Every year, thousands of tenants appear in housing court without legal representation. For people facing eviction, a single hearing can determine whether they keep their home or face homelessness. The experience of one Maryland tenant, Latashia Pettiford, illustrates how access to counsel can determine whether property rights exist only on paper or actually can be enforced in practice.

In Randle v. City of Tulsa, three remaining survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre filed suit against the City of Tulsa seeking an abatement of public nuisance caused by the City’s unreasonable, unwarranted, and unlawful acts and omissions stemming from events that transpired in 1921. In 1997, the Oklahoma Legislature passed the House Joint Resolution 1035, which created the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission. The Commission was tasked with establishing a historical account of the racial violence that occurred in Tulsa’s Greenwood community from May 31 to June 1, 1921—events now known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. During this period, a white mob caused devastating destruction, killing an estimated 100 to 300 people, most of whom were African American, and destroying over 1,200 homes, schools, churches, and businesses. This violence continued and state and local authorities worsened the situation by arresting and detaining Black residents. Efforts by Greenwood residents to rebuild were actively obstructed by local officials who sought to prevent the reconstruction by amending the Tulsa building code to require costly fireproof materials. Thus, rebuilding became financially impossible for many.