Evan Vucci
“That’s what great nations do. They are working on their dark sides, ”said Biden on Tuesday during a visit to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Racist hatred has shaped the laws and culture in the USA. “We are doing ourselves a disservice by pretending that none of this happened and that it has no effect on us today.” Biden emphasized that according to the assessment of the American secret services, right-wing extremist terrorism posed the greatest threat to the USA.
In Tulsa, Biden met the last three surviving witnesses to the massacre of June 1, 1921, who, according to the White House, are between 101 and 107 years old today. At that time, a white mob attacked the Greenwood district, killing around 300 black people, according to estimates, and destroying the houses and apartments of around 10,000 people. Greenwood had been a place where a very successful black community had grown, despite the discrimination against blacks that was still enshrined in law in the USA at the time. The district was therefore often referred to as “Black Wall Street”.
In Tulsa, Biden announced measures to narrow the wealth gap between whites and ethnic minorities in the United States. His government said, among other things, the fight against discrimination in the real estate market should be stepped up. The federal government will also increase the award of contracts to small businesses owned by members of minorities by 50 percent.