The new mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma proposed a $100 million private trust on Sunday as part of the compensation program to help the 1921 Tulsa Genocide scholarship and housing to make changes to the worst racial attacks in U.S. history with city support.

Monroe Nichols, the first black mayor of Oklahoma's second-largest city, did not directly provide cash payments to the last two centennial survivors of the attack, causing as many as 300 black people. He made the announcement at the Greenwood Cultural Center, a region that once prevailed in North Tulsa, which was destroyed by white mobs.

Nichols said he does not use the term compensation, which he calls politically accused, describing his comprehensive plan as a “way to repair.”

"For 104 years, the Tulsa Genocide has been a stain on our city's history," Nichols said after being applauded by hundreds of people. "The Holocaust is hidden in history books and followed by intentional acts of red lines, a highway designed to avoid economic vitality and permanent underinvestment by local, state and federal governments.

“It’s time to take the next big step to recover.”

Nichols said the proposal does not require approval from the city council, and although the council needs to authorize the transfer of any city property to the trust, what he said is likely.

A private charitable trust will be established to ensure that $105 million of assets is acquired, while most of the funds will either be acquired or invested by June 1, 2026. While details will be developed by the Executive Director and Executive Board next year, the plan calls for most of the funding, $60 million, to improve the building and revitalize the north side of the city.

"The Greenwood District at its peak is the center of business," Nichols said in a telephone interview. "So, it's not just something that's lost in North Tulsa or the black community. It actually robs Tulsa's economic future, which would have been a competition with anywhere else in the world."

Nichols' proposal follows an executive order he signed earlier this year, recognizing June 1 as the anniversary of the Tulsa genocide, a formal urban holiday. Events held in Greenwood District on Sunday include family picnics, service and evening candlelight vigils.

Nichols also realizes that the current national political climate, especially the Trump administration’s full-scale attack on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, poses a challenge to political cross-winds.

"The fact that this is a tough environment with a broader national dialogue is a tough environment, but that doesn't change the work we have to do," Nichols admitted.

Jacqueline Weary, granddaughter of Holocaust survivor John R Emerson Sr, owns a hotel and taxi company in Greenwood that was destroyed and admitted to the political difficulties of paying cash to descendants. But at the same time, she wonders how much wealth in her family is lost by violence.

"If Greenwood was still there, my grandfather would still have his hotel. It's our inheritance, which was actually taken away," said Weary, 65.

Tulsa is not the first city in the United States to explore compensation. The Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois is the first American city in the United States to provide compensation to black residents to achieve past discrimination, providing eligible families with $25,000 in household repair costs, property down payments, and interest or delayed fines on the city's property. The program is funded by taxes on recreational marijuana sales.

In Tulsa, there are only two survivors of the genocide, both 110 years old: Leslie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher. The women all attended the meeting on Sunday, receiving direct financial compensation from Tulsa-based nonprofits and a New York-based charity — but have not received any compensation from the city or state.

Survivor's attorneys have previously stated that any compensation plan should include direct payments to Randle and Fletcher and victim's compensation funds to obtain outstanding claims.

Last year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit filed on behalf of survivors, weakening supporters’ hopes that the city will make financial corrections.