America commemorates end of slavery with marches, music and a new national holiday

With marches and music, the United States commemorates this Saturday the “June”, which recalls the end of slavery and which has just acquired the status of a national holiday.

The marches have been taking place for decades in some American cities, such as Washington and Atlanta, but this year they will have un particular flavor due to the “June” public holiday declaration, a word game with the month of june and the pronunciation of 19 in english.

Last Thursday, the American president, Joe Biden, signed a law passed by Congress this week that makes “June” a public holiday, which supposes a recognition of the whole nation to the pain that the black community dragged by slavery.

The brand new vacation To mark the anniversary of the end of slavery, it comes a year after the death of African-American George Floyd, whose May 2020 assassination at the hands of a white policeman in Minneapolis sparked a movement within United States and Abroad Against Racism. and police brutality.

This mobilization contributed, among other things, to raise the profile of “June”, which many Americans, including blacks, were unaware of two years ago.

The date commemorates On June 19, 1865, a Union general informed thousands of Texas slaves that they had been freed two years earlier by order of then President Abraham Lincoln.

Until there, the slaves did not know they were free because the slavers in Texas refused to recognize the defeat of the Confederacy during the Civil War and wanted to continue exploiting African Americans.

This Saturday, several cities will pay tribute to the black community with concerts, marches, art exhibitions and barbecues, and It is also the first national event to take place without health restrictions, with most measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic having been lifted in recent weeks.

The capital of The United States, known as the “city of chocolate” for its predominantly African-American population, plans to hold a march starting at 2:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. GMT).

This complaint will start on the place of “Black Lives Matter”, a pedestrian section of the street that leads to the White House and which has been renamed after the “Black Lives Matter” movement in 2020 after protests against the death of African-American George Floyd, suffocated by a white policeman.

“It took a long time to arrive”Cheryl Green, 68, said during the unveiling of a statue of George Floyd in Brooklyn.

“It’s good that people recognize what happened (…) We should never forget and it should never happen again “said this African-American who lives in the New York neighborhood. “The changes are happening slowly, but surely.”

For its part, New York City will be filled with cultural events with a gospel music performance by director-songwriter and actor Troy Anthony at “The Shed” Art Center in Manhattan., among others.

There will also be waffles and chicken at a Queens Quarter festival, where the local African-American lawmaker Alicia hyndman She also organized yoga and dance classes as well as a beauty bazaar.

During this time there will be more steps in Chicago, whose financial district will be the scene of the “March for us” demonstration (Mars for us), and on Atlanta, famous for being the place where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was born and began his career (1929-1968).

In Atlanta, the claims include a march to start at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached.

With information from EFE and AFP

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