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To
Freedom
On June 19,
1865—a full two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation
Proclamation—the end of chattel slavery became a reality for the
enslaved people of Texas.
For the first time this year,
Juneteenth is an official federal
holiday—a celebration of Black
resilience and a recognition of the long, still-incomplete journey to
freedom.
“For too long, we have been sold a
rosy version of America’s racial history. Juneteenth is a reminder
that the story from our grade-school history books is not the whole
story,” write
Roosevelt’s Mariama Badjie and Kyle
Strickland.
Juneteenth is a reminder that
racial justice requires more than symbolic gestures alone.
“This moment demands that we tell
the whole truth, including the brutal history of white supremacy and
state-sanctioned violence against Black, brown, and Indigenous
communities. It demands that we take action.”
Read
“Juneteenth: Freedom, Liberation, and
Reckoning.”
Manage the Boom,
Don’t
Fight It
“Inflation can be a genuine problem—if
not now, then perhaps soon. But it’s a challenge that can be managed,
not a terrifying monster to be avoided at all costs,” Roosevelt’s Mike
Konczal and J.W. Mason write in a New York Times
guest essay Ezra Klein called “an
extremely wise, clear
piece.”
“What we should be scared of is missing our greatest
opportunity in a generation: to use both low-cost, debt-financed
federal investments in our infrastructure and revenues from taxes on
the wealthy to deal with our deepest and longstanding
problems—economic stagnation, entrenched inequality, and climate
change. The coming years could be remembered as the birth of a
dynamic, more egalitarian US economy. We just have to avoid getting
spooked by the bumps along the way.” Read
on.
 10 Ideas for
Student-Powered
Change
This week, the Roosevelt Network
released its 13th annual 10 Ideas
student policy journal, which features the research and policy
proposals of students across the country. As Roosevelt
Network National Director Katie Kirchner writes in the journal’s
opening letter, “At its core, policy is a mechanism for realizing the
dreams we have for our communities. The ideas in this journal dream of
safety, of justice, of accountability. They respond to the last 15
months and push us beyond our current reality toward something
better.”
Among this year’s ideas: improving voter access for
historically underrepresented communities in Massachusetts and
implementing restorative justice practices in in-school suspension
frameworks in Missouri. Read
more.
 Mourning Ambassador William vanden
Heuvel
Roosevelt was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Ambassador
William vanden Heuvel, our board chair emeritus, who passed away on
June 15 at the age of 91.
“Our leader—amazing, inspiring, and
effective—has passed, and we will miss him. New York will miss him! He
leaves a legacy of a purpose-driven life, and I am grateful for his
devotion to my grandfather and the ideals he fought for,” said Anna
Eleanor Roosevelt, Roosevelt Institute board chair.
Learn more about his life and
legacy.
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