Bill would compensate descendants of Ocoee Massacre victims
The city of Ocoee is preparing to mark 100 years since the Ocoee Massacre.
Now, a senator wants an in-depth study of what happened on Election Day in 1920.
At the same time, State Sen. Randolph Bracy has also filed a bill, that, if passed, would compensate the victims' descendants.
A freshly placed historical marker sits among the trees in Orlando's Heritage Square Park, honoring the life of Julius July Perry.
The marker is a solemn and dark reminder of a racist past, specifically Perry's brutal and public lynching almost 100 years ago as he fought for the right for blacks to vote.
The grim attack of Perry and others is now referred to as the Ocoee Massacre of 1920.
"This was a gruesome massacre. I mean, we are talking upwards of 50 people killed, mutilated, burned," Bracy said.
Bracy believes the marker is a good first step towards healing, but that it's just that -- a first step -- because a lot of questions still linger. Questions like, what happened to the land owned by Perry and other black landowners who were either murdered or run out of town?
"The thought is that the impetus for this massacre really was to steal land from the black landowners," Bracy said.
Another lingering question is, how has the loss of the family land impacted descendants over the years?
"When you are talking about a whole community of people who were massacred, maimed, burned, and their property taken, that has a generational effect," Bracy said.
Bracy has proposed Senate Bill 8, aimed at using the research arm of the legislature to answer some of those questions and then to help right past wrongs.
"It's a bill that allocates $10 million to the descendants or victims of the Ocoee Massacre," Bracy said.
"I think it's an awesome idea," Perry's grand niece, Sharon McWhite, said.
Ozell Graham, Perry's grand nephew, also spoke with WESH 2 News.
"The first step is to recognize there was an injustice, and the second step is to correct that, and make atonement," Graham said.
"Whether it's been five years, ten years, or 100 years, the fact remains that the city of Ocoee took what was ours, and we want it back," McWhite said.
Bracy believes it is time to face what truly happened.
"There has to be a reckoning of sorts of what happened. I really believe racial reconciliation can't really occur until we have these conversations and repair the people hurt," he said.
Bracy said Rep. Kamia Brown will introduce the same bill in the House, and he's hopeful it will eventually make it to the governor's desk.
He's not sure what the response will be, but since one of the governor's first points of business when elected was to pardon the Groveland Four, Bracy thinks it has a chance.