Latest news with #AfricanAmericans'
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pritzker, Welch celebrate Juneteenth at Hillside Memorial Park District
HILLSIDE, Ill. (WGN) — From the city to the suburbs, Juneteenth celebrations are happening all across Chicagoland. In the western suburbs, Governor JB Pritzker and Illinois Speaker of the House Emanuel 'Chris' Welch joined local families at Hillside Memorial Park District for Welch's fourth annual Juneteenth celebration held at the park. Pritzker: 'Abraham Lincoln is the one who signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Our greatest president. What state was he from?' Crowd: 'Illinois!' Pritzker: 'Alright. What was the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment, ending slavery?' Crowd: 'Illinois!' The event featured activities for the entire family, from a performance by the Jesse White Tumblers, to a litany of local food and art vendors for attendees to peruse, and free haircuts from James Blakes the Mobile Barber. Juneteenth celebrates and honors African Americans' journey to freedom in the United States. On June 19, 1865, word finally reached the last enslaved African Americans in Texas that their emancipation was made formal, which officially brought an end to slavery nationwide. 'I just think it's really important that we keep this going and keep growing all of the traditions that we have for this,' Blakes said. 'And Juneteenth, it needs to be cherished. You know, it's a very important thing for the African American community.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch Brings Back Annual Juneteenth Celebration
WESTCHESTER, Ill., June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Speaker of the Illinois House Emanuel "Chris" Welch is bringing back his annual Juneteenth Celebration. The free event will be a day of family fun, featuring a range of performances, guest appearances, and local vendors selling food, art, and other items. "The importance of celebrating Juneteenth is as important as it's ever been," said Speaker Welch, "As extremists in Washington and across our nation work to erase Black History, we must not only push back in the statehouse, we must also continue to come together with love, joy and understanding, which is exactly what this annual celebration is all about." The event boasts over 50 local vendors and a host of community sponsors, including: PepsiCo, Iron Workers Local 63, IBEW 9, Meridian Health, Rainbow Cone, ABDI, and the Fraternal Order of Police. Featured performers include the Jesse White Tumblers, Simone Green, 1 Soul 1 Tribe, Muntu Dance Theatre, and the Proviso West High School Marching Band. Featured guests include Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Treasurer Mike Frerichs, Congresswoman Robin Kelly, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon, Sheriff Tom Dart, and many more. There will also be free haircuts by James Blakes the Barber. Juneteenth celebrates and honors African Americans' journey to freedom in America. June 19, 1865, was the day word reached the enslaved in Galveston, Texas, that their emancipation had been made formal, though it had been so since January 1, 1863. That news changed the world for the better. The free Juneteenth Celebration will take place on Thursday, June 19th, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Memorial Park District [639 N. Wolf Road in Hillside] behind Adventure Bay Pool. Adventure Bay Poll will be closed during the time of the event. To register as a vendor for the event, visit For questions, email democraticpartyofproviso@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The People for Emanuel Chris Welch Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Black Rodeo coming to the Jacksonville Equestrian Center on Saturday
The Black Rodeo is returning to town on Saturday. The show is happening at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center. The event highlights African Americans' cultural impact in developing the West. There is a show at 1 p.m. and a show at 7 p.m. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] The 7 p.m. show is listed as sold out, but the 1 p.m. show still has tickets available. For more information, click here. To purchase tickets, click here. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
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The South African
05-06-2025
- Politics
- The South African
‘Kill The Boer' sung by ‘African Americans'?[video]
A viral video showed a group of 'African Americans' singing 'Kill The Boer'. Images via X : @ali_naka/ @effsouthafrica A clip of a group of black people singing Kill The Boer – presumably in the US – has gone viral on social media. Recently sung by Economic Freedom Fighter leader Julius Malema, the anti-Apartheid song has been accused of having 'racist' connotations. Last month, US President Donald Trump publicly condemned the 'call to action'. Pretoria-born billionaire businessman and UK media personality Piers Morgan have also criticised the song. 'KILL THE BOER' SUNG ABROAD On social media, a clip of black people singing along to Kill The Boer has gone viral. In the video, the crowd, many of whom wear traditional African garments, are seen dancing and singing the tune to the anti-struggle song. Although some claim that the people in the video were African Americans, it's unconfirmed if the video was taken in the US. However, a flag representing Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) – an organisarion celebrating black Americans in the US – was spotted in the background. The video has many social media users questioning Julius Malema's influence as far as the US. 'FREEDOM OF SPEECH' According to a 2022 ruling, the Equality Court found that Kill The Boer was not considered hate speech. In March, the Constitutional Court – the highest in South Africa – rejected AfriForum's appeal, stating that the song deserved to be protected under freedom of speech. Julius Malema sings Kill The Boer at a political rally. This comes after US President Donald Trump called for his arrest. Images via X: @effsouthafrica WHO SANG IT FIRST? Kill The Boer – titled Dubul' ibhunu – made headlines when anti-Apartheid activist Peter Mokaba sang the song at a memorial for his assassinated comrade, Peter Mokaba, in 1993. It was also sung by former South African President Jacob Zuma during many ANC events. Over the years, Malema has also sang the controversial song at various EFF political rallies. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON 'KILL THE BOER' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why this Jackie Robinson Day feels different than all the others
They say there are no stupid questions in journalism, and I tested that theory as a college newspaper reporter when I asked an MLB legend about the even more legendary Jackie Robinson. Was Robinson picked over more talented Negro League players to integrate baseball, I asked eight-time All-Star and former National League President Bill White, 'because he was so nice?' White apparently hadn't gotten the memo about there being no stupid questions. 'Nice?!' he shot back. 'Jackie wasn't nice! Jackie was tough!' I'd like to believe that my question was not only a function of my youth but also evidence of the way that civil rights history has been taught in the United States. From Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King Jr. to John Lewis and Robinson, we've generally been fed a fairy-tale narrative that pits nice, perfectly pleasant and unoffending Black heroes against cartoonishly mean and ignorant white people. And, as in all fairy tales, the nice folks inevitably win. On Tuesday, as it has since 2004, Major League Baseball is commemorating the day 78 years ago that Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers. But this Jackie Robinson Day lands in the middle of a conservative plot to eliminate talk of pioneering Black heroism and, more specifically, to eliminate mention of the villainy from white people that made Black heroism necessary. The way that the history of American racism, and Black people's response to it, has generally been taught is deeply flawed. It's the equivalent of promoting PG-rated versions of R-rated historical events. But now the Trump administration is on a campaign to outright replace the truth of our history with deliberate distortions and lies, give a G rating to even the most disturbing American history, and essentially outlaw the telling of the truth. Consider a recent edit the National Park Service made to a webpage that niceifies Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad had been described as promoting 'the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight' but was edited to suggest that it was a part of the 'American civil rights movement' that bridged 'the divides of race.' The hell it did. The previous language was restored — it was deleted by mistake, the park service stated — but a descendant of Tubman was right to ask, 'Why do they want to erase our Black history? Why are we such a threat to certain Americans?' It wasn't hard to answer her own question: 'The answer is racism.' On one page managed by the National Park Service, according to The Washington Post, the phrase 'enslaved African Americans' was changed to 'enslaved workers.' As mentioned in a previous column, somebody at the Defense Department, reportedly responding to President Donald Trump's and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's anti-DEI fixation, briefly removed a webpage that described Robinson's time in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. Years before Rosa Parks would do the same, Robinson had refused a bus driver's order that he move to the back of a bus. Not only did he not accept the humiliation of being assigned to the rear, but in an argument that ensued, he told another soldier, 'If you call me a n—– again, I'll break you in two.' Maybe if I'd heard more about that Robinson when I was a child, then I'd have known how foolish it was to describe him as 'nice.' When my family visited the Jackie Robinson Museum in Lower Manhattan last week, we saw a quote on display that reveals the discipline — or, as White put it, the toughness — that Robinson maintained. Not just for his sake, but for his people's sake. Less than six months into his time in the majors, he told a writer for the New York Post, 'Plenty of times, I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin…If I lost my chance, the Negro might lose his chance, too… The whole thing was bigger than me.' The museum portrays him as a complicated figure who didn't fit neatly into any of the boxes that we've placed Black civil rights activists into. He was too conservative for some Black people, too outspoken for some white people, and ultimately, it seems, it could be as hard to pin him down as it was to tag him out during a steal attempt. Malcolm X, who had been a fan, came to believe Robinson was too accommodating to white people, but Robinson would later stand with the Black Panthers in Brooklyn, New York, as they challenged police brutality. In ballparks across the country today, we'll see players wearing No. 42 and we'll see glowing tributes about Robinson's contributions to the game and to the country. There may be some mention of his legendary toughness in the game. If so, I hope it's made clear how tough he was off the diamond, too — and how the evils of racism and segregation made his toughness necessary. This article was originally published on
