Biden Visits Tulsa to Honor Race Massacre Victims

President Joe Biden visited the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as part of his trip marking the 100th anniversary of the destruction of a thriving Black community.

READ MORE: Biden, speaking at the Greenwood Cultural Center, honored the victims in marking the 100th anniversary.

"For much too long, the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness," the president said. "But just because history is silent, it doesn't mean that it did not take place. And while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing. It erases nothing. Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they can't be buried, no matter how hard people try."

On the flight to Tulsa, a White House spokeswoman said the president plans “to shine a light on what happened, and to make sure America knows the story in full.” She said Biden will say that Americans need to know the country’s history of slavery and racial and housing discrimination.

Earlier, the White House said it is launching efforts “to help narrow the racial wealth gap and reinvest in communities that have been left behind by failed policies.” It said the government would pump new money into programs to expand homeownership and support small business ownership in communities of color and disadvantaged communities.

To this day, what happened in Tulsa is an episode in the country’s fraught history over racial violence that many Americans have little awareness of, even as the country grapples with a current-day racial reckoning to confront accusations of police abuse of minorities, racial economic inequity and contentious debates over newly enacted voting restrictions that critics say are aimed at curbing the turnout of Black and Hispanic voters to limit their influence.

LINK: www.voanews.com/usa/biden-honors-tulsa-race-massacre-victims