Viola Ford Fletcher, center, and Lessie Benningfield Randle at the Oklahoma Capitol, in Oklahoma City, on Oct. 5.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court last Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit of the last two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dampening the hope of advocates for racial justice that the government would make amends for one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history.

The nine-member court upheld the decision made by a district court judge in Tulsa last year, ruling that the plaintiff’s grievances, although legitimate, did not fall within the scope of the state’s public nuisance statute.

“We further hold that the plaintiff’s allegations do not sufficiently support a claim for unjust enrichment,” the court wrote in its decision.

Messages left Wednesday with a spokesperson for the City of Tulsa and the survivors’ attorney, Damario Solomon-Simmons, were not immediately returned.

The suit was an attempt to force the city of Tulsa and others to make recompense for the destruction by a white mob of the once-thriving Black district known as Greenwood. In 1921 — on May 31 and June 1 — the white mob, including some people hastily deputized by authorities, looted and burned the district, which was referred to as Black Wall Street.

As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement are about all that survive today of the more than 30-block historically Black district.

 West Virginia 

CHARLESTON, W.Va.  — Gov. Jim Justice issued a proclamation on Friday that officially declares Juneteenth 2024 as a West Virginia State holiday.

Juneteenth is recognized on June 19 each year and celebrates the ending of slavery in the United States. The day will be observed on Wednesday, June 19 as a full-day holiday for all public employees in West Virginia.

Juneteenth has already been a federal holiday since 2021 when President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. The holiday comes from the same day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Texas after being issued by President Abraham Lincoln six months earlier on New Years Day.

In a moving Instagram post, Michelle Obama reflected on the loss of her mother, Marian Robinson, who died last Friday, May 31, at the age of 86.

The former first lady and her family eulogized Robinson and the vibrant life she led in a statement, received first by NBC News and later posted on Michelle and Barack Obama’s Instagram pages.

Accompanying the statement on Instagram was Michelle Obama’s touching caption, calling her mom her “rock.”

“My mom Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed,” the former first lady wrote.

“She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today.”

The former first lady went on to express her desire to “offer some reflections on her remarkable life” in a tribute that detailed her mother’s early life and her marriage to Michelle Obama’s father, Fraser C. Robinson III, who died in 1991. The statement was signed by Michelle Obama, her brother, Craig Robinson, and other members of their family. It touched on Robinson’s role as a grandmother to her grandchildren — including Malia and Sacha — and mother-in-law to former President Barack Obama.

“On Election Night in 2008, when the news broke that Barack would soon shoulder the weight of the world, she was there holding his hand. With a healthy nudge, she agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack. We needed her. The girls needed her, and she ended up being our rock through it all,” the family statement reads in part.

Claudia Sheinbaum

Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico’s first female president, in a historic landslide win.

Mexico’s official electoral authority said preliminary results showed the 61-year-old former mayor of Mexico City winning between 58% and 60% of the vote in Sunday’s election.

That gives her a lead of about 30 percentage points over her main rival, businesswoman Xóchitl Gálvez.

Ms Sheinbaum will replace her mentor, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on 1 October.

But in her victory speech she also highlighted what has set this Mexican election apart from previous ones. She told cheering voters: “For the first time in the 200 years of the [Mexican] Republic, I will become the first woman president of Mexico.”

She said it was an achievement not just for her but for all women.

“I’ve said it from the start, this is not just about me getting [to the top office], it’s about all of us getting here.”

She added: “I won’t fail you.”

Three police officers who defended the Capitol during the deadly Jan. 6 riot will help President Joe Biden

Former Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police officer Daniel “Danny” Hodges will campaign in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and New Hampshire, the campaign said in a news release.

The officers will meet with local elected officials, law enforcement organizations and community members to underscore what it described as the threat Trump poses to democracy and the “ongoing threat of political violence” if Trump is re-elected, the release said.

  Shirnae McFarlane (r) and her husband, Chris Hill and his wife

If you thought megachurch drama was limited to TV shows like Greenleaf, well, you’d be wrong. A new scandal has rocked the church world this week and its one closely connected to Bishop T.D. Jakes. A married Denver pastor has resigned after allegations that he was cheating with his godchild – his married godchild. Chris Hill, a Jakes protegé who is pastor of the The Potters House Church Of Denver, left his post earlier this month.

The Christian Post reports:

“The Potter’s House Church of Denver announces today that Senior Pastor Chris Hill, has tendered a letter of resignation effective immediately. Further, after several weeks of ministry, counseling and contemplation, Pastor Chris and his wife Joy Hill will be seeking a formal separation,” the church noted in a since removed statement on Facebook last Thursday.

While they are both saddened on many accounts they feel it is the best decision for both their personal healing and the successful continuation and growth of the Denver Church body. All of us here at the Potter’s House Denver are praying for Pastor Hill and his wife as they embark upon this very personal journey. The Church leadership will respect their privacy at this time as any further decisions about the state of their marriage will be a private one between them and their families,” the statement continued.

The resignation comes just two weeks after Jake’s ministry confirmed with The Christian Post that Hill had been nixed from the International Pastors & Leadership Conference set for April 27-29 at Jakes’ The Potter’s House of Dallas in Texas.