`The truth needs to be told'
Church opens Tulsa Race Massacre Prayer Room
TULSA — The expression on her face said it all.
The Rev. Deron Spoo walked with one of the Black members of his predominantly white church as she and her young grandson visited a specially designated area Spoo of First Baptist Church of Tulsa for the first time.
It was the Tulsa Race Massacre Prayer Room, which Spoo, the church' s senior pastor, helped create to aid his church and the local community reckon with Tulsa's painful past. He said its focus is on healing the wounds of yesteryear and taking a stand against the ugliness of present-day racism.
The minister, who is white, remembered the moment his congregant stopped at a display in the new prayer room and began reading a Tulsa World editorial published days after the killing spree that came to be known as the 1921 race massacre.
Spoo said the decision was made to display the editorial — with its racial slurs and victim blaming — to give prayer room visitors an unvarnished look at the tragedy that unfolded when white mobs murdered Black Tulsans and burned their homes and businesses in the then-thriving community of Black Wall Street.
"To see the look on her face when she read what they said, it was as though I was reading it and seeing it for the first time. It was an important moment," Spoo said. "I said if you have problems with this editorial being up here, you tell me, and she said `No, the truth needs to be told.'"
Spreading knowledge
The prayer room was launched on Feb .1 and is expected to remain open until June 1 at First Baptist-Tulsa, 420 S Detroit Ave.
S po os aid he and other church leaders designed it to help educate his members and others in the community, many of whom know little of the facts surrounding the massacre. Along with gaining insight into the tragic details of the massacre, he's hoping visitors will be inspired to pray against "the sin of racism in our world, in our churches and in our heart."
"I learned that several downtown churches opened their door to people fleeing the Greenwood District," he said. "It's on record that First Baptist Church of Tulsa provided a room for healing and care so the thought just occurred to our leadership that if we opened a room 100 years ago for healing, why don't we open another room 100 years later for healing. The idea of a prayer room just seemed very appropriate."
`Miniature museum'
Armstrong, who is Black, said the prayer room is essentially an extension of the focus of the centennial commission and t he Greenwood Rising History Center currently under construction. The history center is to pay homage to the legacy of Black Wall Street before and after the 1921 race massacre.
Armstrong said the new prayer room is "like a miniature museum."
"It's really incredible what they've done. It's using the backdrop of this horrific tragedy to lay the ground work for racial reconciliation, healing from racial trauma and for improving race relations moving forward—from tragedy to triumph is the focus there," Armstrong said.
"It's also about relationship building. It's really difficult to point your finger in strife to someone when you know their story, when you know a little bit about them and you develop a relationship with them."
Armstrong said he attended
First Baptist-Tulsa years ago and has known Spoo for many years. He said Spoo and his church have taken an "intentional step forward" by opening the prayer room to "acknowledge history ... to enlighten, to educate and to pray about the sin of racism and then ask God to help us move forward on this journey of reconciliation."
Presenting the facts
Spoo said the first station in the prayer room focuses on what happened as the massacre unfolded on May 31 and June 1.
The second station includes some limited footage on a two- minute video loop. He said the four remaining stations encourage visitors to focus on prayer, addressing the sin and spirit of racism and the importance of praying against racism in today's culture.
Highlights of t he exhibit include images from the American Red Cross report compiled in the days after the massacre and information about Maurice Willows, the Red Cross representative sent to the city to coordinate aid for survivors.
Spoo said the Red Cross set up its headquarters across from First Baptist-Tulsa and church members worked hand in hand with the Red Cross to provide medical care, bedding and clothes for survivors.
According to reports, green identification cards were given to massacre survivors, so prayer room visitors are asked to take a green card featuring the name of a survivor with them as they walk through the displays. Before they leave the room, they get an opportunity to learn more about the survivor on their card.
Another part of the prayer room includes a compilation of the remarks that several white Tulsa pastors shared with their congregations on the Sunday following the massacre.
"It was not good but we have the quotations from these pastors and it's hard to reconcile a follower of Jesus having these types of views," Spoo said.
He asked the current ministers leading some of those same churches to sign a statement against racism as a counter to their predecessors' racist words.
Facing the past
As senior pastor of First United Methodist-Tulsa, the Rev. Jessica Moffatt, who is white, is one of the ministers who signed the pastoral Moffatt anti-racism
statement displayed in the prayer room. She has encouraged her congregation to experience the prayer room because "healing comes in acknowledging the truth of the harm done and bringing it before God in prayer."
"The room leads a person full circle. It begins with the 100-year-old truth that the ugly si n of racism brought inhumane acts against black Tulsans, but then it leads the participant to the new truth. The new truth is that the Tulsa faith community will not tolerate racism in our city and we will take actions toward healing and unity," she said.
The Rev. Anthony Scott is a Black preacher who is part of a group of Tulsa pastors, including Spoo and Moffatt, Scott who meet for fellowship on a regular basis. Scott, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of North Tulsa, said he liked the idea of the prayer room when Spoo mentioned it to him.
He and Spoor eco rd ed a conversation last year in which they talked about race in America and how churches, particularly predominantly white churches, could get more involved in changing the trajectory of the country.
He said he told Spoo then that white Americans should learn more about Black history and do more cross- cultural reading —" not just when something tragic happens like George Floyd, but on a regular basis."
Scott said education always leads to better understanding.
"I really feel this prayer room, this emphasis, is not just something symbolic. I think it's an effort on (Spoo's) part to help build the knowledge of his parishioners as it relates to race and more specifically, obviously, the race massacre," Scott said.
"I applaud that because it's a story that needs to be told that has gone untold. I applaud any creative and innovative ways that we can educate, particularly the majority community, on what actually took place in 1921, but also the consequences and ramifications of what has transpired since then and contributed to the culture and climate when it comes to race in the city of Tulsa now."