Tulsa survivor

dies at age 111

DALLAS (AP) — One of the last known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma has died. Viola Ford Fletcher was 111. Her grandson, Ike Howard, said Monday that she died surrounded by family at a Tulsa hospital.

n recent years, she had sought justice for the deadly attack by a white mob on the thriving Black community where she had lived as a child. Sustained by a strong faith, she raised three children, worked as a welder in a shipyard during World War II and spent decades caring for families as a housekeeper.

She was 7 when the two-day attack began on the prosperous area that was known as Black Wall Street.

Jimmy Cliff

dead at 81

NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Cliff, the charismatic reggae pioneer and actor who preached defiance, joy and endurance in such classics as “Many Rivers to Cross,” “You Can Get it If You Really Want” and “Vietnam” and starred in the landmark movie “The Harder They Come,” has died at 81.

Cliff was a native Jamaican with a spirited tenor and a gift for topical lyrics who joined Kingston’s emerging music scene in his teens and helped lead a movement in the 1960s that included such future stars as Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert and Peter Tosh.

Arrests strain

Memphis jails

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A task force ordered by President Donald Trump to combat crime in Memphis, Tennessee, has made thousands of arrests. It’s compounded strains on the busy local court system and an already overcrowded jail in ways that concerned officials say will last months or even years as cases play out.

Since late September, hundreds of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel tied to the Memphis Safe Task Force have made traffic stops, served warrants and searched for fugitives in the city of about 610,000 people. More than 2,800 people have been arrested and more than 28,000 traffic citations have been issued.

The task force is supported by Republican Gov. Bill Lee and others who hope the surge reduces violent crime.