Realizing Reparations: Edgar Villanueva

FEATURING EDGAR VILLANUEVA - Monday June 19 marked Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when enslaved African Americans in Texas were finally informed of the Emancipation Proclamation that ensured their freedom–almost two and a half years after it was signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

For centuries Juneteenth was marked largely by the Black community. But in June 2021, a year after the historic racial justice uprisings sparked by George Floyd’s murder, President Joe Biden signed a proclamation declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday and calling it, “A day in which we remember the moral stain and terrible toll of slavery on our country, what I’ve long called America’s original sin.”

To commemorate Juneteenth YES! Media is launching a series of interviews conducted in Atlanta, Georgia, at a recent conference organized by the Decolonizing Wealth Project called Alight, Align, Arise, to achieve reparations for Black Americans.