Displaying items by tag: juneteenth

A ribbon commemorating Juneteenth drapes a historic marker in one of Knoxville’s multiple cemeteries where enslaved people are buried.  Angela Dennis

East Tennesseans find ways to celebrate Juneteenth amid crackdowns on DEI

This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.

KNOXVILLE — As cities across Tennessee prepared for Juneteenth celebrations with banners unfurling, vendors setting up and leaders finalizing programs honoring Black liberation, a deeper question lingers: What does it mean to celebrate freedom in a state restricting how that freedom’s history is taught?

In Tennessee, state lawmakers have gutted DEI programs, banned books by Black authors and restricted how teachers can talk about race and history in the classroom. 

This year’s celebrations have also come with cutbacks. Across the country, Juneteenth events have been scaled back due to shrinking DEI funding, canceled federal grants and retreat from corporate support for racial justice initiatives. 

For many Black educators, organizers and students, the policies feel like a modern day echo of the delayed freedom Juneteenth was created to mark. It represents a continued struggle for true freedom and liberation.

ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge, LA refinery, Feb. 11, 2016. Later that day, shortly before midnight, a massive fire broke out, bathing the night sky in an orange glow visible for miles around.   Jim Brown/Flickr 

Generations of Black Americans have faced racism, redlining and environmental injustices, such as breathing 40 percent dirtier air and being twice as likely as white Americans to be hospitalized or die from climate-related health problems.

AMERICA TODAY — This week, NPR’s Living on Earth podcast and illustrated transcript elucidates how relevant the broader meaning and historic context of Juneteenth is for all American citizens and residents.

Host Steve Curwood discusses with Heather McTeer Toney her new book, ‘Before the Streetlights Come On: Black America’s Urgent Call for Climate Solution.’

McTeer served as the Southeast Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration and is now Executive Director of Beyond Petrochemicals. She argues that the quest for racial justice must include addressing the climate emergency and that the insights of people who experienced the negative health and socio-economic impacts of the petrochemical industry must be tapped to develop solutions that will work on the ground.