By: Alexis Muños
Try to think of a time in History class where your teacher spoke about the Tulsa Massacre. Can't Remember? There's a side of The United States that many refuse to talk about, no one wants to talk about this evil side of America. The Tulsa Massacre was one of the most deadliest massacres in our countries history, KKK members and other white supremacist groups came to Tulsa and began to murder innocent Black community. Their business and homes were burned to the ground somewhere inside those buildings burning to death while some were simply shot to death, it didn't matter if you were a man or woman or a child to them. This horrific behavior has been ignored and refused to talk about, which at times confuses modern society on what the topic is really about.
In the very first episode of Watchmen we see the Tulsa Massacre, innocent people being murdered while others tried to escape but were still managed to be killed by the kkk members and other white supremacist groups. In this show we see an alternate America where we do see police fighting against racism, we see certain events that make us wonder whether this event really happened, the creator of the show Damion
Lindelof has confirmed that the majority of events were indeed real. Lindelof purpose of this was to be able to educate viewers of the show to inform them of some of the horrific things that happened in our American history and are never spoken of. This show was especially brought up when former president Trump was doing his campaign rally in Tulsa, as many found it offensive others were confused of why it was offensive until many realized the Tulsa Massacre was a real event. Tulsa Massacre is an event that has been ignored and never spoken about, educators have confirmed this, many now are watching the show Watchmen and inform themselves of the evil side of America that is never spoken of.
The Tulsa Massacre was a deadly massacre in the 1920s where innocent children, men and women from the African American community were killed by the white supremacist and kkk members. Most of the weapons that were used during this horrific event were given by city officials, the sheriff of the town had barricaded parts of the town where they prevented anyone from being able to escape. Historians have also made an estimate of around 300 innocent people being killed but there is a high possibility of more deaths that had occured. The white supremacist and KKK members that took part of this horrific killed anyone inside our outside of their
homes or business, their black-owned business were burned to the floor. None of the white supremacist were ever charged for the horrific crimes that they have done and till this day many of the people from Tulsa are extremely upset, and want justice. They felt very disrespected as well when it came to former president Donald Trump’s campaign rally through Tulsa.
Could you ever imagine being part of a nice calm community but then it is being destroyed by horrible human beings? Could you ever wonder having to see friends and neighbors and even family members being shot or burned alive in front of your eyes? In the show Watchmen, in the very first episode they give us an example of what this horrific event looked like, it showed the innocent children running away, men and women being murdered on the spot. The creator of the show Damien Lindelof’s purpose of creating this show was to show an Alternate America with similar events that had happened in our Black History. In the show, families who were affected by the terrors of the massacre are given the ability to get government help, while in our real world reality many families who experienced the massacre are waiting for the government to state or do something for them. In the alternate reality, police officials are fighting against racism and giving the viewers of the show an example of what it takes to be a hero and fight against any issues. While in our real world, police officers are constantly being racist and continue to attack the black communities, making people fear to even say anything to fight against this problem.
Damien Lindelof the creator of the show, his purpose of creating Watchmen different comic books, was to be able to talk about real world modern issues that we see in our country and how we the viewers can also be heroes in fighting these issues.One of the main issues that we see in our modern world is racism, it's something that is disgusting and has been occurring for decades now. Lindelof’s show Watchmen shows how officers are fighting against racism and giving the viewers a sense of what it takes to also be a hero and how we can fix this problem. As we have recently seen police officers are majority of the time causing these racist attacks killing innocent people and harming many families, due to the officers having such power it gives many citizens a fear to speak up.
Majority of times we aren't being told the truth, its like the government hiding what really is going on in Area 51, we simply aren't being told everything. In the show Watchmen, Lindelof wanted to show the viewers certain events that have happened in our History that many don't know about, especially the Tulsa Massacre, Lindelof also shows horrific scenes of people being killed and the white supremacy, and kkk members, Lindelof himself has admitted that he knew he was going to receiver backlash for the scenes but his purpose was to show that these things are not good. The reason why he included certain KKK scenes was to show viewers that these groups of people are no good to our society and how fighting against them is the right side to be on. Lindelof by creating this show was to show an Alternate world where our modern issues can be fought and we can be heroes in finding a solution to these problems.
Furthermore, there is this book called “The Burning” where it talks about the events of the Tulsa Massacre and some of the stories that many really never knew about, there are personal stories in this book, but overall explaining what happened in the
massacre. In the book written by Tim Madigan, talks about how Tulsa in the beginning was considered the Black Wall street of America, it was very prosperous. Historians state that there are around 300 people murdered from this event, but Madigan states that each year they find about triple the amount of deaths that happened in the massacre. Madigan states how there were about one thousand members of the white mob marching down to Tulsa getting ready to burn it to the ground and begin to kill the innocent people.
Also, Madigan had also shared some stories of survivors that experienced the massacre but also shared some of the research that he had done that talked about the Tulsa Massacre and the aftermath towards everything. In the aftermath of the Tulsa Massacre, it took about a decade for Tulsa to be able to reform itself but wasn't able to rebuild everything that they have lost in the Massacre. There were children who had parents both dead who had nowhere to go, there were separated families who were either killed or escaped and left the others behind. Despite them being brutally destroyed there were still occasions where police officers still continued to perform racist attacks that caused a delay to a reformation of Tulsa. The community of Tulsa till this day are still being continued to be disrespected especially with former President Trump’s campaign rally while the Black Lives Matter was occuring at the same time.
Although, we all would love to say that we are proud Americans, and show that we are happy to live in America, there are reasons why they try to hide their history. As many history teachers in school have stated was that the United States was one of the last countries to even abolish slavery and we are the country who commonly deals with many racist events that at times embarrass many Americans. The purpose of being an American is to show that we can be better than any other country and how we can deal with things in many other ways to show that we are better. The United States wants to avoid talking about the modern day issues that we are dealing with and rather talk about the good side of things, and by doing this other countries really don't look in the depth of the issues that are occurring in America.
Growing up in America we are being taught in schools and by holidays such as the 4th of July to show pride and to show how happy you are to be an America without knowing the evil side of the country. Although it is understandable why America tries to protect its image, it is also harming the bad side of things to get worse than what it already is. In the show Watchmen, Damien Lindelof tried to get viewers to pay attention to the police officers, in the show the police are
allowed to wear masks to provide them with security and to be able to hide their identities from society. In a way this symbolizes how in the real world all police officers are usually being protected from the government, so when events like the death of George Floyd occurred society was disgusted at how at first those officers were protected but eventually discharged due to the actions that they have committed by killing Floyd. Since America tried to avoid talking and fixing the issue with racism, events like this happened and were talked about in other countries around the world.
On the topic of events being avoided or being talked about, teachers and professors have spoken about how events like the Tulsa Massacre are not being put in the curriculum or in certain occasions it is being restricted to even be talked about in the classrooms. Many professors have come forward speaking on how this is perhaps not being talked about to protect the country's image from its horrific past. In history class, students majority of the time are only being shown the successful things that this country has been able to accomplish. Many are also very offended when it comes to teacher Black History it is usually a weak lesson and doesn't fully cover the real stories and the struggles that Black community have
been experiencing in the United States in these past Decades.
Furthermore, Lindelof had also realized this when he was creating the show and realized that many did not know that the events that happened in the show were real events that happened in Black History, Lindelof saw this as an opportunity to talk about the issues that are occurring in our modern world but also include the events that were being avoided to talk about. Lindelof did receive backlash on how some scenes were too powerful to be on screen or simply way too political that was going to cause problems. Many believe that despite the show provided such a powerful message, the second season was cancelled due to the fact that certain Americans are trying to avoid the country from being seen as an evil country.
To conclude, watchmen created the show the way they did in order to encourage people to also be a hero and fight against the modern day issues. Not necessarily am I encouraging people to watch fiction shows to know what is really going on in our history but it is necessary to now inform the people the truth. It is necessary to talk about the current issues that we are witnessing and finding solutions on how to fix it and be heroes for making it a better place. It is crucial to talk about the untold stories from America's history in order to fix the mistakes that were made, but also be able to learn and reflect from what had happened. There is a saying that History repeats itself and that is sometimes that many Americans don't want to happen again. It is time to be able to learn and reflect from the mistakes of the past and better ourselves as a country.
Alexis is from Passaic, but now living in Bloomfield, New Jersey and is also a student at Bloomfield College
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