This Juneteenth, a celebration of freedom and time to ‘reimagine that promise'
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The events are not only moments of celebration and joy, but also of learning Boston's connections to historical events. Didi Delgado, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Cambridge, said locals should also know about how Malcolm X, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panther Party, and other leaders congregated in Massachusetts during the fight for civil rights.
She said that teaching about such moments during the month of June can help inform others about current issues, such as the
'I think that when we celebrate things, people say, 'Oh, you know, slavery ended, it was over 200 years ago, get over it.' But it's hard to get over it, when the inequities still exist,' Delgado said.
Recent cuts to social welfare programs created during the Civil Rights era, the elimination of art and Black history at the federal level, and the attacks on the immigrant community are among the several issues Jeffries said he hopes people think of this Juneteenth.
Earlier this week, Grace Ross, with People's Pledge of Solidarity, set up her laptop on a wooden stand, turned on a large speaker, and held a microphone outside of the Old State House in Downtown Boston. In front of passing tourists and reenactors, Ross spoke about how Tuesday marked 245 years since slavery was abolished in the Commonwealth.
'We should stand today behind them again, the people who seek their liberty to continue,' Ross said.
When the Massachusetts Constitution went into effect in 1780, slavery was still legal. It would take a series of court cases between 1781 and 1783, now referred to as the
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In the 19th century, the state would become the center of the abolitionist movement. Free Black leaders formed the Massachusetts General Colored Association. The New England Anti-slavery Society, led by William Lloyd Garrison, was created years later.
After President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was established. It was one of the first Black regiments to fight in the US Civil War and comprised of Black men from across the country.
Ross said that speaking about Massachusetts' leadership role when it comes to historical diversity, equity, and inclusion is important to help others understand the role of those rights in modern society.
'Massachusetts passed our Constitution first... And that original trajectory is not a new commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,' Ross said. 'It's a very old commitment. It's a commitment that was part of the founding, the very instinct of our country to usher in a democracy.'
Rahsaan D. Hall, president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, cautions the narratives that 'feed into liberal exceptionalism, or the idea that we don't have those issues found in the South.'
Hall pointed to the high rates of Black incarceration in Massachusetts and lower rates of wealth, education, and access to healthcare within the Black community.
'When we look at political racial disparities, being first doesn't necessarily hold water,' said Hall, whose 106-year-old organization focuses on economic development and self-efficiency.
Hall added: 'There is a need to continue to advocate and remember from where we come.'
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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas Democrats explain quorum breaking, Republicans demand arrests to force Trump-ordered redistricting vote
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Several Texas lawmakers left the state Sunday to block a Monday vote on redrawn congressional maps designed to add five Republican seats in the US House of Representatives. At least 51 Democratic state representatives chose to leave Texas on Sunday. Some of those lawmakers said they've gone to New York, and others went to Illinois. The Governors of those states have stated their support for the action. 2021 | Statehouse reaches stalemate as Texas Democrats break quorum and Republicans lock doors Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder issued a statement Sunday in support of the quorum breakers. In it, he said that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was 'holding disaster flood relief hostage to steal five congressional seats' under orders from President Donald Trump. In June, Trump met with several Texas Republicans. He has also publicly said that he wants Texas to create five new Republican seats. 'Greg Abbott just told flood survivors across Texas that their suffering comes second to Donald Trump's thirst for power … That's not governing, that's gutless,' Scudder said. 'Your right to representation in your government is under attack, and Texas Democrats will protect your rights through any means necessary.' The action puts the legislative chamber at a standstill, as the House's rules require the presence of two-thirds of its 150 members — at least 100 representatives. Since the absences aren't excused, each legislator who has left Texas is subject to a fine of $500 per day. The Texas Republican Party also issued a statement from its chair, Abraham George. He called the Democratic lawmakers 'cowards' while also calling for them to be 'hunted down' and arrested. 'While Republicans are fighting for fair and lawful redistricting that reflects the will of the people, Democrats are abandoning their sworn duty, and trying to silence your voice,' he wrote. 'Those Texas House Democrats who refuse to do their sworn duty and flee to deny a quorum are not above the law … We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law.' Both parties are using the situation to fundraise. Only 12 days remain in the special session. Texas Democrats say why they're leaving In a statement, Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said that the caucus's decision was made 'with absolute moral clarity.' He also criticized Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to include redistricting along with recent flooding in the called session's topics. 'Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a historic tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump,' Wu said in a statement. 'He is using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal. Apathy is complicity, and we will not be complicit in the silencing of hard-working communities who have spent decades fighting for the power that Trump wants to steal.' 'I am ready, willing and able': House Democrat says he'd break quorum to stop redistricting Other Texas Democrats made statements Sunday about their decision to break quorum. Reps. Venton Jones, Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos, Ron Reynolds, Gina Hinojosa, Lulu Flores and Sheryl Cole also made statements on social media Sunday. 'The Governor doesn't need us here to help flood survivors — he needs us here to pass Donald Trump's political agenda,' Johnson said. 'We've reached a line I won't cross. Abbott's map is a direct assault on our constitution. If we're not willing to put ourselves in the way of that, we shouldn't be here.' 'This is the rot at the core of our broken political system,' Talarico said. 'We normally redistrict at the beginning of the decade after a new census. But Trump and Texas Republicans are trying to redraw these maps in the middle of the decade to rig the 2026 midterms.' Talarico says he is 'willing' to break quorum to prevent redistricting It's like two football teams coming out of the locker room at halftime, and the team that's ahead changes the rules of the game to make sure they win. It's cheating. Plain and simple. Rep. James Talarico 'We may not be at the Capitol, but we're doing our jobs. We may not be in Texas, but we're fighting for our constituents,' his statement continues, 'We're not just fighting for Democrats — we're fighting for Independents and Republicans too. Because in a democracy, voters are supposed to choose their politicians, not the other way around.' 'This session should be about helping Texans recover — not helping Donald Trump gain power,' Bucy said. 'If Governor Abbott is going to try to quietly redraw maps while families are still cleaning out flooded homes, we're going to make it hurt.' 'Today, I walked out of the Texas Capitol alongside my Democratic peers in protest of the MAGA maps House Republicans are rushing to pass. Our Democracy is being stolen from us, and I am sounding the alarm—it's time for our nation to wake up! It's a stand I'm extremely familiar with—after breaking quorum in 2003 and leading the fight in 2021, I'm ready to dig my heels in and make sure the MAGA extremists know what they're up against. No one should underestimate what the Democrats will do to preserve voting rights and democracy.' Republicans call for the arrest of lawmakers Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on X Sunday that the quorum breakers should be arrested. House Speaker Dustin Burrows said on X that 'all options were on the table' should the House not make quorum at 3:00 p.m. Monday. The Legislature rules require the House sergeant-at-arms to arrest and secure absent members for attendance. This action can't be done until after the Texas House determines that quorum hasn't been met due to unexcused absences. However, the authority of the sergeant-at-arms doesn't extend outside of Texas, Rep. Brent Money said on July 30. 'This is not theoretical-it was used in 2003 and again in 2021,' Money said. 'Should members flee the state for an extended period, the Governor has the constitutional authority to declare their seats vacant under the Texas Election Code. This would lower the quorum threshold and allow the House to act.' Capitol Context: Abbott waited a record amount of time to fill Texas Congressman's seat, KXAN analysis shows Rep. Nate Schatzline echoed Money's statement on Sunday, hours after gloating on X that the redrawn map draws Democratic US Rep. Jasmine Crockett's residence out of her district. Rep. Jeff Leach responded to Johnson, whom he said was 'trusted and respected and worked well with.' The two are the chair and joint chair of the House Judiciary Committee. 'If Ann chooses to flee the State and to shirk her responsibilities and duties to her constituents and to the people of Texas, she should immediately be stripped of her Vice Chairmanship,' Leach said. Rep. Jared Patterson also called for arrests, but showed a spark of creativity — in a post, he called on Abbott to explore redistricting of Texas House seats to further solidify one-party rule in the state. '[Abbott] reserves the right to add items to the Special Session call, including redistricting Texas House seats. If all options are on the table, ALL options should be explored,' Patterson said. Abbott released an ad Sunday that targeted Rep. Wu directly. The ad doesn't mention redistricting, and instead said that Wu was blocking flood relief legislation. Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, told KXAN that Texas Republicans were within their rights to redraw the map to favor the GOP. 'Elected Republicans in the state of Texas should be doing everything in our power to make sure that the United States Congress does not fall into the hands of the liberal extremist Democrats,' Harrison said. National Democrats voice support Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement that President Trump and the Republicans have long engaged in 'rigging the system, breaking the rules, and scheming to hold onto power.' He also said that the Republican lawmakers were attempting to redistrict to 'enrich a handful of elites.' 'For weeks, we've been warning that if Republicans in Texas want a showdown — if they want to delay flood relief to cravenly protect Donald Trump from an inevitable midterm meltdown — then we'd give them that showdown,' Martin said. 'That's exactly what Texas Democrats did today: blowing up Republicans' sham special session that's virtually ignored the plight of flood victims in Kerr County.' He added that the DNC was 'proud to support these legislators in standing up and showing real leadership.' 'Republicans thought they could just rig the maps and change the rules without the American people taking notice. They were dead wrong,' Martin added. 'After this fight is done, we're coming full force for the Republicans' House majority.' U.S. Representative Greg Casar, D-Austin, told KXAN he felt the state representatives were defending democracy. 'Texas Democrats are going around the country to mobilize everyone against this corrupt Trump plan, and by not being in the state capitol, they can continue to delay that plan while we mobilize the country around protecting voting [corruption],' he said. Casar, whose district he represents spans from Pflugerville to San Antonio, said the new map is too extreme. 'Donald Trump's plan is to change our districts — to rig the way these elections will work before anybody ever gets to cast a vote for people,' Casar continued. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
37 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Columbia and Brown to disclose admissions and race data in Trump deal
Advertisement But college officials and experts who support using factors beyond test scores worry that the government — or private groups or individuals — will use the data to file new discrimination charges against universities and threaten their federal funding. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The Trump administration is using every lever it can to push elite college admissions offices toward what it regards as 'merit-based' processes that more heavily weigh grades and test scores, arguing that softer measures, such as asking applicants about their life challenges or considering where they live, may be illegal proxies for considering race. The additional scrutiny is likely to resonate in admissions offices nationwide. It could cause some universities to reconsider techniques like recruitment efforts focused on high schools whose students are predominantly people of color, or accepting students who have outstanding qualifications in some areas but subpar test scores, even if they believe such actions are legal. Advertisement 'The Trump administration's ambition here is to send a chill through admissions offices all over the country,' said Justin Driver, a Yale Law School professor who just wrote a book about the Supreme Court and affirmative action and who said he believed that the administration's understanding of the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision was wrong. 'They are trying to get universities to depress Black and brown enrollment.' The Trump administration has celebrated getting this data as part of its war on 'woke' university policies such as affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion programs that it says discriminate based on race. 'Because of the Trump administration's resolution agreement with Brown University, aspiring students will be judged solely on their merits, not their race or sex,' Linda McMahon, the secretary of education, said when the Brown deal was announced, echoing similar comments she had made about Columbia. 'Woke is officially DEAD at Brown,' President Donald Trump proclaimed on Truth Social in announcing the deal. The public release of race-related data on admissions could also be valuable to conservative groups who have become the self-appointed enforcers of the Supreme Court decision. 'If this information were obtainable by a Freedom of Information Act request or made public, it would be of great interest,' said Adam Mortara, one of the lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court affirmative action case. 'If we could get this and analyze it, we would because we are constantly vigilant and looking out for those who seem not to have gotten the message.' Advertisement Columbia and Brown will have to maintain 'merit-based admissions policies,' according to their settlements, which codify the administration's broader aims in legally binding language. The universities 'may not by any means unlawfully preference applicants based on race, color or national origin in admissions throughout its programs,' both agreements state in identical language. 'No proxy for racial admission will be tolerated.' The admissions disclosures will provide the government with data on accepted and rejected applicants broken down by 'race, color, grade point average and performance on standardized tests.' While it is not clear what Brown's and Columbia's data will reveal, general data shows that admissions systems that are focused on standardized tests typically help Asian students and harm the chances of Black students. Of the high school graduates who scored between 1400 and 1600 on the SAT in 2024, the highest possible scores, 1% were African American, and 27% were Asian, according to the College Board, the private organization that administers the test. About 12% of students taking the test were Black, and 10% were Asian. Some experts consider the tests to be unfair because there are score gaps by race and class. Student demographics at Columbia and Brown had already started to shift as the 2023 Supreme Court decision took effect. Among first-year undergraduates entering Columbia in fall 2024, 39% were Asian, and 12% were Black. In the fall of 2023, the entering class was 30% Asian and 20% Black. (White and Hispanic enrollment dropped slightly from 2023 to 2024). At Brown, Asian and white first-year enrollment went up from fall 2023 to fall 2024, while Hispanic and Black enrollment decreased. Not all Ivy League universities, however, showed the same effect. Advertisement Applicants to Columbia have the option of not submitting standardized test scores, complicating any analysis. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal statistical agency, about 61% of first-year Columbia undergraduates in fall 2023 had submitted test scores. Brown has returned to requiring test scores from applicants. In a letter to the campus, Christina H. Paxson, the president of Brown, said that the federal government was already entitled to the new data from Brown or any other university as part of compliance with civil rights laws. She said she was not worried about releasing the material, saying it would 'demonstrate the strong academic qualifications of the classes we admit while remaining committed to welcoming students from a wide range of backgrounds.' Columbia also explained in a recent fact sheet that the data would be anonymized and that it had an obligation to comply with the law. 'We have agreed to provide data to which the government is entitled, and is currently requesting from scores of institutions, including ours,' Claire Shipman, Columbia's acting president, said when the deal was announced. The Trump administration already appears to be asking for similar data under subpoena. In March, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to review admissions policies at Stanford University and three University of California institutions: UCLA, Berkeley and Irvine. 'The Department of Justice will put an end to a shameful system in which someone's race matters more than their ability,' Chad Mizelle, the acting associate attorney general, said in March. 'Every college and university should know that illegal discrimination in admissions will be investigated and eliminated.' Advertisement The language used in the settlements with Columbia and Brown hammers home contested assertions about the Supreme Court admissions case that the Trump administration has been making since February. It insists that the decision goes beyond admissions and bars any consideration of race in university life. Many legal experts disagree with this interpretation and point out that the decision pointedly said that colleges could still consider, on a case-by-case basis, 'an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise.' 'The law is clear: Treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent,' the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights argued in an official guidance letter to all educational institutions in February. Under this thinking, colleges could not lawfully eliminate the use of standardized testing in admissions if doing so was part of an effort to achieve a desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity. Federal law would also not allow race to be considered in hiring, promotion, scholarships or housing decisions. 'If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person's race, the educational institution violates the law,' the February letter said. Enforcement of that guidance document was put on hold in April because of a legal challenge. Last week, Bondi made another attempt to make her interpretation of the Supreme Court decision enforceable, providing similar guidance that applies to all entities receiving federal funding. Bondi's guidance states that even seemingly race-neutral criteria, such as asking an applicant about 'cultural competence' or 'lived experience,' or targeting recruitment based on geography, violates federal law if it is designed or applied with the intention of giving an advantage to applicants based on protected characteristics, such as race. Advertisement Even a scholarship program that targets 'underserved geographic areas' or 'first-generation students' would not be legal if those criteria are chosen to increase participation by specific racial or sex-based groups, the guidance states. 'I think transparency is a good thing, and if Columbia is not using racial preferences, they should have nothing to hide,' said Richard Kahlenberg, director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, a left-of-center think tank. Kahlenberg has pushed for class-conscious rather than race-conscious college admissions. But the data the government is demanding could be misused, he said, to suggest that 'any attempt to create racial diversity even by race-neutral means is problematic.' This article originally appeared in .
Associated Press
37 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Toppled Confederate statue in DC to be replaced in line with Trump's executive order
WASHINGTON (AP) — A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled by protesters in Washington in 2020 will be restored and replaced this fall, in line with President Donald Trump's pushback on recent efforts to reframe America's historical narrative. The National Park Service announced Monday that the statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate brigadier general and a revered figure among Freemasons, would resume its previous position in Washington's Judiciary Square, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. It was the only outdoor statue of a Confederate military leader in the nation's capital. The statue was pulled down with ropes and chains on Juneteenth in 2020 as part of mass protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Confederate statues around the country were toppled by similar protests while several military bases named for Confederate leaders were renamed. The Pike statue restoration, which is targeted for October, 'aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation's capital and reinstate pre-existing statues,' the park service said in a statement. Restoration is part of a larger narrative In March, Trump issued an executive order entitled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' It decried post-Floyd efforts to reinterpret American history, stating, 'rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame.' The order targeted the Smithsonian network of museums as having 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' It also instructed the Interior Department to restore any statue or display that was 'removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.' Pike, who died in 1891, is more known for his decades-long stint as a senior leader of the Freemasons than for his Confederate military career. The Masons lobbied Congress for the right to erect the statue on NPS land in 1901 — provided that he be depicted in civilian, not military, garb. But Pike did lead a regiment for the Confederacy during the Civil War. And as the only outdoor statue of a Confederate leader in Washington, D.C., it had been a source of controversy for decades. Even the brief Park Service page on the statue notes that it has 'stirred opposition since it was first planned.' A long history of demands for its removal The D.C. Council asked for its removal in 1992. In 2017, Mayor Muriel Bowser struck an agreement with congressional leaders to eventually remove it. When protesters toppled the statue in 2020 while police officers looked on, Trump — then in his first term — called it 'a disgrace to our Country' on social media and called for their immediate arrests. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's non-voting delegate in Congress, called the Park Service move 'odd and indefensible' in a statement Monday. Norton said she would introduce legislation to remove the statue permanently and place it in a museum. 'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts,' she said, 'not remain in parks and locations that imply honor.'
