The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The United States celebrates the end of slavery on the first 'Juneteenth' as ​​a holiday

2021-06-24T12:47:52.034Z


Concerts, poetry, parades and reflection on the national importance of the new holiday marked this June 19. For some black artists it is "amazing that the African American experience is beginning to be recognized, but there is still a long way to go."


Parades, picnics and history lessons marked America's

Juneteenth

celebrations

 , a day that grew even more important after Congress and President Joe Biden created a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery.

Having a new national holiday is "really amazing, the African American experience is starting to be recognized," said Detroit artist Hubert Massey, 63. "

But we still have a long way to go. "

In Detroit, which is 80% black, students at University Prep Art & Design High School escaped the rain to repaint Massey's message,

"Power to the People,"

which means "power is of the town ”in English, which was created last year in the center of Woodward Avenue.

The 'o' in "Power" is a red fist in memory of George Floyd and other victims of police abuse of force, Massey said.

[Negotiations to push for police reform remain stalled a year after George Floyd's death]

Juneteenth

commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of liberation to enslaved blacks in Galveston, Texas, two months after the Confederacy surrendered and about two and a half years after the Proclamation. of Emancipation freed the slaves in the southern states.

Large companies grant the day off for the celebration of 'Juneteenth'

June 19, 202100: 34

Biden signed a bill Thursday that creates

Juneteenth

National Independence Day

.

Since June 19 fell on a Saturday, the Government observed the holiday on Friday.

At least nine states have designated it by law as an official paid state holiday.

All but one acted after Floyd, a black man, was assassinated last year in Minneapolis.

In Galveston, the birthplace of the holiday, celebrations included the dedication of a 5,000-square-foot mural titled "Absolute Equality."

94-year-old Opal Lee, who was by Biden's side when he signed the bill, returned to Fort Worth, Texas, to lead a 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) walk symbolizing the two-and-a-half years it took for the slaves in Texas discover that they had been freed.

Officials in Bristol, Rhode Island, unveiled a marker to highlight the role of the seaport in the slave trade.

The marker was placed in the Linden Place Museum, a mansion built by General George DeWolf, who was a slave trader.

The Rhode Island Slave History Medallion organization raises public awareness of the state's role in slavery as a national industry.

Food, live music, games and poetry readings were on the agenda at a park in Kansas City, Missouri, at an event hosted by Black Rainbow, a relatively new advocacy group for oppressed people.

[Biden consecrates 'Juneteenth' as ​​a national holiday "to remember the moral scourge and the terrible weight of slavery"]

"Given the past year of trauma, brutality and pain that the Black community endured on a daily basis, it is essential to our survival that we have moments of joy, love and celebration of our ability to recover," said co-founder Ryan Sorrell.

'Juneteenth': This black tribe that escaped the US and sought refuge in Mexico celebrates the end of slavery

June 18, 202101: 48

Not everything was celebration

In Philadelphia, police reported a triple shooting that killed two men and

injured a 3-year-old boy.

Around 2:30 pm on Saturday, two 23-year-old men were shot multiple times.

Both were taken to Presbyterian Hospital in a private vehicle and pronounced dead minutes later.

The boy was shot three times in the leg and was in stable condition

at the hospital.

City Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw noted that many began by celebrating the new federal holiday, but "again we find ourselves lamenting that one otherwise beautiful afternoon was marred with gun violence."

Also in Flint, Michigan, at a parade to mark the holiday, an attacker shot a police officer from his car, who shot him back, city police said in a press release.

But for the most part, the event was one of

celebration and tribute to the struggle of black people in the country. 

A girl waves an African-American flag during the Broadway Celebrates Juneteenth in Times Square on June 19, 2021 in New York City.Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images

Hundreds of people gathered for a free concert in New York's Times Square hosted by The Broadway League, the entertainment industry's trade group for Broadway musicals.

A parade was also held in Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb that is using

tax revenue from marijuana sales to offer housing subsidies to black residents for past discrimination

and the lingering effects of slavery. .

New York civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton delivered a tough message during a speech by his National Action Network, saying Senate Republicans who voted unanimously to make

Juneteenth

a federal holiday should also support the bills. Democrats who change voting laws and make it easier to punish dishonest police officers.

"The

Juneteenth

celebration

is not a party ... Now the way to deal with this holiday is to deal with where we are in race in 2021," Sharpton said.

With information from The Associated Press.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-06-24

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.