Americans across the country are making their voices heard at the voting booths on Election Day (Nov. 5). As revealed by CNN correspondent Abby D. Phillip, Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest remaining survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, participated in the process and cast her vote for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. She turned 110 years old back in May.
"I'm real proud to be this age," Fletcher said in an interview with CBS News. "I have many, so many I can't mention, but it's a blessing to live this long and easy to do. If I can do it, others can." The news outlet also shared information about the Viola Ford Fletcher Foundation, an organization that she oversees with her grandson.
“I would like the [foundation] to work as a vehicle, taking us from possibility to a justifiable and equitable reality. I want this to be a forum where the best and brightest work together in an operating environment that embraces advanced knowledge and technologies to improve lives, including the life of our planet!” Fletcher wrote on its official website. “Our methods become a framework for doing the right things, for the right reasons, because we care and value our sustainability and survivability. I want to create opportunities that renew hope and diminish stress. Let's level the playing field by making essential knowledge available, get it to people who need it, and support them in being healthy and self-sufficient.”
In June, Fletcher, along with 109-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle and the late Hughes Van Ellis, made headlines after their lawsuit against Oklahoma was thrown out by the state's highest court. The plaintiffs aimed to hold the city of Tulsa and other entities accountable for the tragic event they were forced to live through. “It’s past time," said Randle before the ruling. “I would like to see this all cleared up and we go down the right road. But I do not know if I will ever see that.”