In photos: Communities across nation celebrate Juneteenth
19 June 2021
People across the country are celebrating Juneteenth National Independence Day.
The big picture: The date, June 19, memorializes when some of the last enslaved people in Texas learned about their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.
- President Biden on Thursday signed into law legislation making Juneteenth the newest federal holiday.
- Many Americans have annually commemorated the anniversary long before the official recognition.
Go deeper: Juneteenth forces U.S. to confront lasting impact of slavery economy
In photos:
River City Drum Corps leads a march for the Juneteenth commencement of On the Banks of Freedom in Louisville, Ky. Photo: Jon Cherry/Getty Images
Terrance Floyd at the unveiling of a statute dedicated to his brother George Floyd at Flatbush Junction on June 19, 2021, in Brooklyn. Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Celebrations in Harlem, New York City. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Participants practice yoga during a community yoga class alongside Interstate 244 during the Juneteenth Festival in Tulsa, Okla. Photo: Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images
A father and son take a selfie at the Black Wall Street Memorial during the Juneteenth Festival in the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Okla. Photo: Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images
A young person writes Juneteenth on a wall in chalk during the All Nations Worship Assembly Russell Neighborhood Juneteenth Celebration in Louisville, Ky. Photo: Jon Cherry/Getty Images
Dancers of the P.U.S.H. (Practice Until Something Happens) dance team preform at a Juneteenth rally at the Brooklyn Library. Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at the event as a new Federal Holiday ''Juneteenth'' is celebrated in the heart of Harlem, New York City. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Women pose for a photo before entering a neighborhood Juneteenth celebration in Louisville, Ky. Photo: Jon Cherry/Getty Images
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.