Juneteenth, known as the oldest celebration of the end of slavery in the United States, has not yet become a US national holiday. While it has been celebrated by black Americans for more than 150 years, states, cities and universities throughout the country have begun to recognize dates that are often overlooked as dates that deserve greater recognition.

“The movement led by African-Americans turned this country into the core and will continue. So this is only the beginning to acknowledge this holiday, but we have a lot to do,” de Blasio said.

In Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a proclamation recognizing June 19 as “Juneteenth Day” in the nation’s capital, calling this year’s celebration “very important when Black Lives Matter demonstrations took place in all 50 American states and around the world to protest centuries. “century of police brutality and systemic racism against African Americans.”

The Governors of Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia, Kansas and Illinois were among the leaders of the state that issued an official proclamation that designated June 19 as “Juneteenth Freedom Day” or “Juneteenth Recognition Day.”

“We must do everything in our power to jointly deconstruct the generation of systemic racism in our country so that everyone in Minnesota – Black, Native, Brown, and White – can be safe and developed,” Walz said.

In his official proclamation, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said “Juneteenth’s history is not just Black’s history — it is American history,” adding that the day marked “an important moment in the American story that all of us must commemorate.”

Many universities are closed on Friday to honor Juneteenth

More and more colleges and universities are closed nationally on Friday in honor of Juneteenth.

“All teaching staff and staff will get full day off,” Harvard President Lawrence Bacow wrote in an email this week. “If you have to work that day to support an important operation, your efforts will be recognized with another payoff.”

The announcement came because several universities were also considering removing the statue, changing the name of the building and exchanging mascots as part of the country’s massive call for changes in racism and systemic injustice.

“As I have said many times before, Columbia University is not guilty of the racism structure that has befallen America,” Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger said in an email Wednesday. “There is still much to be done.”

“As we face the current challenges, I hope today will be a moment for new reflection and commitment to racial justice work,” wrote Georgetown President John J. DeGioia.

The march and peace gathering saw the call for activism against racial inequality

Speaking to reporters on Friday at a Juneteenth event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Reverend Al Sharpton said that people should use vacations to celebrate and commemorate the independence of enslaved American blacks.

“This reminds us that it took almost three years after the signing of the proclamation of emancipation for people in Texas to know that slavery was over. And even after that we passed 100 years Jim Crow. And when after that we couldn’t.” “I choose,” Sharpton said. “And now we are in an era where we are treated differently, even in a pandemic of health inequalities, differences in criminal justice and policing.”

In Chicago, Illinois Governor Bill Pritzker and US Sens Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth joined hundreds of people marching through the downtown district of the city, flanked by signs bearing the photographs of George Floyd.

In Washington, D.C., residents gathered near the intersection of 14th Street and U Street for musical performances, speeches, jump rope contests and others. The song can be heard calling for a series of reforms including paying equity, equal access to food and reallocating police funds, said Brian Todd of CNN, who reported from the scene.

Demonstrators in Los Angeles can be heard speaking not only about the historical importance of Juneteenth, but also about the fact that the date marks when slaves in Texas learned that they were free in 1865, even though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed two and a half years earlier. .

Speakers at the rally could be heard “talking about taking control of their community, owning their community, and also … about changing relations between police and the environment,” CNN reported Stephanie Elam.