• Celebrate Freedom & Pride

San Jose, CA – Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. It is a time for joy and celebration, and it's also time it is finally made a U.S. holiday, something that may happen with the unanimous passage of a Senate resolution on June 15, 2021 establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day.

Although the Emancipation Declaration officially freed Black slaves 156 years ago, Black and Brown people in this country are still subject to segregation, extreme police violence, and are disproportionally impacted by economic, environmental, and health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. In California, African-American men make 28.5% of the prison population while representing only 5.6% of the state’s adult male residents. Black Americans have incurred the highest COVID-19 death rate with deaths occurring at much younger ages than White Americans. These numbers show inequities that are deeply rooted in the capitalist and racist economic system we live in, which continues to exploit and to marginalize all communities of color in the U.S.

LGBTQA+ people of color are also disproportionally victims of abuse and murder across the country. Ever since the Stonewall Riots in NYC, where Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman activist and friend Sylvia Rivera, a Latina trans woman, courageously stood up to the police and sparked the gay liberation movement in the U.S., the Black and Brown transgender community has been continuously targeted, facing some of the highest levels of discrimination of all transgender people.

In June, let's celebrate freedom and pride while recognizing the injustices that our Black brothers and sisters are living through every day. And let's commit to fighting those injustices and the oppressive capitalist system by putting people, the planet, and peace over profit. Onwards to a better world we ALL deserve!

#Pride2021   #Juneteenth   #RegisterGreen