Houston Rockets NBA star Russell Westbrook is now adding producer to his list of job titles. The basketball player will produce an upcoming docuseries about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.
Confirmed by the production company Blackfin, Westbrook, who once played for the Oklahoma City Thunder team, will serve as the executive producer of the series tentatively titled, Terror In Tulsa: The Rise And Fall Of Black Wall Street. Often described as “the single worst incident of racial violence in American history,” the Tulsa race massacre involved a white mob attacking residents and businesses in the predominantly Black Greenwood area of Tulsa, resulting in the death and displacement of over 10,000 residents, and the destruction of more than 35 square blocks of the district. At the time the wealthiest black community in the United States, it was known as the “Black Wall Street.”
Westbrook cites his time in Oklahoma while playing for their NBA team before moving to the Rockets in 2019 as opening his eyes to the state’s racial history.
He wrote in a tweet, “When I learned about the heartbreaking events that happened in Tulsa nearly 100 years ago, I knew this was a story I wanted to tell," he continued, "It's upsetting that the atrocities that transpired then, are still so relevant today. It's important we uncover the buried stories of African Americans in this country. We must amplify them now more than ever if we want to create change moving forward."
