On 19 June 1865, Gordon Granger, a Union general during the American Civil War, rode into Texas to inform slaves that they were free. In the US, this date is known as ‘Juneteenth’ and it is widely celebrated as emancipation day.
However, 156 years later, the descendants of enslaved and colonised people still face racial oppression in the US and around the world. Despite the global racial justice protests last summer – sparked by the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor – the underlying system of racial capitalism and state violence hasn’t gone away.
Racial inequity is perpetrated by an economic system that divides people according to their nationality, their wealth and the colour of their skin – and disproportionately leaves Black and brown communities on the front lines of every crisis, from climate change to COVID-19.
