Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole army advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it, and built siege walls on every side. The siege of the city continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month, when famine had gripped the city, and the people had no more bread, the city walls were breached. Then the king and all the soldiers left the city by night through the gate between the two walls that was near the king’s garden.
Since the Chaldeans had the city surrounded, they went in the direction of the Arabah. But the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the desert near Jericho, abandoned by his whole army. The king was therefore arrested and brought to Riblah to the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him. He had Zedekiah’s sons slain before his eyes. Then he blinded Zedekiah, bound him with fetters, and had him brought to Babylon.
On the seventh day of the fifth month (this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, came to Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon. He burned the house of the LORD, the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every large building was destroyed by fire. Then the Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, led into exile the last of the people remaining in the city, and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the last of the artisans. But some of the country’s poor, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, left behind as vinedressers and farmers. (2 Kings 25:1-12)
It’s useful to make the past and its stories come alive in the present. For example, the killing of George Floyd and subsequent riots then peaceful protests against police brutality and racism reminds us of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem and the breaching of its walls. Furthermore, when we read that Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, came to Jerusalem and burned the house of the LORD, the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every large building was destroyed by fire, we remind ourselves of the fires in many cities as an expression of outrage. There were many arrests just as the king (Zedekiah) was arrested, then blinded, and brought in fetters to Babylon.
There’s one notable fire now highlighted in the news: the fire that burned in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. We’re about one year away from its 100th anniversary. President Trump recently held his campaign rally in Tulsa.
The following summary is taken from Wikipedia: The Tulsa race massacre (also called the Tulsa race riot, the Greenwood Massacre, or the Black Wall Street Massacre) of 1921 took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history." The attack, carried out on the ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district—at that time the wealthiest black community in the United States, known as "Black Wall Street".
More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and as many as 6,000 black residents were interned at large facilities, many for several days. The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 36 dead, but the American Red Cross declined to provide an estimate. A 2001 state commission examination of events was able to confirm 36 dead (26 black and 10 white) based on contemporary autopsy reports, death certificates and other records. The commission gave overall estimates from 75–100 to 150–300 dead.
About 10,000 black people were left homeless, and property damage amounted to more than $1.5 million in real estate and $750,000 in personal property (equivalent to $32.25 million in 2019). Their property was never recovered nor were they compensated for it.
Many survivors left Tulsa, while black and white residents who stayed in the city were silent for decades about the terror, violence, and losses of this event. The massacre was largely omitted from local, state, and national histories.
In 1996, seventy-five years after the massacre, a bipartisan group in the state legislature authorized formation of the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. Its final report, published in 2001, said the city had conspired with the mob of white citizens against black citizens; it recommended a program of reparations to survivors and their descendants. The state passed legislation to establish some scholarships for descendants of survivors, encourage economic development of Greenwood, and develop a memorial park in Tulsa to the massacre victims. The park was dedicated in 2010. In 2020, the massacre became part of the Oklahoma school curriculum.
On May 29, 2020, the eve of the 99th anniversary of the event and at the onset of the George Floyd protests, the Human Rights Watch released a report titled "The Case for Reparations in Tulsa, Oklahoma: A Human Rights Argument", demanding reparations for survivors and descendants of the violence as the economic impact of the massacre is still visible in the high poverty rates and lower life expectancies in North Tulsa. Several documentary projects were also announced at this time with plans to be released for the 100th anniversary of the event.
Human rights were trampled in 1921 and today. It’s an all too familiar story. Terror, violence, loss, and even massacres whether biblical or topical bring to mind our collective inhumanity and our penchant for evil. We can be like blinded Zedikiah unable to see what is around us such as fires of intolerance, bigotry, hate, and racism.
Deacon David Pierce
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