of ‘headrights’ — a financial inheritance Osage citizens acquired from leasing their oil rights, making them the wealthiest community globally, per capita, during this moment in history.
Amid the chronicle of the ruthless efforts to drain the Osage Nation’s affluence, the film briefly mentions the parallel attempt to destroy the nation’s wealthiest Black community at that time: Greenwood, located just a few miles from the Osage Nation. This attack on Black Oklahomans culminated in the infamous Tulsa Race Massacre. As a son of Greenwood and a lawyer based in Tulsa, I have lived in Osage County while seeking reparations for the last two living survivors of that massacre. With “Killers of the Flower Moon” receiving more and more award recognition, I want to pose a question for the nation that I’ve long asked for Black Tulsans: What are we going to do as a society for the Osage whose oil rights were stolen and remain in the wrong hands today — as well as others in our society who faced similar injustices?
Both the Osage Nation and the descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre victims deserve a shared outcome – justice in its truest sense.
You might wonder why a lawyer representing survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre is addressing this issue. The answer is straightforward: Both the Osage Nation, exploited for its ‘headrights,’ and the descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre victims deserve a shared outcome – justice in its truest sense.
Both tales are grounded in the allure of prosperity. The Osage — by virtue of their oil-rich lands — and Greenwood — propelled by the…
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