It’s a place. It’s a musical. It’s the site of a horrific slaughter.
Stay with me. *Spoilers ahead*
Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen is special. If you’re familiar with the 80s graphic novel by Dave Gibbons or the near-exact retelling in Zack Snyder’s ’09 film, then you can appreciate the brilliance of this update on what the world might look like after the events of the original story. It follows the surviving Watchmen in their now very different lives amidst a new plot to destroy humanity at the hands of new nemeses. Most sublimely, Watchmen ties it all tied together through one character we never got to know in the source material, Hooded Justice. The way his arc becomes the backbone this series is the kind of craft work a writer aspires to.
The historical divisiveness of race in America is what makes this version of Watchmen so powerful as it sneakily brings to life in 4K definition the full weight of the events of May 31st, 1921. It’s impossible to watch the opening moments & not be affected as we’re introduced to one of the darkest, most vile & disturbing moments in the nation’s history: The Tulsa Race Massacre.
In an interview with NPR, Lindelof speaks about what inspired him to create the series against such a backdrop. His inspiration makes sense if you want to tell a story that hits. That’s craft work in its purest form. This writers room provided a little-known, up-close account of the savagery that to this day underscores the Black experience in America. It is extremely difficult to watch. I’m sure that was the point.
The timing of Watchmen couldn’t be more perfect. Now, two years later, we’ve come to the 100 year anniversary of the infamous tragedy.
In a year following the turmoil of a global pandemic & civil unrest everywhere, Black Wall Street is getting it’s official due. Not that celebrations, commemorations, statutes or holidays set anything right. Instead, it’s an honest admission that “yes, this happened”. Like numerous comparable stories of sadistic, racially-driven crimes of hate across the country, Tulsa’s Race Riot stands as a warning of what humanity can be –it’s ugliness — if left unchecked alongside the Atlanta Race Riots, Rosewood & the Elaine Massacre to name just a few. Allowing these events to enter the mainstream psyche is the first real step towards understanding why it was is an atrocity, why it must be remembered & why it should never be allowed to happen again.
Damon Lindelof’s effort to get this true story in front of so many through the medium of “television entertainment” under the guise of a superhero tale is in my opinion, heroic. But the survivors of these atrocities & their families who have fought to keep the memory of this tragedy alive & relevant are the heroes that matter most in this story.
Never forget.