On Saturday, June 19, the United States marks Juneteenth, known as “Freedom Day” in Black communities across the country. In 1862, former President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which had formally released over 3.5 million enslaved Black people in the Confederacy from the grip of slavery. Close to three years later, on June 19, 1865, Union Army General Gordon Granger proclaimed in Galveston, Texas, that all enslaved Black people would now be free. After Granger issued the proclamation in Galveston, formerly enslaved people began celebrating June 19 as Juneteenth, Freedom Day. U.S. President Joe Biden has signed legislation establishing Juneteenth as a U.S. federal holiday.

Sojourner Truth Radio: June 18, 2021 – National & International Roundtable

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg and Dr. Gerald Horne.

Juneteenth is now a national holiday. A step forward, many say. But is it also an opportunity for Republicans who voted for it to hide their ongoing attempts to chip away at the hard-fought rights of Black people. What about the attempts to suppress and in some cases criminalize the teaching of Black and Brown history in schools and universities across the United States?

Battles continue in Washington, D.C. around the right to vote. The For the People Act is in some trouble, as well as the George Floyd police reform bill. What happened after so-named Emancipation, including the First Reconstruction and its destruction? Is a Third Reconstruction needed?

The Supreme Court has made some controversial rulings and the much-anticipated Putin-Biden summit is over. Our panelists give their thoughts on what came out of it, as well as what came out of the G7 meetings and their wider implications.

Also, the latest on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as well as recent elections in Chile and Peru.