Hidden no more
‘Rise Again: Tulsa’ sheds light on massacre 100 years later
Dawn Porter’s incisive documentary, “Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer,” arrives 100 years from the two-day 1921 Tulsa Massacre that saw hundreds of Black people murdered and left thousands homeless and displaced.
Its Friday National Geographic premiere airs globally in 172 countries and 43 languages. That same day “Rise Again” is available to stream on Hulu commemorating Juneteenth, when the last enslaved Black people in Texas received news of their emancipation.
As bad as the Tulsa Massacre was, as “Rise Again” emphatically shows, it did not happen in a vacuum and was hardly an isolated event.
“I wanted to focus on ‘Before Tulsa.’ There were more than 25 massacres in the period and we only covered five,” Porter (“Good Trouble: John Lewis”) said of the race riots in 1919, 1920 and ’21.
“To hear eyewitness testimony and see the documents, at first it was shocking,” Porter said of immersing herself in discovery.
“I did not know the real details of Tulsa. We’ve known there’s violence against Black people. But airplanes?! That did kind of shake me. There were airplanes fire bombing, not soldiers in a foreign country, American men, women and children.
“That they bombed this community, that did strike me to my core. What is the thought process that goes into that decision?
“That’s why we have to tell these stories. When people say these are past history, the roots of violence against Black people today has its roots in Tulsa. We all have to acknowledge this happened.
“Once you move past that it actually happened,” she continued, “what’s striking is that so many people fought back. That was important to focus on: They weren’t just mowed down.
“The other thing was why Black people were targeted — and that’s because they were successful. They had a functioning, thriving healthy community. It’s very sad that that in itself was a threat to white society.
“All across the country, black people were targeted because they were successful and that puts a tremendous note on this story that Black people couldn’t be held down.”
Porter’s other current project is for AppleTV+, “The Me You Can’t See” with Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry leading discussions on mental health.
Asked about her first encounter with the royal — did she curtsy every time she met the prince? — “Harry is very sensitive to regular people and their nerves meeting him,” Porter explained.
“I came in and immediately he extended his hand (and said), ‘Harry!’ I didn’t expect him to be so tall. He’s a very thoughtful, considerate person.”