Oklahoma race victims win

Entire sections of Tulsa were set alight in the riots

Officials in the US state of Oklahoma have recommended paying compensation to the survivors of one of the country's worst race riots 80 years ago, in which up to 300 black people were killed by white people.

A commission presented its recommendations in a final report to the state governor and members of the legislature on Wednesday.

The 1921 riot is an act of shame and embarrassment

Frank Keating, Oklahoma Governor

A decision on the commission's findings must be taken before the end of the current session of the legislature in May.

There are about 120 people still alive who are known to have lived through the race riots in Tulsa in 1921.

'Act of shame'

The 200-page report makes several recommendations:

• Cash payment to survivors
• Cash payment to victim's descendants
• A scholarship fund
• Development assistance for black Tulsans
• A memorial

A memorial has been authorised, but the Oklahoma legislature remains split over the issue of compensation.

Oklahoma City Governor, Frank Keating, described the events as "an act of shame and embarrassment".

"This is an unforgivable and unexplainable part of our state history," Mr Keating said during a brief ceremony at the state Capitol.

Mr Keating said if the report showed the direct culpability of the government, then he would support compensation for the survivors.

What happened

The May 1921 violence broke out when a white mob clashed with an African-American crowd trying to prevent the lynching of a black man who had been accused of assaulting a white woman.

Entire sections of the city were set alight, including the area known as the Black Wall Street of America.

Mobs burned thousands of homes

Amid reports that as 300 people were killed in the riots, the commission puts a figure of 39 documented deaths, 26 of them blacks.

As many as 1,000 homes and business premises were destroyed in the thriving Greenwood district.

Survivor Otis Clark, a child at the time, described the devastation he and his mother found after returning to Tulsa following their escape from the city.

"Everything was burned down. My home was burned. My step daddy was gone... They did not let us have funerals or nothing... ," he told reporters.

Investigation

For decades, the events barely got a mention in history books, and were played down for fear they would damage Tulsa's reputation.

But in the last few years, historians have uncovered the true extent of the riots and campaigners have worked to win reparations for those involved.

They did not let us have funerals or nothing

Survivor

The Tulsa Race Riot Commission was established to investigate their claims.

Tulsa has spent years trying to come to terms with what happened there, and correspondents say this decision may help residents draw a line under the events of 1921.