Pastor Michael Todd gave the three living victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre $200,000 in reparations on June 20, according to The Christian Post. Pastor Todd preaches at the Transformation Church in Tulsa.
The Tulsa Race Massacre occurred in 1921 after an angry white mob murdered at least 300 Black people in Tulsa, Okla. The mob also burned much of the neighborhood and left thousands of Black people displaced and homeless. The massacre lasted for nearly two days.
Todd wanted to provide reparations for any survivor of the massacre and told his team to locate every single one. The three survivors from the tragedy include 100-year-old Hughes V. Ellis, Viola Fletcher, 107, and 106-year-old Leslie Randle, whom Todd presented each with a $200,000 reparations check. He based the amount on the median cost for a house in Tulsa today.
“Reparation is not a political word. Reparation is not a word that your left-wing friends or your right-wing friends have coined,” said the pastor. “Let me give you the definition of reparations. ‘The action of repairing something that was devastated.’ Reparations mean that somebody is going to take up the mantle and actually put into action the process of repairing something that was destroyed…And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”
“Still thinking about what took place last weekend and I am just so grateful, wrote Todd. “Not only did we have the opportunity to honor the lives of the three Tulsa Race Massacre survivors, but we got to give away over 1 MILLION dollars to them and multiple organizations to repair and rebuild what the enemy tried to destroy! What a historic moment??? #TCNATION, YOU did this? This was all able to happen because of YOUR generosity, YOUR faithfulness and YOUR commitment to the vision of @wearetransformation‼️ I am so thankful I get to serve you as your pastor?? Remember… CHANGE STARTS IN THE CHURCH‼️#thankfultuesday #reversethecurse#wearetheCHURCH #REpresent.”
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Pastor Todd told the three survivors that it was time for reparations, and while he was sorry he couldn’t replace everything that was stolen from them, he could try.
“I’m a young Black man who took over a church from a white man who built it in North Tulsa. That couldn’t have happened if you all didn’t survive. Today, we can’t restore everything that has been stolen from you. But today, we can put a seed in the ground. It’s reparations season, and change starts in the Church,” said Todd.
Todd and his team gave away a total of one million dollars in reparations with the hope that others will follow his lead.
