A Mass Shooting Happened at a Juneteenth Festival—And the Media Is Ignoring It
Gunfire erupted during Tulsa’s Juneteenth celebration, leaving one dead and multiple victims in critical condition.
Today, I was traumatized by having to relive the stories of Saturday’s tragedy.
I had to co-author and edit a mass shooting story that hit home—my own family and community were there.
It happened Saturday night during Tulsa’s annual Juneteenth celebration in the historic Greenwood District—Black Wall Street.
First came the frantic calls and texts from family members:
“Where are you?” “Are you okay?”
Then came the video footage—faces I know, my own family and neighbors, lying flat on the ground as gunshots rang out and people ran for their lives.
For hours, I sat with crushing anxiety, praying none of them had been hit.
We still don’t know the full list of victims. We still don’t know who pulled the trigger.
Our own Black Wall Street Times interns were at the event. I later found out that one of them was just 25 feet from the gunfire.
I kept asking myself—what if one of them had been shot? What if it had been our reporter or our photographer? What would I have told their families?
That’s a call I pray I never have to make.
We have to do better—to protect our communities and report our stories with the urgency they deserve.
👉🏾 Click here to read the full article.
Why Naming It a Mass Shooting Matters
We deliberately labeled this story a mass shooting in our headline and throughout the piece because, too often, mainstream or white-led newsrooms downplay violence in Black communities.
But this is gun violence. And our stories deserve to be told with the same urgency as mass shootings in non-Black spaces.
I can’t help but wonder: if this had been a festival with a majority White audience, would it have received more coverage?
👉🏾 Click here to read the full article.
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Nehemiah D. Frank
Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
The Black Wall Street Times
At BWST, we cover the moments that are reshaping our history and our rights—on paper, in court, at the bedside. When headlines skip the "why this matters" part, we're here to fill it in.
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I'm really fucking angry I don't know about this. Damn MSM and even internet media! I'm sorry for everyone who lost or became involved in this.
Thank you for reporting. I grew up in Oklahoma City and neither I nor my friends who grew up in Tulsa knew about the Black Wall Street massacre until fairly recently- absolutely shameful!