The United States just hit 2 million coronavirus cases and is still seeing surges in some states. But that won’t stop President Trump from holding off on campaigning any longer. On Wednesday, Trump announced that he’d hold his first rally since coronavirus lockdown in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a.k.a. the site of an infamous racist massacre. And if that wasn’t enough, Trump plans to head there on Juneteenth.
Trump’s decision to go to Tulsa on June 19 may not register with everybody. But on that day, many Black people come together to commemorate the end of slavery. While former President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, its wording essentially meant that only slaves in states that seceded from the United States were freed.
As a result, many slaves remained in border and Southern states that were under Northern control. It wasn’t until June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, that all slaves were considered free. Trump’s decision to hold a campaign rally on such an important day for Black people in the United States comes off as a slap in the face. Continue reading.