PHOENIX -- Juneteenth National Independence Day is now an official holiday, after President Joe Biden signed a bill Thursday, approved by both the US Senate and House of Representatives.

Also known as Black Emancipation Day, Liberation Day and Jubilee Day, it's celebrated on June 19, which marks the anniversary of an historical celebration of emancipation which started in Galveston, Texas when news that enslaved people had been freed by President Abraham Lincoln reached the Black community, almost two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Many states have already designated the holiday, and momentum for the legislation followed the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd last year.

Enforcement of the liberation of Black people was slow, and accompanied the advance of Union troops. The Proclamation only outlawed human slavery in the Confederate states, it took the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to end enslavement elsewhere.

Akilah Wallace, member of the Black Southern Women's Leadership Project and executive director of Faith in Texas, said true liberation for Black Americans has yet to be achieved

"When we're still faced with mass incarceration, police brutality, white supremacy within every system and fiber of this nation, we still have a fight to take on," Wallace asserted.

This year, multiple states have approved bills that limit voting opportunities in Black communities, and passed legislation prohibiting schools from teaching about the country's legacy of racism.

Kevin L. Matthews II, founder of BuildingBread, said in an interview with YES! Media he shared those concerns. Matthews is an author and an expert on the Tulsa massacre of what was then called Black Wall Street. He's also a former financial advisor.

"Any time that people of color in this country have significant progress, there is almost always a swift reaction from those who are still in power or those who benefited from oppressing others," Matthews observed.

Tim Wise also spoke with YES! Media. An author and anti-racism educator, Wise wrote "White Like Me," and "Dispatches from the Race War." He said his own family tree revealed slave owners, who handed down documents that showed their lack of compassion when writing about the buying and selling of enslaved people.

"And I think we need to grapple with that, because we may not literally pass down human beings anymore, thank God, but we pass down the mentality that made the selling of human beings possible," Wise contended.

President Joe Biden's approval makes Juneteenth the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King, Junior Day in 1983.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas says it is monitoring protests at college campuses, after almost 60 students protesting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were arrested during a demonstration at the University of Texas in Austin.

State troopers on horses and in riot gear were called in to control the crowd. ACLU Staff Attorney Brian Klosterboer said students planning to participate in peaceful protests should know their rights.

"We encourage everyone to follow the guidance of law enforcement even if they believe that law enforcement might be violating their First Amendment or constitutional rights," said Klosterboer. "It's important that people try to stay safe. Remember, they also have a right to remain silent. You can ask if you are free to leave."

Charges were dropped against the protesters in Austin. Students also held a sit-in at the University of Texas in Dallas and a walkout was held at the University of Texas in Arlington.

Following the arrests of the protesters, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on the social media platform X that the students belonged in jail, and accused them of hate speech.

Klosterboer said when state officials attack free speech, they undermine the core of democracy.

"Texas public universities were specifically designated by Gov. Abbott as traditional public forums," said Klosterboer. "That's where students and others who are engaging in any kind of speech, whether it's passing out Bibles and religious literature or engaging in protests for human rights. That's where free speech is at its apex."

He added that if someone feels their civil liberties have been violated, they can file a complaint on the ACLU website.

The demonstrations in Texas are part of nationwide protests calling for a ceasefire between the Israeli forces and Hamas.





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The Montana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed class-action lawsuit challenging a measure barring people from listing a gender on their birth certificate other than the one they were born with.

Montana lawmakers passed Senate Bill 280 in 2021, which requires a court order to change gender on a birth certificate. A state court issued an injunction against the measure but now the state health department has put a total ban on changes to sex designations on birth certificates.

Akilah Deernose, executive director of the ACLU of Montana, called the measure part of a "concerted and unrelenting attack" on the civil rights of people who identify as transgender.

"We've previously sued on the birth certificate issue," Deernose pointed out. "Once again, we're seeing the state implement laws and rules and policies that unfairly target transgender people."

On the other side, some people argued birth certificates contain vital statistics and should be based on the facts at the time of birth. The suit awaits action in state court.

Deernose noted beyond privacy rights, the birth certificate measure has the potential to force a person to declare themselves to be someone other than who they are, based on their declared identity.

"And who they know themselves to be," Deernose observed. "That puts them at risk of discrimination and also forces them to out themselves every time they share those identity documents."

The suit also challenges a motor vehicle department policy forbidding changing sex designations on driver's licenses.

New York state lawmakers have appointed members to the Community Commission on Reparations Remedies, created through legislation Gov. Kathy Hochul signed in 2023.

Its goal is to examine the legacy of slavery and its continuing impacts on black New Yorkers. The commission will develop a report outlining recommendations for addressing these inequities.

Linda J. Mann, co-founder of the African American Redress Network, said there is one problem facing the commission: a lack of funds.

"It is absolutely imperative that funds for these types of task force, because of the amount of research that's going into it, is an imperative," Mann emphasized.

While the bill had plenty of Democratic support, it drew the ire of Republican lawmakers.

Many areas of the country are determining how to redress past disparities Black people face. A recent report found philanthropies have received millions in funds stemming from depriving Black people of opportunities to build wealth similar to those of their white counterparts.

The New York commission will have to present its findings in 2025.

A 2021 Pew Research survey showed three-quarters of Black Americans surveyed support reparations, while only 18% of white Americans support it.

Along with the U.S., countries worldwide are navigating reparations, with Mann noting they are not always compensatory.

"We're not talking about just altering economic wellness," Mann pointed out. "There's other ways in which historical harms have led to disparities in education, in health, in housing."

Beyond New York, California is the only other state to have created a reparations commission. California's reparations task force recommended some compensatory reparations based on factors such as health harms, mass incarceration and over-policing, housing discrimination and the devaluation of African American businesses. But, it wasn't certain how much all of this would amount to.