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Protests erupted outside a cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday, as officials re-buried the remains of 19 people previously exhumed in search of victims of the city’s racial massacre in 1921.
Protesters argued the city should have held a funeral ceremony.
The city began to dig portions of Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa last year as part of an effort to find unmarked graves from the violence that took place a century ago when a white mob stormed a predominantly black area known as of “Black Wall Street”.
About 35 city blocks were destroyed in the rampage, and while Oklahoma originally recorded 36 dead in the attack, a 2001 commission found that the death toll could actually reach 300.
The city said in a statement Friday that in March, a public oversight committee approved the reburial of the remains after saying that “on-site forensic analysis, documentation and DNA sampling were completed.
The city moved forward on Friday by carrying out the reburial in a process closed to the public, causing the community to be pushed back.
Protesters argued that local residents, especially those who are descendants of massacre victims, should have had more say in deciding how the reburial would be carried out.
One of the protesters, Bobby Eaton, told local ABC affiliate KTUL: “It is disgusting and disrespectful that these are members of our family and that we are outside the gate and that they are inside the door where they are. “
“We don’t care what all the big city officials say, it’s about our loved ones who have suffered here,” he added.
Forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield tried to calm the crowd on Friday.
Stubblefield revealed last month that a bullet was found among a set of body trauma remains.
“We haven’t finished, we haven’t stopped,” she told protesters, adding that a public report on the investigation’s findings would likely be released in the fall, according to the Associated. Press.
Friday’s public statement released by the city noted that “remains committed to transparency during this investigation and focuses on meeting our commitment to this phase of work which is still ongoing, as we have done in the last two years of the investigation. ”
The city went on to say that it was required to “comply with the licensing requirements that have been filed with the Oklahoma State Department of Health and the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office, stating that the remains would be temporarily buried at Oaklawn Cemetery (a burial plan was required before going ahead with the excavation).
City spokeswoman Michelle Brooks added that “work to identify descendants and establish a permanent memorial will continue in the future,” according to the press service.
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