On Tuesday, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Long Feature for his feature the NFL 360 documentary Black Wall Street. In it, Lockett discussed the history of the Greenwood District of his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, most prominently the Tulsa race massacre in 1921.
Lockett stated that his intention with his visit to Tulsa in the documentary was to shed light on racial injustice in his hometown and highlight how the effects of the Tulsa race massacre are still palpable there today.
“I just want people to learn the truth about Tulsa,” Lockett told Seahawks.com a few months ago. “It’s hard to be able to explain because when you really look at all the events that took place, a lot of this was just a hundred years ago. When people understand the history and what Tulsa once was, I just want them to be able to understand that, now that they’re learning this, imagine all of this being swept under the rug. Imagine it being hidden. But also, not only was this swept under the rug but people were threatened not to talk about it.”
Lockett is one of numerous NFL players known for using his platform to bring attention to real-life issues outside of the sport he plays, and he has expressed confidence that learning about incidents like this will convince the NFL community, players and fans alike, to look under the surface a little bit more.
“So when the NFL community sees this, they’re not going to see entertainment; they’re going to see reality,” Lockett stated at the end of the documentary. “They’re going to see the truth about life. Something that we can’t hide from, something that has been hidden, something that can’t be no longer a secret. This is real life.”
Black Wall Street can be viewed on YouTube here.
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