Meagan Jordan Photo
Quinnell Wilkins laid a rose by the statue commemorating a great moment in New Haven’s civil rights history — as part of a commemoration of a different moment in civil rights history.
The occasion was an annual celebration in New Haven of Juneteenth, which marks the date (June 19, 1865) when slaves in Texas were freed, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. (Read about that here.) Today the event serves as a reminder of and a call to black freedom.
The Black and Hispanic Caucus of the New Haven Board of Alders has organized an annual Juneteenth event for several years now. Thursday afternoon’s took place outside City Hall at the statue of the Amistad captives who mutineed on a slave ship, came to New Haven, and won a landmark civil rights trial.
Speakers at the event tied past struggles for freedom with those occurring today.
“People still have to fight for freedom, education, racism, and economic justice,” said Hill Alder Dolores Colon, who heads the caucus. ” “Latinas suffer the same stigma, and you’re just as black as the next person.”
“A lot of people are in the mentality of slavery and it’s not their fault,” said Latoya Williams, Quinnell’s mom, and a leader of the activist group New Haven Rising. “We want them to know they can get their voices heard.”
The Black and Hispanic Caucus of the New Haven Board of Alders has organized an annual Juneteenth event for several years now. Thursday afternoon's took place outside City Hall at the statue of the Amistad captives who mutineed on a slave ship, came to New Haven, and won a landmark civil rights trial.
Give me a break.The Black and Hispanic Caucus are nothing more then overseers who's job it was to maximize profits.Look at how the The Black and Hispanic Caucus sold out park workers and firefighthers for there health Benfits.
MY BAD. We were never freed.Slavery by Another Name: The History of Exploitation of Black Labor by.Douglas A. Blackmon
A book by Douglas A. Blackmon that tells the story of how black men and women were placed back into slavery conditions through the convict lease system used by state and local governments, white farmers, and corporations after the Civil War. The book highlights the little known fact that slavery did not in fact end with the Civil War; it simply morphed into a different form.