"You can be free, but not live in the realization of that freedom..."
~Reverend Al Sharpton
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR MARCIA L. FUDGE'S STATEMENT ON JUNETEENTH
06/19/14
WASHINGTON, DC
Today, Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chair Marcia L. Fudge released the following statement on the 149th observance of Juneteenth:
“Today, we remember the day enslaved people in America learned they were free. More than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved individuals in Galveston, Texas received news that the Civil War was over and that by law, they were no longer considered chattel. Though jubilant celebrations followed this announcement of hard won liberation, people of African descent would endure more than a century of struggle in the fight for complete freedom in America. Many of these battles for civil and human rights and equal protection under the law continue today.
“As we celebrate Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day and Emancipation Day, we reflect on the legacy of those who endured and fought to end slavery in America. And as we celebrate the 50th anniversaries of Freedom Summer and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 this year, we recognize that their courage laid the foundation upon which the Civil Rights Movement in America was built.
“In honor of today’s Juneteenth celebrations happening across the country, the Congressional Black Caucus reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that injustice and inequity have no place in our society. We also firmly stand with all who continue working daily to advance freedom and equality for individuals around the world.”
"Here in this photo, survivors of slavery soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900." - Isabel Wilkerson
For more about Juneteenth, read
Black Kos, Tuesday's Chile: Happy Juneteenth! By Denise Oliver Velez
A POWERFUL LETTER FROM MY GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, AN AMERICAN SLAVE WHO ESCAPED TO FREEDOM
By Ethnomusicologist and Baruch College-CUNY professor Kyra Gaunt, Ph.D,. a 2009 TED Fellow.
We were property, not human beings whose culture and nationality was stripped with every stroke of a slavemaster’s whip. So I was struck to my core with tears when I recently read a copy of a letter written by my great-great-grandfather in 1855. He’d recently escaped slavery in Portsmouth, Virginia, on the Underground Railroad. When he reached Philadelphia, he sent this note to a friend, entreating him to help his (first) wife and children, who were in jail — left behind as a casualty of his emancipation.
Fifty years ago, three civil rights activists were murdered because they believed in an America where all can vote.
On June 25, 2013, the US Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act by removing Section 4 which designates that changes to voting laws in certain parts of the country must be cleared by the federal court. Now, new barriers to voting have made it more difficult for the elderly, poor and people of color.
Please call on congress to reinstate our voting protections by passing the
Voting Rights Amendment Act.
On June 21, 1964, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner — an African-American Christian and two white Jews — were working to register African-Americans to vote in Mississippi as part of Freedom Summer ‘64 when they were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. Today, we carry on their fight.
Just imagine: thousands of yahrzeit (memorial) candles representing voices of American Jews and our allies from across the country sharing our bold message. It will take all of us, acting together, to create a huge media moment. This could be the moment that convinces Congress they can’t stall justice.
Please sign the petition
here.
Aji posted a request for help on Facebook:
Okay, peeps - I need y'all to step up and help get rid of this. Please report the following site. The redface minstrelsy should be sufficient, but it wouldn't; the dominant culture doesn't give two shits about that sort of appropriation, and FB is most definitely no exception. However, the genocidal content is another matter entirely. These are self-described "white natives" and "white tribes" who want to exterminate all of our peoples (and all other POC) via intermarriage, for the express purpose of making "white natives for Jesus," as they so vomit-inducingly put it. Time to quit letting this genocidal shit slide, so please join me in reporting. The site in question is here, but I'm not going to include the imagery
If you are on Facebook, go to the link
Native American Pride. Look for the
+Follow, Message and …
at the bottom of their cover photo and click on the 3 dots. From there, click Report Page and follow the prompts. Make sure you click in the box, 'Report to Facebook,' to complete the report. They will send you a notification that states they have reviewed the report and that this page doesn't violate their community standards. #StrengthInNumbers
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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