“Yesterday Redeemed and Tomorrow Made More Beautiful”: Historical Injustice and Possible Collective Selves

This research examines the ways in which talk about reparations for historical injustice demonstrates individuals' ambitions for future collective identities. Interviews with W hite T ulsans ( n = 25) illustrate how discursive temporal constructions justify support for or opposition to reparations for the 1921 T ulsa R ace R iot. It is argued that W hite T ulsans strategically employed these constructions to either transform or maintain collective identities. These findings bring a discursive approach to theories of collective continuity ( S ani, B owe, & H errera, 2008) and possible selves ( C innirella, 1998; M arkus & N urius, 1986; M c A dams, 2006; V ignoles, 2008). From this perspective, reckoning with the past is as much about who we can be tomorrow as it is guilt for who we were yesterday .