Featured
Juneteenth, as much as the Fourth of July, is America’s true birthday. By Peniel E. Joseph / CNN
Juneteenth 2022, which the nation officially celebrates Monday, is unfolding against extraordinary twin backdrops: the ongoing hearings of the House select committee on January 6 and the continuing legislative efforts to halt or disrupt the teaching of the very history that Juneteenth – a day that marks the end of racial slavery in the United States – commemorates.
As a federal holiday, Juneteenth now offers a window for Americans into understanding how the political is also personal. The Black folk who bled for democracy – during and after the Civil War, across generations of racial injustice during a century of Jim Crow racial segregation, fighting heroically in World Wars, protesting on domestic battlefields for civil rights – are as crucial to our national story as the heroes of the American Revolution. Their legacies surround us, opening a deeper faith in America’s democratic values and history than the forces that would have us bury the past in order to control the future. Read more
Related: What does Juneteenth really mean? By Sean Collins / Vox
Political / Social
Republicans maintain racism by fighting critical race theory. By Ibram X. Kendi / USA Today
Editor’s note: In an excerpt from Ibram X. Kendi‘s latest book published this week, “How to Raise an Antiracist,” Kendi argues in the afterword exclusive to USA TODAY that the maintenance of racism requires a perpetual undermining of public education – at the detriment of American children.
The maintenance of racism has required the public’s ignorance of racism. The public’s ignorance of racism requires a perpetual undermining of public education. Enslavers resisted the establishment of free public schools for poor white southerners and made it illegal to teach enslaved Black people to read and write prior to emancipation. After the Civil War, white congressmen declined to pass a bill first proposed in 1881 to provide equal funding to (segregated) Black and white public schools. Read more
Buffalo shooting suspect: Motive was to prevent ‘eliminating the white race.’ By AP and NPR
Attorney General Merrick Garland. visits the Tops Friendly Market grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, the site of a May mass shooting in which 10 Black people were killed.
The white man who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket made his first appearance in federal court on hate crime charges Thursday, and the judge urged prosecutors to quickly decide whether to pursue the death penalty given the “substantial” cost of those cases. Read more
Related: White nationalists are getting bolder. Enforcement must, too. By the Editorial Board / Wash Post
The End Of Roe v. Wade Would Be A Disaster For Black Mothers. By Nathalie Baptiste / HuffPost
When a draft decision that would fully overturn Roe v. Wade and end abortion access for millions of women leaked in early May, Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the decision, had a curious and inflammatory aside. He suggested that Black people who get abortions are committing genocide against their own race. In the draft, Alito wrote that some abortion advocates are “motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population” and that this theory is correct because the majority of people who have had an abortion are Black. But he did not mention pregnancy-related deaths among those very same people. Read more
Related: Uterine Cancer Is on the Rise, Especially Among Black Women.
Black lawmakers ‘outraged’ over Va. health commissioner demand action. By Jenna Portnoy and Gregory S. Schneider / Wash Post
Black state lawmakers on Thursday demanded accountability from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin after his health commissioner, Colin Greene, dismissed the impact of structural racism on negative health outcomes for mothers of color and their babies, demoralizing a staff committed to protecting them. Read more
What happened when a Black Tennessee town faced a state takeover. By Bellamy / NBC News
Mason, Tennessee, nearly lost the ability to govern itself after a Ford plant was announced nearby. But the small Black town of 1,600 pushed back.
When Mason, Tennessee, faced losing its ability to govern its own finances in a fight with white state officials earlier this year, doing so brought a spotlight to the majority Black community of fewer than 1,600 people for a situation that town advocates called discriminatory. The decision, forced on the town by Jason Mumpower, the state’s comptroller, came soon after the announcement that the Ford plant would be built nearby, slated to open in 2025. The project is expected to bring $1.8 billion to the state and create 18,000 jobs. Mason, the town closest to the plant with a sewer and wastewater system that the plant would use, will be one of its biggest beneficiaries financially. Read more
Historically Black colleges should no longer have to do more with less. By Tony Allen and Glenda Glover / Wash Post
Despite a remarkable return on investment, the disparity in financial support for HBCUs and for predominantly White institutions of higher education (PWIs) continues to widen.
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Why Juneteenth Should Matter to the Church. By Ed Gilbrith / Christian Science Webinar
Exploring the historical, cultural, and theological significance of Juneteenth.
On June 15, Our Daily Bread’s Rasool Berry, CT’s Russell Moore, and other Christian thought leaders assembled for a virtual roundtable on the enduring significance of Juneteenth and how this pivotal event in American history points to the biblical visions of freedom, restoration, and hope. Watch their thoughtful discussion above. Watch here
Related: Juneteenth will play a special role in this Sunday’s church services. By Tekella Foster / NPR
Why White Evangelicals Should Claim John Brown. By Louis A. Decaro Jr. / Christianity Today
We’ve forgotten what Charles Spurgeon knew: He was radical because of the Bible and his soul is marching on.
John Brown is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the United States. For some he’s a moral hero. For others, a monster. The white abolitionist who turned to violence in an attempt to end chattel slavery in America has become a kind of bellwether for views on racial justice. One thing that has often been lost in the long tussle over the meaning of Brown, however, is his deeply evangelical faith. Read more
A sacrament of love: Black Catholic reflections on the life and legacy of bell hooks. By LaRyssa D. Herrington / NCR
One of our nation’s leading public intellectuals, Black feminist author and social activist bell hooks has inspired many generations of academics and non-academics alike, due not only to her commitment of creating and producing pedagogy rooted in anti-racist and anti-patriarchal practices, but her down-to-earth “anyone-can-do-it-too” approach to the work of social justice. Hooks died in 2021 at the age of 69, an immense loss for both the African American community and those who knew her personally and were deeply impacted by her life’s work. Read more
How evangelical Christians are sizing up the 2024 GOP race for president. By Natalie Allison and Meridith McGraw / Politico
The group’s annual national conference this week at the Opryland resort in Nashville is, officially, midterm election-themed. But the gathering was also a soft launch for some of the candidates evangelical voters may consider during the 2024 primaries — with or without Trump running. For now, Reed sees it as the evangelical group’s role to remain neutral during the primary, like in 2012 and 2016, and offer potential 2024 candidates an opportunity to make connections with the Christian voters who will play an outsized role in deciding the nominee. Read more
‘You wear out’: How chronic illness grounds and inspires William Barber’s activism. By Jack Jenkins / RNS
Earlier this year, Barber contacted Religion News Service to open up about his health struggles in detail for the first time.
After surviving an unsettling bout of COVID-19 in January, Barber reached out to Religion News Service, saying he wanted to talk about his lifelong struggle with disease. But the conversations that followed turned out to be as much about Barber’s faith, his understanding of community and his focus on his cause. His activism, he said, is accompanied by a theology that is deeply informed by the realities of disability and chronic disease, particularly for the poor. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Debunking Historical Myths with My High School Students. By Katie Wills Evans / The Progressive
I told my class to write about misconceptions in U.S. history—what they came up with gets to the heart of the “Critical Race Theory” panic.
As a high school humanities teacher, my job is to teach history to young adults. I don’t tell my students what to think about history; I simply give them the facts and ask them to draw their own conclusions. Earlier this year, for example, I taught a U.S. history class for high school juniors where, throughout the course, the students choose essay topics related to the era we were covering that week. What they came up with speaks to the omnipresence of race and racism in U.S. history and how it has been erased in standard textbook accounts of how we came to be where we are today. Read more
Boston Apologizes For Slavery In City’s Past. By Ben Bianchet / HuffPost
The city was a destination for ships traveling to the Americas in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Boston is apologizing for its role in allowing slavery in its city. calling it a move to “acknowledge the harm” it has done. Boston City Council members, in a resolution on Wednesday, voted unanimously to pass the acknowledgement, condemnation and apology for the city’s engagement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and its impact on Black people centuries later, the Boston Herald reported. Read more
Black Genealogy After Alex Haley’s Roots. By Menika Dirkson / AAIHS
“A lot has been stolen from Black Americans. A lot has been hidden from Black Americans. And so there is always a longing to know who you are and where you come from.” -Kathleen Henderson, College Administrator
In August 1976, Vanguard Press published American journalist Alex Haley’s 704-page novel, Roots: The Saga of An American Family, which detailed his genealogy from a West African slave born free in 1750 to his fourth great-grandson (Haley). Haley’s book and later television miniseries based on his work fascinated Americans nationwide. After watching the series, Americans, Black and white, were inspired to visit libraries and archival centers to do their own genealogies. Black Americans were infatuated with Haley’s work. Read more
Freedom riders’ 1947 convictions vacated in North Carolina. By Tom Foreman Jr / ABC News
Legendary civil rights leader Bayard Rustin and three other men had their convictions vacated posthumously
Legendary civil rights leader Bayard Rustin and three other men who were sentenced to work on a chain gang in North Carolina after they launched the first of the “freedom rides” to challenge Jim Crow laws had their convictions posthumously vacated Friday, more than seven decades later. “We failed these men,” said Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour, who presided over the special session and at one point paused to gather himself after becoming emotional. “We failed their cause and we failed to deliver justice in our community,” Baddour said. “And for that, I apologize. So we’re doing this today to right a wrong, in public, and on the record.” Read more
Meet Opal Lee, the ‘grandmother of the movement’ to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Katie Kindelan /GMA
When President Joe Bidensigned a bill last year making Juneteenth a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, one woman captured well-deserved attention. Opal Lee, 94, was described by Biden as the “grandmother of the movement” to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. In 2016, at 89 years old, Lee, a former teacher and lifelong activist, walked from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, to the nation’s capital in an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday. Read more
How Vincent Chin is being remembered, 40 years after his death. By
As cities nationwide commemorate the death of Vincent Chin, civil rights advocates say this anniversary is particularly resonant in light of increasing hate and violence aimed at Asian Americans. Sunday marks 40 years since the death of Chin, a Chinese American man who was killed in Detroit by two white autoworkers who blamed him for layoffs in the industry. Read more
Sen. Raphael Warnock on his new memoir ‘A Way Out of No Way’ and what gives him hope. By Mary Louise Kelly, Elena Burnett and Justine Kenin / NPR
NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Sen. Raphael Warnock about his memoir A Way Out of No Way and how he proved himself wrong by winning a Georgia Senate seat as a Black Democrat. Senator Raphael Warnock is a Democrat from Georgia up for reelection this year. He’ll face Republican Herschel Walker, a former football star. Warnock is also the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the church that Martin Luther King Jr. called home. And now he’s out with a memoir titled “A Way Out Of No Way.” Listen here
Smithsonian unveils first Latino history exhibit, new gallery. By
The Smithsonian’s first gallery dedicated to Latino history and culture is opening its doors to the public this weekend at the National Museum of American History. Billed as a precursor to a national Latino museum to be incorporated to the Smithsonian Institution, the Molina Family Latino Gallery will open on June 18 in the nation’s capital with the exhibition, “¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States.” The Molina Gallery, with a variety of rotating exhibits and interactive displays, is set up over 4,500 square feet on the first floor, right off the main entrance of the museum. Read more
Sports
Fifty years later, Curt Flood’s sacrifice should still be celebrated. By William C. Rhoden / Anscape
Supreme Court’s rejection of Flood’s challenge to MLB’s reserve clause on June 19, 1972, coincides with the Juneteenth observance
Flood’s loss at the Supreme Court level in 1972 was a stinging rebuke to a courageous player who dared to attack a deeply entrenched system of sports bondage. Under the reserve clause, players were tied to their teams until the clubs decided otherwise. Baseball players eventually won their freedom. In 1975, an arbitrator ruled that two white pitchers, Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally, could negotiate with any team as free agents. While Messersmith and McNally were hailed, the hero of free agency was Flood. Read more
‘After Jackie’ documentary honors the second wave of Black baseball players. By A. Martinez and Phil Harrell / NPR
St. Louis Cardinals players Curt Flood, Bill White and Bob Gibson, pictured in 1966, 1962 and 1967, respectively. They are the focus of a new History Channel documentary about the Black baseball players who followed Jackie Robinson into the major league.
It’s often said that Jackie Robinson opened the door for Black baseball players to enter the majors. But that was just the FIRST door. Turns out, a lot of doors stood between Black players and equality. After Jackie, a new documentary on the History Channel, focuses on three more legends that followed, all with the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals of the 1960’s: Bill White, Bob Gibson and Curt Flood. Read more
Jeremy Lin launching basketball school to inspire Asian diaspora youth. By Kimmy Yam / NBC News
Lin, who made history as the first player of Taiwanese descent in the NBA, said he hopes the program can help more children in the Asian diaspora to be proud of their identities.
Former NBA point guard Jeremy Lin is launching a basketball school with the aim of motivating the next generation of young ballers of Asian descent. Lin returned to the Toronto area — home of the Raptors, with whom he won the 2019 NBA championship — to make the announcement at a local basketball clinic this past weekend. Lin, who partnered with the Canadian Chinese Youth Athletic Association, will be opening several programs in Toronto later this year. The school will serve children ages 3 to 16, according to the Toronto Star. Read more
NFL will argue for ‘significant’ suspension of Deshaun Watson. By Mark Maske / Wash Post
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