San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
‘Long way to go’: Juneteenth marked across U.S.
Parades, picnics and lessons in history were offered Saturday to commemorate Juneteenth in the U.S., a day that carried even more significance after Congress and President Joe Biden created a federal holiday to observe the end of slavery.
A new holiday was “really awesome. It’s starting to recognize the African American experience,” said Detroit artist Hubert Massey, 63. “But we still have a long way to go.”
In Detroit, which is about 80 percent Black, students from University Prep Art & Design School dodged rain to repaint Massey’s blocklong message, “Power to the People,” which was created last year on downtown Woodward Avenue.
The ‘o’ in “Power” was a red fist in memory of George Floyd and other victims of excessive force by police, Massey said.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, two months after the Confederacy had surrendered. It was about 2 ½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Southern states.
Biden on Thursday signed a bill creating Juneteenth National Independence Day. Since June 19 fell on a Saturday, the government observed the holiday Friday. At least nine states have designated it in law as an official paid state holiday, all but one acting after Floyd, a Black man, was killed last year in Minneapolis.
Officials in Bristol, R.I., unveiled a marker that describes the seaport’s role in the slave trade. The marker was placed at the Linden
Place Museum, a mansion built by Gen. George DeWolf, who was a slave trader. The Rhode Island Slave History Medallion organization raises public awareness about the state’s role in slavery.
A street in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was renamed Saturday for civil rights activists Harry and Harriette Moore. Harry was credited with registering more than 100,000 Black voters. They were killed on Christmas Day 1951 — their 25th wedding anniversary — when a bomb exploded under their bed.
“They were ordinary people who brought about extraordinary change and we are privileged to pay tribute to them here in Broward County,” county Commissioner Dale V.C. Holness said before the event.
Hundreds of people gathered for a free concert in New York’s
Times Square organized by the
Broadway League, the trade group for the Broadway entertainment industry.
A Juneteenth parade was held in Evanston, Ill., a Chicago suburb that is using tax revenue from marijuana sales to offer housing grants to Black residents for past discrimination and the lingering effects of slavery.
New York civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton offered a tough message during a speech at his National Action Network, saying Senate Republicans who voted unanimously to make Juneteenth a federal holiday should also support Democratic bills that change voting laws and make it easier to crack down on rogue police officers.
“The celebration of Juneteenth is not a party. … The way to deal with Juneteenth now is to deal with where race is in 2021,” Sharpton said.