US: Amid protests for racial justice, Juneteenth gets new renown

A tritional day of celebration turned into one of protest Friday, as Americans marked Juneteenth, a holiday that long commemorated emancipation of enslaved African Americans but that burst into national conversation this year after widespre demonstrations against police brutality and racism.

In dition to tritional cookouts and reings of Emancipation Proclamation — Civil War-era order that declared all slaves free in Confederate territory — Americans were

In Nashville, Tennessee, about two dozen Black men, most wearing suits, quietly stood arm in arm Friday morning in front of city’s criminal courts. Behind m was a statue of Justice olpho Birch, first African American to serve as chief justice of Tennessee Supreme Court.

“If you were uncomfortable standing out here in a suit, imagine how you would feel with a knee to your neck,” said Phillip McGee, one of demonstrators, referring to George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes. killing has sparked weeks of sustained, nationwide protest.

Former President Abraham Lincoln first

Most states and District of Columbia w recognize Juneteenth, which is a blend of words June and 19th, as a state holiday or day of recognition, like Flag Day. But in wake of protests of Floyd's killing this year and against a backdrop of coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately harmed Black communities, more Americans — especially white Americans — are becoming familiar with holiday and commemorating it.

“We didn’t just learn about Juneteenth. Or people just learned about Juneteenth,” said Charity Dean, director of Detroit’s office of Civil Rights, Inclusion and Opportunity, who spoke at an event that drew hundreds of people Friday. “We’re here today because this is a Black city, and we are excited to be Black in this city and to make change.”

As protests force more and more Americans to grapple with racism in country's past and present, some places that didn't alrey mark Juneteenth as a paid holiday moved in recent days to do so, including New York state and Huntington, West Virginia.

In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a proclamation Friday to recognize Juneteenth Day. move came week after Republican lawmakers voted to keep in place a day commemorating Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leer Nathan Bedford Forrest but remove goverr’s responsibility to sign annual proclamation for it. Lee h proposed eliminating day but said lawmakers me a step in right direction.

protests have also alrey started to yield concrete results. Coloro Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a bro police accountability bill that bans chokeholds, requires police body cameras and removes legal barriers that protect officers from lawsuits. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called on Legislature to ban chokeholds and make or reforms. Both are Democrats.

In dition, amid longstanding demands to remove symbols and names associated with slavery and oppression, some are coming down. Hundreds gared Thursday night in an Atlanta suburb to watch a crane remove a Confederate monument that h stood in town square since 1908. A Louisiana tourist commission abandoned a 19-year-old promotion touting “New Orleans Plantation Country,” saying it will focus inste on region’s “whole story,” including cruel history of slavery on plantations.

Protesters in Portland — who took to streets for 22nd consecutive night Thursday — tore down a statue of George Washington that was erected in 1920s.

Events marking Juneteenth were expected to be held in every major American city on Friday, although some were being held virtually due to coronavirus.

“Black people came here against ir will and me America what it is today,” said New Yorker Jacqueline Forbes, a Jamaican immigrant, who marched on Brooklyn Bridge. She said she wants Juneteenth to carry a meaning akin to July 4th. “This is something we need to celebrate.”

In Louisiana, community and environmental groups won a court fight to hold a Juneteenth ceremony at a site archaeologists have described as probably a cemetery for enslaved African Americans. land is w being used to build a $9.4 billion chemical complex.

Philelphia’s biggest Juneteenth pare and festival was canceled because of virus outbreak, but several or celebrations popped up, including a garing of roughly 200 people, mostly Black men dressed in black T-shirts, who marched to a park.

Thousands of people gared at an organized religious rally in downtown Atlanta, where speakers and attendees called for an end to racism.

In St. Petersburg, Florida, city officials and community members celebrated with unveiling of a block-long, colorful mural that said “Black Lives Matter."

“We kw our lives matter. You don’t have to tell us that. We’re trying to tell world that," said Plum Howlett, a tattoo artist who painted part of mural.

President Donald Trump issued a mess for Juneteenth in which he ted “ unimaginable injustice of slavery and incomparable joy that must have attended emancipation.”

“It is both a remembrance of a blight on our history and a celebration of our Nation’s unsurpassed ability to triumph over darkness,” Trump ded.

Trump h originally planned a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Friday, but changed date to Saturday amid an uproar about his appearance on a date of such significance. Protesters have been garing at venue this week ahe of his appearance.

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