109-year-old survivor of Tulsa Race Massacre vote for Harris
At 109 years old, Lessie Benningfield Randle, one of the two remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, said she has cast an absentee ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
“I don’t know how much longer I have left. But if this is my last ballot, then I’m grateful that it’s for Kamala Harris,” Benningfield Randle said in a news release.
“I have five children and more than 20 grandbabies. VP Harris has the better chance of building the nation I want them to inherit.”
Benningfield Randle was born in November 1914 and raised in the community of Greenwood, Oklahoma.
Greenwood, known as Black Wall Street, was the location of one of the largest moments of racial violence in US history.
As many as 300 Black people were killed, and more than 1,000 homes, businesses, schools and churches were destroyed when a White mob looted and burned the district.
“The mob that murdered myneighbours in Greenwood was so angry, and this country is at risk of allowing that same anger to take over its soul again. But voters can say no to a politician that incites white folks to turn against their darker skin neighbours,” Benningfield Randle said.
“As voters, we must protect our children from politicians who believe that retribution and violence are virtues,” she added.
“Because I have lived through that nightmare. And trust me, we can’t afford to go back.”
Viola Fletcher, who is 110 and the other remaining survivor of the massacre, also plans to cast her ballot for Harris in person on Election Day, according to the news release.
