By Zaeem Shaikh
Outside a two-story Little Elm home, a celebration was brewing from afar. A food truck stood outside and gold letters spelling out “happy birthday” were strewn on the front lawn alongside signs of cakes and stars.
Inside, family and friends lined up one-by-one to greet the birthday girl. A line of lemon and red velvet bundt cakes and three big balloons marked her age and served as a reminder of the matriarch’s long legacy. On Friday, Viola Fletcher, surrounded by over 50 family and friends in North Texas, celebrated turning 110, making her a supercentenarian.
Fletcher, also known as Mother Fletcher, is one of two remaining survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, in which white supremacists killed dozens of Black residents and destroyed homes and businesses in the Greenwood neighborhood also known as Black Wall Street in 1921. Looming over the celebration is an ongoing lawsuit for Fletcher and Lessie Randle, 109, to receive reparations for the massacre.
But the celebration was not about that. In fact, Fletcher had few words to say about it as she’s already recounted it many times before. Above all, she said she was very happy to see her family and friends.
Asked what’s her secret to her longevity, Fletcher said, “I have many, so many I can’t mention but it’s a blessing to live this long and easy to do. If I can do it, others can.”
Fletcher sat next to her grandson, Ike Howard, wearing yellow, her favorite color, on a black rectangular couch as reporters asked her questions. When asked whether she believed she would live to 110, Fletcher said, “Well sure,” as her loved ones laughed.
“She often taught me that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile,” Howard said. “And you don’t forgive somebody for them, you forgive people for yourself.”
Howard said she lived to 110 by practicing three things: managing stress, managing time and “being blessed and grateful for what you have.” Fletcher didn’t have everything, Howard said, but she did have many flowers at the end of her life. And inside Howard’s living room on Fletcher’s birthday, several flowerpots sat by her feet.
The massacre still impacts Fletcher to this day as she doesn’t sleep well at night, Howard said. At times, he’ll lay beside her or turn on the television and watch The Price Is Right.
Pending case in Oklahoma’s high court
Over four years ago, Fletcher’s and Randle’s families launched a case in 2020 seeking justice for the attack that took place when they were both children. Their lead attorney, Damario Solomon-Simmons, said Fletcher looks “vibrant” but said time is of the essence for her to “see justice in her lifetime.”
The third plaintiff in the case, Hughes Van Ellis, died in October at 102 years old. Ellis was Fletcher’s younger brother. The case, filed against the city of Tulsa and the regional chamber among others, has two claims: to seek money and property lost as a result of the massacre and an unjust enrichment claim in which the suit alleges that the defendants made money off the survivors’ name, image and likeness.
The case was brought under Oklahoma’s public nuisance law and states the destruction from the massacre continues to affect the community. The suit says the defendants must “abate the public nuisance of racial disparities, economic inequalities, insecurity and trauma their unlawful actions and omission caused in 1921 and continue to cause … after the massacre.”
“The thing we want more than anything is to rebuild the Greenwood community, and to make sure that the descendants like Viola Fletcher, they be made whole,” said Solomon-Simmons, who is from Tulsa and went to school on Greenwood Avenue.
It’s not clear how much the total damages from the massacre entail. Some journal articles have estimated just property losses to be in excess of $200 million.
The city of Tulsa said the plaintiffs have not identified “any quantifiable nuisance” that can link back to the defendants or that the city or the other defendants “could actually take steps to abate,” according to court documents.
Last July, a Tulsa County district judge dismissed the case. Solomon-Simmons said they appealed immediately, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal.
In April, the nine justices heard oral arguments to determine whether the case can move forward. They need five out of nine to rule in favor to bring their claims forward, Solomon-Simmons said.
“Then we can get into a discovery process,” he said. “We have experts across the nation that are ready to work with us so we can then present to the court and say this is exactly what we think we need to be able to abate this nuisance.”
Solomon-Simmons said he believes this case is the “vanguard of the fight” in addressing racial injustices for Black Americans as people nationwide determine how to dole out reparations.
‘Up to us’
As for Fletcher, Howard said she’s aiming to enjoy one day at a time. Last year, he published Fletcher’s memoir alongside her, Don’t Let Them Bury My Story, in which she recounts what she saw at a young age.
Howard is president of the Viola Ford Fletcher Foundation, which does philanthropic work in Africa and underserved communities. Fletcher received over $6,000 for her foundation on her birthday celebration.
She clapped her hands and bobbed her head as speakers blared “Birthday Girl” by Lizzo. After the ceremony ended, Fletcher would get the first plate, Howard said. Her meal of choice: oxtails.
Even as she waits for justice, Fletcher was joyful Friday as people crowded to hear her speak. Those in attendance included Tiffany Crutcher, whose great-grandmother Rebecca Brown Crutcher survived the massacre.
In order for real change to take place, she said, “it’s going to be up to us coming together and acknowledging people like Mother Fletcher, who is real-time walking, living, breathing history to get it right.”
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
