no consequences because they were race traitors. white men that have the audacity to protest police shot jacob blake a black man seven times in his back. straight white men have dominion over everything, especially black bodies and when you stand against that, you can have the same violence from trayvon martin, sandra bland, freddie gray, walter scott. the white house ruling isn t so much a warning to black america. black folks have known the impact since we were first told we were technically freeish. it s a warning to every white suburban with a black lives matter poster in their window and chanting about george floyd in the local walmart and every white dad from ohio to lubbock texas who dares have a blm sticker on their car. those people now know that they too can be shot by a white
official day it s happening, june 19, 1865. they were told they were emancipated two years after the emancipation proclamation. this is the celebration. earlier we were at black lives matter plaza. iconic locations for civil rights and social justice. many people i talk to say this is a celebration. we saw t-shirts saying freeish meaning so much more work to do when it comes to voting rights, housing rights, economic parity and fighting against police brutality. this day an acknowledgment of black achievement and black resi resilience. take a listen. we re coming together and putting caution on display. we re getting our community more politically engaged and motivated to participation.
well, juneteenth celebrations have a special meaning in washington. suzanne malveaux is there. reporter: it s a juneteenth celebration here, in the nation s capital. an official-national holiday. this is the holiday, of course. and the official day that it is happening, june 19th, 1865. that is when the union troops told those in galveston, texas, they were emancipated, in fact, two years after the emancipation proclamation. this is the festivities you see at 14th and u street. earlier, we were at black lives matter plaza. really, iconic locations for civil rights and for social justice. many of the people, who i talk to, say this is a celebration. but we, also, saw t-shirts that said freeish. meaning, there is so-much more work to do be done when it comes to voting rights, housing rights, economic disparity, and of course, fighting against police brutality.
i think, first of all, i want to say that i think it s important that we say it s okay for people to be conflicted about juneteenth because we should celebrate and we should hold up our ancestors that gave their lives for this country, who came here and were considered property and chattel and overcome and resisted. the name, we have to know that freedom has not come, that we are freeish, and, in fact, the conflict and the hypocrisy of giving us the trimmings of freedom without the meat is what we are getting right now. and instead, what we would say is, yes, let s celebrate, but, number one two, let s get the system right. let s change it so that all americans can participate in our democracy. freeish, that is incredibly powerful. latocha, seems to me one of the challenges here is that it s very easy to frame this up as a partisan issue, right? you have republicans who are attacking the right to vote at the state level who are
we have to celebrate life, and i wanted to bring them to this area so they are really going to understand what is happening. reporter: what does that mean when the struggle continues and freeish, and what are those areas? equality, as far as the job force, as far as just overall when it comes to being black and having equality with other people. yeah, i can t say it enough. we are not fully there. and that is going to be an everyday struggle, but it is okay, because we are here for the long run, and we are ready to go for it. s reporter: so, jim, that is the message today because it is free-ish, a job that is beginning and a job not finished, but it is starting the here. they talk about voting rights, and economic parity, and all of the things that are really important in terms of real equality and real freedom in the society, and as i mentioned, jim, and as you know that the