THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA FOR 87 YEARS
June 16-22, 2022
Vol. 88
Read about ILLism and the Legacy building on page 6.
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uneteenth, which is coming up June 19, is the newest federal holiday in the calendar. Its origins, however, date to the final weeks of the Civil War. The commemoration arose from the freeing of slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865, 11 weeks after the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The observance helped fulfill the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Lincoln on Sept. 22, 1862. The proclama-
tion took effect on Jan. 1, 1863, and many Americans today believe that all enslaved people were freed. But that was hardly the case. The proclamation only applied to states in rebellion, meaning that slavery continued in the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware. Lincoln’s proclamation also had to be enforced. While large parts of the South were under Federal control by 1863, Texas, the westernmost member of the Confederacy, was largely untouched. Relatively few military actions were conducted in Texas, and few Union soldiers occupied the state.
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As a result, slavery continued with little threat in Texas. Planters from elsewhere in the South migrated to the Lone Star State during the war to keep their slaves from confiscation and freedom. Kathryn Harris, the retired director of Library Services at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., noted the lapse in emancipation for many slaves in the South. “On the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation, there had been ‘Watch Night’ celebrations for many Blacks, with the coming of freedom,” remarked Harris, a respected authority on African American history. ■ See JUNETEENTH on page 5
Juneteenth gets commodified— like everything else in the U.S. By Jon Jeter Contributing Writer
News Analysis
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hen President Joe Biden last year signed legislation enshrining Juneteenth as a federal holiday, it seemed to augur a new day in U.S. race relations. Congressional lawmakers passed the bill with scant opposition—all from Republicans. The signing ceremony at the White House occurred less than two months after Hennepin County jurors convicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of the murder of George Floyd. “We have come far, and we have far to go,” Vice President Kamala Harris told the audience of politicians, activists and community organizers assembled in the East Room. “But today is a day of celebration.”
Calling the bill’s passage “one of the greatest honors” of his presidency, Biden proclaimed: “Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments; they embrace them.” Continuing, he said, “In short, this day doesn’t just celebrate the past. It calls for action today.” What a difference a year makes. What many African Americans once saw as a promising overture towards racial reconcillation in the aftermath of Floyd’s lynching on a South Minneapolis street corner has quickly degenerated into just another commercial opportunity for retailers selling everything from Juneteenth ice cream to watermelon salad. “When,” Dedan Waciuri, an African American activist in North Carolina, demanded to know in a recent Facebook post, “did Juneteenth turn into a Bl[ac]k Business expo?” ■ See ANALYSIS on page 5
New senior housing in South Mpls helps neighbors age in place By Cole Miska Contributing Writer The Sabathani Senior Housing Apartments in the Bryant-Central neighborhood hosted its grand opening the morning of Wednesday, June 8. The event, organized by the Arradondo Planning Group Inc., an African American female-owned company, was attended by leaders from Sabathani Community Center, City officials including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and City Council President Andrea Jenkins, other community members and residents of the facility. Planning for the senior housing project, Photo by Travis Lee which accepts residents 55 years or older, began in 2016, with construction starting last fall. The apartments are owned by the since 1966. The new apartments are on Sabathani Community Center, a neighbor- the lot north of the building that formerly hood nonprofit that has been operating housed Bryant Junior High School, where
Sabathani Community Center has been operating since it purchased the building for $1 from the City in 1979. The center
also runs a food shelf and has free clothing available. The Sabanthi Community Center was
Jan. 6 hearings are history being written in real time By Claire Leavitt, Mark Satta and Ken Hughes
A violent mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, intent on disrupting a joint session of Congress that was meeting to count electoral votes and declare Democrat Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election. They did not succeed in preventing Biden’s certification as president, but seven people died in the attack and its immediate aftermath, and around 150 police
were attacked and injured. look backwards,” said the committee That event did not take place in a chairman, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson vacuum. For months, President Donald of Mississippi. “Because our democracy Trump had maintained that if he lost his remains in danger.” Below, three scholars bid for re-election, it would be the result who have watched the hearing respond. of fraud. His fictional claims of victory were repeatedly disproven throughout Theatrical? Yes, but also substantive the post-election period. Claire Leavitt, visiting assistant political The first public hearing of the House science professor, Grinnell College: Select Committee to Investigate the First, let’s be realistic about the scope January 6 attack on the United States planning and carrying out of the attack of the committee’s investigation. Expert Capitol took place on June 9, 2022. It on American democracy, and the role observers have said it is unlikely that began the process of revealing what the Trump played in it. it will result in criminal charges against committee has learned so far about the “Our work must do much more than Trump or increase Democrats’ prospects
established by the Sabathani Baptist Church, of which Bill English was a member. English, now 88 years old, serves as chairman of the board for Sabathani Community Center. “It’s one of the first senior housing programs that has been built in the urban core for 20 years,” English said. “But in this neighborhood what it does, it allows our seniors and others who would typically have to leave the community to find affordable housing to stay in the community where their churches, their beauty shops, and their friends and grandkids are.” English said that seniors previously would have to leave the area, usually to the suburbs, to find senior apartments. He emphasized that the new apartments, which are a block north of East 38th Street, will allow the community members who ■ See SABATHANI on page 5
in the November midterms. But what viewers saw is perhaps even more significant—it was history being written in real time. These hearings will inform future history textbooks, movies and novels that depict the first nonpeaceful transfer of power in American history. The first of several hearings planned in the coming weeks was theatrical and slickly produced. Former ABC News President James Goldston is advising the committee and helping to maximize viewership, producing the hearings like a ■ See JAN 6 on page 5