BY BEN VERDE
Thousands took to the
streets of Brooklyn on June 19
to acknowledge the 155th celebration
of Juneteenth, the holiday
that commemorates the
freeing of the last enslaved people
in Texas in 1865, two years
after the Emancipation Proclamation.
The holiday this year coincided
with mass Black Lives
Matter protests around the
world in the wake of the police
killings of George Floyd
in Minneapolis and Breonna
Taylor in Louisville. Gov. Andrew
Cuomo declared the day
a state holiday earlier in the
week and Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced that it will be an
offi cial citywide holiday as of
next year.
Celebrations kicked off in
the morning and lasted into
the evening, including morning
rally and a motorcade of 130
cars that drove up Flatbush Avenue
as part of the nationwide
“Drive to Justice” movement.
Nearby at the Brooklyn Public
Library, elected offi cials and
protesters amassed to stand in
solidarity with the movement.
COURIER L 4 IFE, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2020
In Carroll Gardens, over
two hundred students and families
gathered at PS 32 on Hoyt
Street between Union and President
Streets for a short march
up the block to PS 58 on Smith
Street.
The two locations are not
insignifi cant. Both schools
are a part of School District 15,
which the city is actively working
to desegregate.
“It’s not easy to live in a society
where if you’re Black, you’re
a lot more likely to be killed by
police,” Carroll Gardens Councilman
Brad Lander said.
BLACK LIVES MATTER: Demonstrators turned out across Brooklyn on
June 19 to commemorate the 155th anniversary of Juneteeth. This year’s
holiday took place during mass protests across the city and the world in
wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Photos by Paul Frangipane.
Juneteenth commemorated