Through festive gatherings or parades, thousands of Americans celebrated the 155th anniversary of the abolition of slavery on Friday. The context is particular this year with the awareness of the discrimination and racism suffered by the black community following the death of several African-Americans at the hands of the police.
"Juneteenth" celebrations
The celebrations of the "Juneteenth" (contraction of June and 19 in English), that day of 1865 when the last slaves were freed in Texas, were therefore particularly elated by the movement of anger which shakes the country. "I am a black woman, I have lived in this country for 20 years and I am here to say that black lives matter, those of my children and my brothers, so that we can live in a safe country", a confided Tabatha Bernard, 38 years old and originally from Trinidad and Tobago, in the imposing procession of New York.
In Washington, protests denouncing "racism, oppression and police violence" were first concentrated around the monument in memory of Martin Luther King. Near the White House, the demonstration was festive on the newly baptized "Black Lives Matter Plaza" where several hundred people danced to the sound of Go-Go Music before marching through the streets of the city center.
New Trump provocation
A protester, Yamina BenKreira, expressed the wish that the history of African-Americans be better taught so that young people "become aware" of discrimination. Calls have multiplied in recent weeks for the unbolting of monuments to the glory of Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War (1861-1865), which swarm in the south of the country, and some have been laid ashore.
Participants also had harsh words against Donald Trump. The tenant of the White House is indeed organizing a large campaign meeting on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had caused outrage by choosing the symbolic date of June 19 and had to postpone it to the next day. The choice is not trivial: the city remains haunted by the memory of one of the worst racial riots in history, where up to 300 African-Americans were massacred by a white crowd in 1921.
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