Republican Senator James Lankford, Oklahoma, wrote a letter on Thursday apologizing to black voters for not realizing how their efforts to contest election results would be perceived.
In a letter addressed to “My friends in North Tulsa”, the senator said he deeply regrets his “blindness” of how his electoral challenges could be viewed by the black community – as a “direct attack on his right to vote”.
Last month, Lankford announced that he would participate in an effort led by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., To vote against the results of the Electoral College and request a 10-day audit to assess electoral fraud.
He gave up on contesting after protesters invaded the Capitol last week.
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“It was never my intention to deprive any voter or state,” wrote the senator. “It was my intention to resolve all outstanding issues prior to the January 20 inauguration.”
“But my action to ask for more electoral information has caused a storm of suspicion among many of my friends, particularly among black communities across the state,” he said, adding that he was “completely taken aback” by the response.
“What I didn’t realize was that all the national talk about states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan was seen as casting doubt on the validity of votes coming from predominantly black communities like Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit,” he wrote.
“After decades of fighting for the right to vote, many black friends in Oklahoma saw this as a direct attack on their right to vote, so that their vote was important and even a belief that their votes made an election in our country illegitimate. “he continued. .
Lankford noted the next 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, pointing to areas for improvement since the tragedy, but noting “investment opportunities and gaps remain.”
Between May 31 and June 1, 1921, crowds of armed White residents attacked the Black Tulsans and their businesses in the Greenwood District, which at the time was the country’s wealthiest Black community. The death toll is unclear, but historians believe that up to 300 may have been killed.
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“There is also very little cultural understanding between people of different races in Oklahoma communities, something that I remembered last week,” said Lanford.
Several black leaders in Tulsa have called for the expulsion or removal of Lankford from the Centennial Committee of the 1921 Race Massacre because of his efforts to challenge the results of the elections this week. Lankford said at the time that after speaking with black leaders, he understood why his efforts could be seen as depriving the black voter of the right to vote.
“I was shocked [when Black friends] he said to me, ‘It was about preventing African Americans from voting’. My comment to them was: ‘It never crossed my mind. Why would I do that? Why would I think that? ‘”, He told Tulsa World.
“I’ve had some time to visit and listen to them, and I understand where they come from,” said Lankford.
“Some people picked me up and said, ‘Let me describe it this way’ – and they got it right – ‘You hear the president say, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania are problems. We heard the president say: Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia are problems . ‘
“And I said, ‘You are exactly right. I heard what you are saying now.'”
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“I can assure you, my intention to give a voice to oklahoma who had doubts was also never an intention to lower the voice of any black American. I should have recognized how what I said and what I did could be interpreted by many of you “he concluded in his letter. “I deeply regret my blindness to this perception, and so I am sorry.”