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John,
Today is Juneteenth, commemorating and celebrating 156 years since the last remaining enslaved Americans were freed in southern Texas, two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House two months earlier in Virginia, but slavery had remained relatively unaffected in Texas—until U.S. General Gordon Granger stood on Texas soil and read General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”1
As we celebrate the ending of slavery in America, we look ahead to our ongoing fight for racial justice and how important it is for each of us to do our part.
This week, Congress voted overwhelmingly (415-14 in the House; and unanimously in the Senate) to pass a law to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. That's symbolic progress, but far from enough to make up for generations of discrimination and chronic racial inequality.2 This new federal holiday will serve as a potent reminder that we cannot run from our past and that current and future generations must continue the struggle for racial justice.
That means creating a powerful coalition to address systemic racism in our communities, workplaces, schools, courts, tax code, housing and more.
Thank you for all you do to fight for a country that lifts up all people, and fights to reverse chronic racial inequities that have existed for hundreds of years in our country and continue today.
Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs
1 https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth
2 https://www.npr.org/2021/06/16/1007340587/house-passes-a-bill-to-commemorate-juneteenth-as-a-federal-holiday
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