Today the President announced the first site for a campaign rally after many months will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma, home of the most horrific massacre of African Americans in 1921 on June 19 “Juneteenth” the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  

The Tulsa Race Riots has been called the single worst incidence of racial violence in the United States, targeting over 800 people, burning of homes and businesses resulting in devastation that the City has never recovered.  The dollar amount or damages was in the millions.  Grave sites are still being discovered. Tulsa has attempted to move forward as this year marks the 99th anniversary of a memory no one can forget.  

 After many weeks of protesting all around the world because of police brutality, killing of unarmed minorities for no reason, Tulsa should not be made into a political pawn on a day celebrated and also referred to as Freedom Day in the African American community.

This is not the time or the city for such a divisive leader to visit and to encourage those who think like him.  We may not recover from the damage this visit will cause.