JUNE 14, 2024

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Kimberlé Crenshaw, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum, on President and Vice President Remarks at White House Juneteenth Event

National — On Monday, June 10th, President Biden and Vice President Harris spoke at the second annual White House Juneteenth concert celebrating community, culture, and music where their remarks focused on condemning voter suppression and the censorship of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts. Juneteenth, celebrated annually on June 19th, is a holiday recognizing the day in 1865 when the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation was ordered after a nearly 2.5-year delay of the news of freedom for African Americans in Confederate-controlled southern states such as Texas. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, but it is more than just a holiday — it’s also a moment to remember how democracy is only possible when antiracist efforts are protected within our government and institutions. 

 

As President Biden said on Monday, “Old ghosts in new garments [are] trying to take us back…taking away your freedoms, making it harder for Black people to vote or have your vote counted…. trying to erase and rewrite history.” The Juneteenth concert and celebration followed the Biden Administration’s release of action items centered around the preservation and protection of African American history and culture. The items detail initiatives to protect public access to education, invest in public institutions, and preserve communities. During her speech, Vice President Harris spoke on "the freedom from fear of bigotry and hate; the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history; and the freedom that unlocks all others: the freedom to vote,” met with resounding applause from attendees. 

 

Kimberlé Crenshaw, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum, shared a statement in response to both speeches:

 

“As we celebrate Juneteenth, we can't overlook the fact that “anti-woke” attacks on Black history and Black political power have become one of the biggest threats to our democracy. The consequence of this threat goes all the way up to the supreme court. On June 12th, the Oklahoma Supreme Court didn’t allow the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — Viola Fletcher, Lessie Benningfield Randle, and Hughes Van Ellis, who just died last year —  to seek justice and reparations from the emotional, physical and financial losses of the massacre. This denial of our history is yet another effort to prevent our full participation in that democracy. We must use this federal holiday to dedicate ourselves to achieving true multiracial democracy in the United States. 

 

The first step that repressive movements take is to tell people what they can or cannot read or can or cannot learn. We see this again in today’s attacks on antiracism, Critical Race Theory, and DEI, which blame virtually every social problem on people of color and equity efforts. So it is no accident that the states which are suppressing our freedom to learn are also suppressing our freedom to vote. In 2023, at least 14 states created 17 voter suppression laws, which will all play a role in the 2024 general election. Legislators in the same states worked to pass laws to ban books by Black authors and curtail LGBTQ education and rights. These issues are still prevalent in 2024. Disenfranchisement happens not only when we are forcibly prevented from voting, but when it is decided that our issues, our history, our demands and our needs are no longer palatable, and can be sacrificed in the pursuit of power. 

 

The fight to preserve our democracy and the fight against the suppression of antiracist teachings must be connected. President Biden and Vice President Harris' speeches reflect a growing awareness that we are the majority in our fight for racial justice and democracy. That’s why the African American Policy Forum and our Freedom to Learn coalition are letting conservative extremists know — we won’t go back. Sixty years after Freedom Summer 1964, we’re cementing Freedom Summer 2024 as a turning point in the so-called “war on ‘woke.’” The freedom to learn is the freedom to live. We can only survive our current political moment if we have the tools to understand and make sense of our past.”

To learn more about how you can take action to save The Freedom To Learn, check out our website at: https://freedomtolearn.net/