Today, Jun. 19, as the country celebrates Juneteenth, the oldest nationally-celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that Juneteenth would become an official City and school holiday.

 

The mayor also announced additional steps the City is taking to address disparities and structural racism that have been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the creation of a new commission to understand the effects of structural and institutional racism in New York City.

 

The Racial Justice and Reconciliation Commission (RRC) will be established to promote social learning, collective introspection, and policy action. In addition, the Commission will create a historical record of racial discrimination, with an emphasis on housing, criminal justice, environmental racism and public health.

 

“New York City is the safest big city in America with crime at all-time lows, yet communities of color bear the brunt of crime and incarceration,” said de Blasio. “Racism has been a pervasive and consequential force throughout the City’s history and we cannot go back to the status quo. We must use the past to inform and inspire the present, to promote the dignity and well-being of all New Yorkers, and their full inclusion in the life of our City.”

 

First Lady Chirlane McCray also provided a statement. “Communities of color experience the painful cost of being black or brown every day, and confronting this legacy of systemic racism requires that we confront history,” she said. “Reconciliation is not an alternative to justice, but it is necessary to build trust and create a stronger, fairer City for generations to come.”

 

The mayor’s statement described how racial injustices are manifested in a myriad of ways, from notorious episodes of racial violence to less visible policies and practices that reinforce racial segregation and impact the health and economic opportunity of New Yorkers.

 

The aim of the RRC will be to examine how these forces shaped the physical and social geography of the city and provide a platform for New Yorkers to share their personal experiences and to participate in policy deliberations. The City will work with the Commission to identify and examine focus areas where discrimination has manifested, including housing, criminal justice, environmental justice, education and place-based disparities.

 

No major U.S. city or state has undergone a comprehensive truth and reconciliation process. New York City will model this process after universities and other nations, such as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

 

Following the end of apartheid, the TRC format has been adopted in many places as a forum to reconcile historic injustice based on race or ethnicity, with the need for perpetrators and victims to live together. It is based on the theory of restorative justice, focusing on rehabilitation through reconciliation with victims, and the community at large.

 

In an effort to teach children about Juneteenth, the Department of Education (DOE) has also shared lessons, discussion guides, readings, and other age-appropriate instructional materials with educators. The DOE is encouraging teachers to use them today, but also in coming days to help students understand the American history of enslaving Africans, race, and racism in our culture.

 

Black Lives Matter Murals

The Mayor also announced locations for street murals in each of the five boroughs to commemorate the Black Lives Matter movement. The street murals will be created at the following locations, and will be completed in the next few weeks:

 

 

Queens: 153rd Street between Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue

Bronx: Morris Avenue between 161st Street and 162nd Street

Brooklyn: Joralemon Street between Adams Street and Court Street

Manhattan: Centre Street between Worth Street and Reade Street

Staten Island: Richmond Terrace between Hamilton Avenue and Ferry Terminal Viaduct

 

Bronx charter public schools also released a public statement in commemoration of the holiday. The statement read that charter public school leaders are working to address inequality and systemic racism today and every day as they prepare the future leaders of the Bronx academically. It added that schools continue to deliver change for their communities, fight for fairness across the City, and stand up against inequality wherever and whenever it exists.

 

Lester Long is Executive Director at Classical Charter Schools. “This Juneteenth, we not only recognize its significance for the Black community, but also reflect on the work that remains in ensuring equality for millions in this country,” he said.

 

“At Classical, we’ve committed ourselves to offering a safe, equitable, and diverse environment as we mold our students to become upstanding leaders in their communities. Systemic racism and inequality have plagued this nation for centuries, and for many of our students and families in communities of color, this is a daily reality. This day, and every day, we must continue to stand with them in not only improving our efforts in addressing racial equality, but providing the quality education that every single child deserves.

 

Jai Nanda is Founder and Executive Director at Urban Dove. “Today we celebrate Juneteenth and the abolition of slavery,” she said. “What we have known for far too long however, and what is thankfully now a front-page issue, is that racial equality is still far off.  Urban Dove believes educating and empowering young men and women of color will play a key role in bringing us closer to the goal of an equitable and just society for all. We are committed to doing this work each day and we draw strength and inspiration from our students, families, staff and those who sacrifice and work to secure full equality for all.”

 

Meanwhile, Miriam Raccah, Executive Director of Bronx Charter School for the Arts said, “As we celebrate Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the day the news of the abolition of slavery finally reached all corners of the country, we recommit ourselves to the work that remains undone in the fight for equality”. She added, “Together, Bronx charter schools will continue to drive change in our communities and lift up the students, families and neighbors around us,” s“Reflecting on recent events, it is imperative that we fight to fully eradicate racism and raise our voices to demand an equitable future for all”.

 

Emily Kim is founder and CEO of Zeta Charter Schools. “This moment in history has magnified how every organization, both in classrooms and beyond, must weave equity into everything we do when we teach our students, when we go about our work, and when we interact with and serve our students, families, and each other,” Kim said.

 

“Our hope is borne from a recognition that this Juneteenth marks the beginning of a new time. Together, we have stood up and said, ‘No more!’ This is a long time coming, and now that it’s here, we embrace the responsibility to keep it alive every day, not just Juneteenth.”

 

Meanwhile, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has called for Juneteenth to be made a federal holiday, and announced that the City Council is formally observing Juneteenth as a holiday today.

 

“Juneteenth is celebrated as the true end to slavery in this country, though it came more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. June 19th signifies the ongoing fight for real equality for Black people in our country, which is always urgent, especially right now,” Johnson said.

 

He added, “Observing Juneteenth reinforces our collective commitment to the fight for racial justice. It’s a day that reminds us of the importance and seriousness of the work that’s been done towards securing civil rights for all Americans, and all that we have yet to do. The Council will observe today as a holiday. Senator Kamala Harris announced last night that she will introduce a bill declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday, and I urge Congress to act quickly to make this happen. Let’s stand together and do the work, as a city and as a country.”

 

According to juneteenth.com, Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.  Dating back to 1865, it was on Jun. 19 that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.

 

This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had become official Jan. 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence, and overcome the resistance.

 

Later attempts to explain the two-and-a-half year delay in receipt of the news have yielded several versions that have been handed down through the years. Often told is the story of a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news of freedom. Another is that the news was deliberately withheld by the enslavers to maintain the labor force on the plantations.

 

And still another is that federal troops actually waited for the slave owners to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. All of which, or none of these versions could be true. Certainly, for some, President Lincoln’s authority over the rebellious states was in question.  Whatever the reasons, conditions in Texas remained status quo well beyond what was statutory.