A federal judge on Friday denied a request by a Black high school student in Texas for a court order that the student’s lawyers say would have allowed him to return to his high school without fear of having his previous punishment over his hairstyle resume.
Last week, Assemblymember Akilah Weber (D-La Mesa) announced the introduction of Assembly Bill (AB) 1655, legislation that would make Juneteenth a paid holiday in California.
“On June 19, 1865, more than six months after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and declared that all slaves of African descent located in Texas were indeed free. That historic day, now remembered as Juneteenth, marked the end of one of the saddest chapters in our nation’s history. More than 150 years later, Juneteenth causes us to not only reflect on the tragic, centuries-long enslavement of nearly four million Africans and their descendants in the United States, but to remain vigilant in the fight to overcome racism, both institutional and societal, that exists in our country today. The Juneteenth observance serves as reminder that our nation still has work to do to overcome the great challenges that communities of color and so many others face in the pursuit for equality and justice.”
The celebration started with the freed slaves of Galveston, Texas. Although the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the South in 1863, it could not be enforced in many places until after the end of the Civil War in 1865.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Refinery Committee today directed agency staff to develop a regulation by May 2019 to better mitigate the risk from – or possibly phase out — the use of a highly toxic chemical used at two Southland refineries.