Americans took to the streets of cities around the country on Friday to demand racial justice on a day heavy with symbolism — the Juneteenth holiday…
Americans took to the streets of cities around the country on Friday to demand racial justice on a day heavy with symbolism — the Juneteenth holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Marches and rallies were being held in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Washington and other cities against a backdrop of weeks of protests fueled by the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police.
In a stark illustration of the tensions roiling the nation, President Donald Trump issued a solemn White House statement commemorating Juneteenth while at the same time threatening protesters on Twitter.
Juneteenth marks the day — June 19,1865 — when a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas and informed slaves that they were free — two months after the Civil War had ended and two-and-a-half years after president Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
People march to the Georgia State Capitol during a Juneteenth event in Atlanta
JOE RAEDLE, GETTY IMAGES/AFP
Juneteenth is generally celebrated with prayer services and family gatherings but it comes this year amid a national soul-searching over America’s legacy of racial injustice.
The United States has been gripped by daily „Black Lives Matter“ protests since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man killed by a white police officer in Minnesota.
In Chicago, thousands of demonstrators staged a peaceful march carrying huge black banners emblazoned with a picture of Floyd and his name.
Protestors in Atlanta, where a police officer was charged with murder this week for shooting a black man in the back, marched on the Georgia State Capitol.
Demonstrators take part in a Juneteenth march and rally in Washington
Olivier DOULIERY, AFP
Demonstrators took to the streets of New York and gathered in Washington outside the Lincoln Memorial and on a street near the White House which has been renamed „Black Lives Matter Plaza.“
A small demonstration was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ahead of a „Juneteenth Rally for Justice“ that is to feature a speech by civil rights activist Al Sharpton.
