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Commemorating The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921
The Truth About Tulsa and HBO’s ‘Watchmen’
The popular TV series opened eyes about basic American history
Prior to the fall 2019 premiere of HBO’s Watchmen, far too few people had heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre, as it is now known. And a show, even one starring Academy-awarding actress Regina King and based off a cult comic series of the same name, yet far removed from the horrific event, was not the likely vehicle to hear about it either. But the elements of the 12-issue comic book limited series, written and illustrated by Brit duo Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and published by DC Comics in 1986, lent itself to this Tulsa narrative.
“This is one of many overlooked stories of African Americans in this country that deserves to be told. These are the stories we must honor and amplify so we can learn from the past and create a better future.” —Russell Westbrook, NBA player
Initially the public didn’t know what to make of Watchmen. They thought the massacre depicted therein was fiction, a myth. Google searches soared for weeks. Oklahoma-born folks lamented on social media that this could not possibly be true; it was too terrible. But it was not a myth. It was true.
Set in 1985, the original Watchmen presents an alternate history of the United States in which the Vietnam War was won, and Watergate never happened but the U.S. and the Soviet Union are moving closer to nuclear war. Superheroes are a part of the narrative, but they are real people. This is the canvas used by show creator Damon Lindelof, who is White, American, and male, to remix and center a racial reckoning in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In the TV series, which centers itself in 2019, a White supremacist movement known as the Seventh Kavalry has become reinvigorated. A few years prior, the group orchestrated Christmas attacks on police officers that killed 38 of 40 officers, with Angela Abar, King’s character, surviving. Since then, police work in masks, never revealing their occupation to the public at large. To that end, Angela owns a bakery…
