Category: News

The 4-5 series in the Eastern Conference features a pair of up-and-coming squads, the New York Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks, going head-to-head in what should be a fun, evenly-matched slugfest. But before things tip off, the NBA had a bit of business to tend to which will cost Hawks coach Nate McMillan a hefty chunk of change.

The league announced that McMillan, who took over the job in an interim role earlier this year following the firing of Lloyd Pierce, was fined $25,000, citing “detrimental public comments asserting bias by the NBA relating to the 2020-21 Playoffs.”

This is a pretty major assertion for the league to make, especially when the comments McMillan doled out weren’t particularly controversial. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic identified the comments that led to the fine, and in them, McMillan said more or less what everyone has said about the Knicks for years: There is a desire for them to be good because they are the New York Knicks.

This isn’t really saying there’s biased involved or anything, more that the league has a vested interest in teams in gigantic markets making the playoffs, which it should! He didn’t really indicate that games were officiated any differently, nor did he say that thumbs were on scales in any way, shape, or form. McMillan just said that the league is happy when the Knicks are good, which is a line that has been trotted out whenever they have been bad.

On May 21, Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is coming to Hulu, and from the looks of it (and the look of that cast list, whew!) we’re in for a good time. However, while so many of Marvel’s most dastardly villains are pretty well known thanks to the MCU, MODOK remains one that — while vital in the comics — isn’t as much of a hot commodity. So, if you’re wondering just who MODOK is and uh, what’s up with his whole look, we’ve got you covered.

— MODOK, real name is George Tarleton (voiced by Patton Oswalt), is a former employee of Advanced Idea Mechanics, or A.I.M., a privately funded think tank you might recognize from Iron Man 3. In addition to appearing in the MCU, A.I.M. is a reoccurring evil-doing organization in the comics with ties to most of Marvel’s roster of heroes. You see, A.I.M.’s whole thing is the acquisition of power through science, and they execute this idea through creating and selling futuristic weaponry and conducting incredibly unethical and dangerous experiments. One such experiment is conducted on Tarleton, who undergoes a mutagenic medical procedure designed to increase his intelligence in order to be used by A.I.M. for advanced computing. Ultimately the project is successful, but as a result of his increased brain size is an alarmingly big noggin to hold it. In addition, his mental growth ends up impeding the growth of the rest of his body, leading to his smaller stature that cannot support the weight of his head. For these reasons, Tarleton becomes confined to the exoskeleton and accompanying hovercraft we see him in.

— After the procedure, Tarleton grows both ambitious and enraged, and soon decides to murder several of his fellow workers and take over A.I.M. He also adopts the name MODOK, which is an acronym for “Mental Organism Designed Only For Killing,” though the M has been said to mean both “Mobile” and “Mechanized” as well. In addition to a new name and brain size, the new and “improved” MODOK comes with impressive powers including enhanced intuition, perfect memory and recall, pattern solving, and the ability to outcomes that is so advanced and correct, it borders on precognition. To help hone MODOK’s powers, A.I.M. creates a headband for him that allows him to turn his mental power into pure energy beams in order to both contact and control people through his mind. A.I.M. also ensures that MODOK’s hovercraft is top of the line, and creates the “Doomsday Chair,” which is equipped with explosives, missiles, and lasers. In the comics, MODOK is a repeated threat for several superheroes, with Captain America and the Hulks being his primary foes.

However, in the upcoming Hulu series, it appears creators Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt are giving us a different — and very domestic — look at MODOK. In Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., Tarleton (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is comedically humanized as a man desperate to save his marriage, be a decent father, and keep his company afloat. The ten-episode series follows his relationship and power struggles, and it looks to be a violent and hilarious time.

— In addition to Oswalt, the series boasts a pretty incredible cast of voice actors, including Aimee Garcia, Ben Schwartz, Melissa Fumero, Wendy McLendon-Covey, Beck Bennett, Sam Richardson, Jon Hamm, Nathan Fillion, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Hader, and Kevin Michael Richardson. Whew. Oh, and for all the Adult Swim fans thinking that animation looks very familiar — Stoopid Buddy Stoodios of Robot Chicken fame is providing the show’s stop-motion animation.

Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. hits Hulu May 21, however eager fans can catch the show early during a watch along with Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt on May 20 at 4 PM PT.

So much about our lives changed in the past year, and one of the most obvious areas was eating out. Suddenly we couldn’t just go out to eat anymore and the whole industry designed around it was thrown into turmoil. Top Chef is a show that revolves entirely around this industry, so it obviously couldn’t just go back to normal when the chefs it profiles and the restaurants they work at still haven’t.

Yet when you watch Top Chef these days, with its latest season set in Portland, it still feels mostly like Top Chef always has. And being able to immerse ourselves in a world where the quality of restaurant food is a matter of great importance is both a refreshing return to normalcy and a little bit escapist. Yet this is a show that was filmed last fall, when much of the country was still locked down and indoor dining wasn’t allowed.

To produce a show that still looked relatively normal in the midst of all this, clearly, must’ve required meticulous planning and some creative thinking. Piling 15 chefs into a house together and having them go from restaurant to restaurant cooking for judges flown in for the privilege simply wasn’t going to work. Instead, Top Chef‘s producers moved the thing to a hotel and created a big “bubble,” with a handful of past contestants and winners as judges, and everyone otherwise rigorously tested and kept separate from larger society whenever possible. I spoke to Top Chef producer Dan Murphy this week about what was different about this season and the work that went into keeping it consistent.

Can you tell me your official title and explain what your duties entail?

I’m Dan Murphy, I’m the COO of Magical Elves, and basically, I’ve been with the company for about 13 years, been the head of production for many years, before recently becoming COO this past year. I oversee physical production, from the budgeting and the planning, and the scheduling, and I oversee all of the safety protocols in terms of getting our shows back up and running during COVID.

Your last season got delayed, right?

The previous season we had actually filmed before the pandemic started, and we were in editorial during the pandemic, and we quickly pivoted to having editors and producers working from home, and communicating over Zoom, which was fine. We were basically able to continue post-production with very little downtime when the pandemic started, but it gave us a runway to figure out how and when we were going to be able to come back to filming. We prepped and loaded this season in September, shot in October and November. So we had a long lead time to figure out all of our protocols and work with the network. We took all of the CDC guidelines and the state and local laws and guidance, and we worked with NBC, and our own sort of high standards of safety kind of guided us through that process.

So then what did the “bubble” look like, and how did this season differ from past seasons?

Well, in terms of creating the bubble we kept everyone together in a hotel, we made sure everyone was wearing masks and PPEs, and social distanced. There were obviously a lot of things that we did differently behind the scenes that we hoped would not distract from what people saw on screen. We tried to make the show as seamless as possible from previous seasons, but did include some additional elements that you probably haven’t seen before; we had the All-Star panel [of past contestants judging], that we kept within our bubble, and we were able to showcase former Top Chef contestants in a way that we hadn’t necessarily done before.

So with the hotels — in the past, the competitors would have all been in the same house together. Did that create any new challenges from a content standpoint?

We knew that we had to change how that was going to work this season, and we kind of leaned into it. There were some challenges but we always have such a, I would say ‘a richness of content’ that in a lot of ways it may have made the editing process easier. Because we just didn’t have that element to have to incorporate. We always get such great content out of the cast houses, but there’s always so much that’s already there within the show itself and the competition, that it was not difficult to make that pivot.

In the past, the contestants would be going out and visiting restaurants and working in other restaurant kitchens. I know this was shot in the middle of a time when a lot of restaurants were closed. What were the challenges there, and what were the kinds of ways that you had to improvise?

The challenges were finding the right spaces, I think, and on a normal season of Top Chef we can shoot just about anywhere. But when we’re dealing with a large crew, and contestants, we had to be very mindful of how we could work within a space, when indoors, and keep everyone safe. So we had to find spaces that were large enough, and had large enough support spaces, etc.

So that was definitely different for us, and a bit of a challenge this season.

On the other hand, with restaurants not at full capacity, or not serving indoors, was it easier in any way? Like, was it an easier sell to get restaurants to let you film in their space?

I would say there was definitely more availability. Some restaurants had shut down. There were some spaces available to us that that may not have otherwise been.

Had you guys chosen Portland before all this happened?

I mean we had been wanting to go to Portland for many seasons. It’s a rich, celebrated culinary destination and we’ve been wanting to go there for a long time. We had gone to Seattle in one season, and then a couple seasons later we were still like “well, let’s go somewhere else,” but we were really glad to get the opportunity to come back to that region, and go to Portland specifically.

Chefs normally take, I forget what it is, six or eight weeks off to come film the show. Was it an easier sell for contestants in any way? Because maybe they were having to not work as much, or close down restaurants during the pandemic?

I would say it was probably more of the opposite. I think that most of our chefs were extremely busy as frontline workers in terms of keeping people fed, and a lot of the restaurants that our contestants were working with were very busy. So it was a bit of a challenge to get them to come out and quarantine prior to shooting. It was a lengthier time off of work for many of them.

Did you manage to get through the whole season without any positive tests?

Thankfully, we did. We did not have any cases on the show and it was, I think, all because everyone took it seriously. We had training in advance of the show that everyone had to participate in. We talked about how serious we were taking it as a company. And we gave everyone on the crew side ample opportunity to not participate if it was not something they felt that they could live up to.

Thankfully, everyone was excited about getting back to work.

I don’t hear this that much anymore, but every once in a while you hear people say that “the judging that goes on on Top Chef is all fake,” and that the contestants who go home, that’s all decided by producers behind the scenes. Can you shed any light on that process?

I would say from the time that I started at the company, at the end of season four, the producers have always had a hands-off approach when it comes to deciding who the winner is, and who the people are that are going home. That’s always been left up to our judges.

As a producer, are there ever contestants that you think are particularly entertaining, or just they’re good for entertainment value, and then you get disappointed when the judges send them home?

Well, I’m probably not the best person to speak to that, but I think everyone has their favorites, and it’s always difficult to see someone go before you think they should. But we trust in the process. The judges really deliberate on this stuff, and it’s not always clear-cut answers. You don’t always see the amount of deliberation that goes into the decisions that they make, but I’ve been on seasons, and I can remember a specific episode where they took hours and hours deliberating and disagreeing over decisions amongst themselves.

Do the judges ever surprise you with how seriously they take the judging?

I will say that I personally was surprised, again it was literally hours one night, probably three in the morning until four, five, six in the morning before they could finally agree on a decision. So yeah, they take it very seriously. They all have strong opinions about each of the contestants, and the meals, and I would say most people would probably be very surprised how much deliberation goes into the decisions that they make.

In terms of just time and budget, and sponsorships, was this season pretty comparable to past seasons, or was there anything different about it in that sense?

I’m not sure how much into detail I can go and send you this stuff. I mean there were definitely costs as a result of doing show during COVID that we don’t ordinarily incur, but I can’t give you a percentage or a dollar figure or anything like that. It’s definitely more expensive to produce, to put these protocols into place. We’ve spent a lot of time as a company, and a lot of people put in months of work sort of developing the guidance and the protocols, and revising them, and refining them, and we’re really proud of the show that resulted from it.

Ted Cruz apparently did not learn from Tucker Carlson’s experience in angering military leaders by ridiculing female service members (and being told to f*ck off by Tammy Duckworth). This week, Tucker also declared that the U.S. military couldn’t possibly defend against UFOs because they’re too focused on equality, and Ted’s jumping on that military-bashing bandwagon while criticizing the same U.S. military recruitment ad (as Tucker) and branching out on his own self-owning skills.

“Holy crap,” Cruz wrote while retweeting a Russian military “ad” that sets up Putin’s guys against the ad pushed out under President Biden as commander-in-chief. “Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea….”

Oh boy. It’s not a good look for a U.S. senator to tweet out Russian propaganda at all, let alone while bashing those that serve and project U.S. citizens. The Lincoln Project was quick to tweet out their own “holy crap” to that effect.

As one might imagine, people are piling onto Cruz for numerous things, including kissing Donald Trump’s butt while making campaign calls for him (after Trump insulted Heidi Cruz’s looks during the primary season). There’s also some pushback from military members, and this little gem: “Why are you tweeting out Russian propaganda videos, Comrade Senator Fidel Emasculated Cancun?” It’s a fair question.

This screencap never gets old, does it?

On Thursday, Overwatch devs finally gave some details on the future of Overwatch 2 with a showcase of the upcoming multiplayer changes. Details on the future title have been sparse despite the game first being announced back at BlizzCon 2019 and it has left fans asking for more. We know that the multiplayer is going to be an update to the first game, while players will need to pay for the player vs. environment story mode, but that’s it. Fans’ confidence in the game wasn’t improved when game director Jeff Kaplan left Activision-Blizzard in April, so they really needed a big splash to get fans talking about their game.

It did not take long for the devs to make a splash. They started off the event by announcing a huge change to Overwatch. 6v6 combat is gone. Games will now be 5v5 with two DPS, two healers, and one tank. This is going to change the entire structure of how heroes are designed and how games are played. Fans got a chance to see this new combat in action on a brand new map during the event.

Ever since Overwatch was launched the developers have always tried to push players towards a 2-2-2 style meta. Sure this was frequently broken with metas such as triple DPS, GOATS, and triple tank, but the developers would always try to update the game to push everyone back towards 2-2-2. Eventually, they forced players into this with role queue. The game has always been, by design, about 6v6 style combat. So moving to 5v5 is going to change everything.

For starters, tanks are going to need to be completely reworked across the board. Off-tanks like Roadhog and Zarya will need to be switched from off-tanks to main tanks, or maybe have a role change entirely, while main tanks such as Winston will need to have more damage potential since they’ll be without off-tank support. The showcase proved this a little by showing off that Winston, a hero all about getting up in player’s faces, had been given a secondary ranged attack.

What will be interesting is how this impacts strategies. It seems likely the game is going to be faster, but this also is going to accentuate weak points on a team. If a Winston for example dives in by their lonesome and dies early in a team fight, there is no one around to help absorb damage. Healers are left out to dry and a team is going to fall apart quickly. On the flip side, this could make classic combos like Pharah-Mercy even more powerful now that a healer can focus on keeping up a single tank instead of two.

Obviously Overwatch 2 could still undergo more changes before release, but this is an exciting change that is sure to make playing Overwatch feel completely differently. Whether that different feeling is good or bad will depend on if they make the right changes to help 5v5 feel like a better experience than classic 6v6.

The eighth and final season of NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine premieres in August with back-to-back episodes, 16 months after the season seven finale. The long break between seasons was due to both the pandemic and numerous episodes being scrapped following the death of George Floyd and nationwide protests against police brutality.

“We’ve had a lot of somber talks about it and deep conversations and we hope through this we’re going to make something that will be truly groundbreaking this year. We have an opportunity and we plan to use it in the best way possible,” Terry Crews explained. “Our showrunner Dan Goor, they had four episodes all ready to go and they just threw them in the trash. We have to start over. Right now we don’t know which direction it’s going to go in.” Andre Braugher hopes that B99 will “tell the kinds of stories that heretofore have only been seen on grittier shows” in its final season, but based on the brief teaser above, there will still be plenty of time for goofiness and sex tape titles.

Here’s more:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows the exploits of hilarious Det. Jake Peralta and his stoically ever-professional Capt. Raymond Holt, along with their diverse, lovable colleagues as they police the NYPD’s 99th Precinct. In this final season of the series, Jake and the squad must try to balance their personal lives and their professional lives over the course of a very difficult year.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is back on August 12.

Special: Season 2 (Netflix series) — This season, the main characters start to come into their own power while realizing that happiness can most reliably be found inside of oneself. Karen and Ryan can’t get it together enough to speak since their big blowout fight. Ryan’s dealing with writer’s block, too, which eases when he meets someone else who isn’t entirely available, and meanwhile Kim meets a tech mogul, and they have a predictably complicated relationship. And Karen realizes that it’s time to focus on herself and stop taking care of everyone else.

Too Close: Season 1 (AMC+ limited series) — Emily Watson (Chernobyl) stars as forensic psychologist Emma Robinson, who falls under the spell of Connie, a manipulative yet charismatic criminal suspect. Their sessions transform into a complex psychological game, all while Emma’s supposed to be trying to help solve a murder. This sounds Joker and Harley-esque, of course, but the three-part drama promises a lot of layers to unravel.

Gomorrah: Season 4 (HBO Max+ series) — The Italian crime drama shifts focus toward the lone Savastano dynasty survivor, Genny, who’s morphed from a Mafia brat into the family boss. Naturally, he’s also dealing with family drama, and he’s currently on his best behavior while there’s (of course) that Corleone-like struggle going on with some parties (to shift into legit business interests) while others embrace the life of underground crime.

Adventure Time: Distant Lands – Together Again(HBO Max series) — Cartoon Network heroes Finn and Jake are far from home following a break from adventuring. Mysterious events have transformed their current situation beyond expectations, and they must face off with an evil entity and, as the title indicates, take another grand adventure.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC, 9:00pm) — Rollins must deal with an old case after a child sent to juvie gets released upon adulthood, and the episode is called “Post-Graduate Psychopath,” so I think we all know where this goes.

Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC, 10:00pm) — Richie’s ready to join the Wheatley family business as the Octopus Wielder sets up shop with a new client.

From Cradle To Stage (Paramount+ series) — This Dave Grohl-directed series follows Dave and his mom, Virginia, meeting up with another artist and their mom each week. This time, Miranda Lambert joins in the fun. Moms rule, and so does Dave Grohl.

Rebel (ABC, 10:00pm) — Rebel and Lana recruit their secret weapon against Stonemore Mecial, and Ziggy learns the truth from Sean.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Keegan-Michael Key, Zoey Deutch, Conway The Machine Ft. J.I.D & Ludacris

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Anthony Mackie, Jean Smart

In case you missed this pick from last Thursday:

Hacks: Episodes 3 & 4 (HBO Max series) — Jean Smart’s not-so-quiet domination of recent prestige TV shows (Fargo, Watchmen, Mare of Easttown, Legion) and other popular shows of late (Big Mouth, Dirty John) has finally culminated with this leading-lady turn in a role she was arguably meant to play. Hacks hails from executive producer Michael Schur and has three Broad City alums (Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky) in the writers’ room, so get ready for a (Las Vegas) buffet of complex female characters. Smart portrays a legendary Vegas-rooted comedian who forges a “dark mentorship” to a 20-something newcomer in town. Among other highlights of this trailer, we see Smart shouting, “Eat your heart out Celine!” Don’t even think about missing this one.

In a new promotional video for Marvel’s Loki on Disney+, Tom Hiddleston gets to work rehashing the Trickster God’s cinematic history in just 30 seconds. Doing his best impersonation of a Micro Machines commercial (Remember those?), Hiddleston runs through everything that’s happen to Loki since he first made his big-screen debut in 2011’s Thor and doesn’t stop until he gets to God of Mischief’s upcoming adventures with the Time Variance Authority and its oddly chipper animated clock, Miss Minutes.

As Hiddleston tells it, Loki’s troubles began after being denied the throne of Asgard by Odin, who wasn’t even his real dad anyway, so Loki concocted a devious plot to put himself in line for the throne by having his real father, the king of the Frost Giants, attempt to murder Odin, only to be stopped by Loki. This deception didn’t go as planned and landed him in a battle with his brother Thor. After getting bested by the Lightning God, Loki sets about trying to conquer the Earth, but this time, he’s beaten not just by his brother, but by the newly formed Avengers.

At that point in the story, Loki should go on to be imprisoned and ultimately die at Thanos’ hands following the events of Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok. Instead, the Avengers time-traveling shenanigans create an opportunity for Loki to steal the Tesseract and escape his fate as he jumps through a portal before he can be imprisoned.

Loki’s escape shatters the timeline, and now, Agent Mobius at the TVA is convinced he’s the only one who can fix it, which places Loki in an unusual position where the fate of reality now rests in his questionable hands.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Picking up immediately after Loki steals the Tesseract (again), he finds himself called before the Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space, forced to answer for his crimes against the timeline and given a choice: face deletion from reality or assist in catching an even greater threat.

Loki starts streaming Wednesday, June 9 on Disney+.

Two weeks ago, a girl in the sixth grade at Rigby Middle School in Idaho, brought a gun to school and shot three people. Fortunately, the two students and custodian who were shot all survived and are recovering.

In the aftermath of the tragic shooting, a hero has emerged that everyone should know about, teacher Krista Gneiting. In an amazing feat of bravery and compassion, she disarmed the girl and then hugged her until police arrived. Her quick thinking and composure may have saved countless lives.

Gneiting was preparing her students for final exams in her classroom when a shot rang out down the hallway. She looked outside the door, saw the custodian lying on the ground, and then heard two more shots.

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“So I just told my students, ‘We are going to leave, we’re going to run to the high school, you’re going to run hard, you’re not going to look back and now is the time to get up and go,'” Gneiting told Good Morning America.

Sixth-grade girl shot two students and custodian at Idaho middle school before being disarmed by a teacher

A victi… https://t.co/PdgO4VRGXI

— Lilian Chan (@bestgug)
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While Gneiting was trying to help one of the students who was shot, she noticed the girl standing a few feet away with the gun. She told the injured student to stay still and she bravely approached her.

While most people’s instincts would be to run or react violently, she calmly walked toward her.

“It was a little girl, and my brain couldn’t quite grasp that,” she said. “I just knew when I saw that gun, I had to get the gun.”

“Are you the shooter?” she asked. Then she grasped the girl’s arm, pulled it slowly down her sleeve, and took the gun from her.

“I just slowly pulled the gun out of her hand, and she allowed me to. She didn’t give it to me, but she didn’t fight,” Gneiting said. “And then after I got the gun, I just pulled her into a hug because I thought, this little girl has a mom somewhere that doesn’t realize she’s having a breakdown and she’s hurting people.”

She then held the young girl tightly and consoled her until police arrived.

Hero teacher who stopped Idaho school shooting breaks silence l GMA

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“After a while, the girl started talking to me, and I could tell she was very unhappy,” Gneiting said. “I just kept hugging her and loving her and trying to let her know that we’re going to get through this together. I do believe that my being there helped her because she calmed down.”

When police arrived she was placed in handcuffs.

“She didn’t respond, she just let him. He was very gentle and very kind, and he just went ahead and took her and put her in the police car,” she said.

Gneiting knew that the girl was obviously in serious psychological and emotional pain and instead of exacerbating it, she showed her incredible compassion. Because, after all, she’s a child.

Now, Gneiting believes the focus should be on the girl’s mental health instead of punishment.

“She is just barely starting in life and she just needs some help. Everybody makes mistakes,” she told ABC News. “I think we need to make sure we get her help and get her back into where she loves herself so that she can function in society.”

The girl has been charged in the shooting but no further details are available because she’s a juvenile.

One hundred years ago, the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma was a bustling Mecca of Black-owned businesses and a community where Black Americans thrived. It was known colloquially as “Black Wall Street,” and was an anomaly in a state where the KKK actively worked to keep Black people oppressed.

On May 31 and June 1, 1921, it all changed. An alleged assault attempt by a young Black man against a young white woman (which never amounted to anything, as all charges were dropped) sparked protests, violence, and ultimately, a massacre by white mobs who murdered, looted, and set fire to Black Wall Street. More than 1200 homes were destroyed, churches were burned, and businesses wiped out. Thousands of white people descended on Greenwood and obliterated 35 city blocks in 24 hours, causing irreparable financial damage in addition to the emotional toll of the massacre.

The death count has never been verified. One newspaper initially only reported that two white people were killed in the “race riot.” Current estimates put the number killed at around 300, almost all of them Black residents. Thousands of those left behind had to live in tents and try to pick up the pieces of their lives, literally and figuratively.

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But many Americans never learn this history. It has rarely been taught in schools, even in Oklahoma, partially because much of the documentation of the massacre was covered up. A 1997 commission organized by the city examined documents and interviewed survivors to piece together what really happened on those days, and they released a report on their findings in 2001. Of their many notable findings, the commission determined that white Tulsa officials participated in the violence, even providing the white mob with firearms and ammunition to terrorize the Black residents.

The massacre of Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street”

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The survivors that the city interviewed are gone now, but there are still a few people left who witnessed the massacre.

107-year-old Viola Fletcher, the oldest living survivor, testified this week before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, asking the U.S. to formally “acknowledge what happened in Tulsa in 1921” on its centennial. Her testimony was powerful.

“I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire,” Fletcher told lawmakers. “I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day.”

“I am 107 years old and have never seen justice,” she said. “I pray that one day I will. I have been blessed with a long life — and have seen the best and worst of this country. I think about the terror inflicted upon Black people in this country every day.”

Watch her powerful 7-minute testimony:

POWERFUL: Oldest living survivor of Tulsa race massacre testifies in front of House

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Another survivor, 106-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle also testified about what she witnessed when she was six.

“They burned houses and businesses. They just took what they wanted out of the buildings then they burned them,” she said.” They murdered people. We were told they just dumped the dead bodies into the river. I remember running outside of our house. I ran past dead bodies. It wasn’t a pretty sight. I still see it today in my mind—100 years later.”

The remaining survivors have called for reparations, citing the inability of the community to rebuild following the massacre, especially in light of the Jim Crow laws and racist economic policies that followed.

Many Americans tend to think of the history of blatant, violent, government-sanctioned racism as something in the distant past, but there are still people alive today who remember this massacre that took place in 1921. And that year was a mere 50 years after the start of the Civil War, which means many Black Americans living in the South at that time had been born into slavery. That history is simply not that far away.

All three of the testimonies from survivors of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre are powerful. You can watch the full House Judiciary hearing here:

Continuing Injustice: The Centennial of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre

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