Massacre recalled

Meanwhile, many leaders in the city’s black community have lashed out at Trump’s visit as provocative after the death of black Minneapolis resident George Floyd and mass protests around the world. Tulsa was the site of the nation’s deadliest race massacre in 1921, when up to 300 black residents were killed by a white mob and the city’s thriving Black Wall Street district was burned to the ground.

The massacre was covered up in subsequent years, “and I’m not sure we’ve ever really even gotten over the hump,” said state Rep. Monroe Nichols, an African American

Democrat who represents the city’s largely black north side. “I think the fact that the president is coming annoys folks in the African American community just as much as other folks in the community who don’t subscribe to his brand of politics.”

Bynum has maintained an awkward balancing act: not joining Dart’s plea to postpone the rally to avert a health emergency, even though both have been strident about avoiding large groups, and not joining other Republican officials in celebrating with the popular Trump. Bynum said he would not attend the rally.

“I think he’s trying to bring people together to find that middle ground and common purpose. And that’s never going to be satisfying for the people at the ideological extremes, and they tend to be noisy,” said David Holt, the mayor of Oklahoma City and a friend of Bynum’s.

Bynum did not respond to a request for an interview but released a statement on his Facebook page Tuesday indicating he had no plans to stop the rally by invoking civil emergency authority. He also said he was unaware of plans for a rally until the BOK Center management reached out to the city regarding police support.

“Do I share anxiety about having a full house at the BOK Center? Of course,” he wrote. “As someone who is cautious by nature, I don’t like to be the first to try anything. I would have loved some other city to have proven the safety of such an event already.”