• Celebrity
    • Cardi B and Offset Cover
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
  • Fashion
    • Digital Cover – Method Man
    • Digital Cover – Zazie Beetz
    • Fashion News
    • Fashion House 2021
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO® Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • MAYBELLINE: FIT ME MATTE + PORELESS
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weaves
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Build Your Legacy
    • Prudential – Dream & Plan with Confidence
    • Black History Month
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Holiday Gift Guide
    • Lifestyle News
    • Coronavirus: Everything You Need to Know
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
    • Currency Conversations
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Videos
  • Festival
  • Events
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • Entrepreneur Summit 2021
    • Wellness House
    • VAX & VIBES Louisiana
    • Girls United Summit 2021
    • She Got Now
    • Fashion House 2021
    • GU Back To School
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • WELLNESS HOUSE: YEAR OF RENEWAL
    • Power Tools
    • Making Moves Now: Virtual Bootcamp
    • #EF SESSIONS
    • Cares Act
    • News & Announcements
  • Essence Studios
  • Girls United
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters

WHERE BLACK WOMEN COME FIRST

Every day we're serving Black women deeply. Come get a plate of goodness! Sign up for daily content and exclusive offers you'll love!

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and that you have read our Privacy Policy
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Cardi B and Offset Cover
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
  • Fashion
    • Digital Cover – Method Man
    • Digital Cover – Zazie Beetz
    • Fashion News
    • Fashion House 2021
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO® Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • MAYBELLINE: FIT ME MATTE + PORELESS
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weaves
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Build Your Legacy
    • Prudential – Dream & Plan with Confidence
    • Black History Month
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Holiday Gift Guide
    • Lifestyle News
    • Coronavirus: Everything You Need to Know
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
    • Currency Conversations
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Videos
  • Festival
  • Events
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • Entrepreneur Summit 2021
    • Wellness House
    • VAX & VIBES Louisiana
    • Girls United Summit 2021
    • She Got Now
    • Fashion House 2021
    • GU Back To School
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • WELLNESS HOUSE: YEAR OF RENEWAL
    • Power Tools
    • Making Moves Now: Virtual Bootcamp
    • #EF SESSIONS
    • Cares Act
    • News & Announcements
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Tom Brenner/Getty Images
Home · Op-Ed

Juneteenth: A Reminder Of Black America's Long-Fought Fight For Justice

By Joe Biden · Updated December 6, 2020
In an exclusive op-ed for ESSENCE, presidential candidate Joe Biden weighs in on the importance of Juneteenth and its significance at this moment in our nation.

Juneteenth is a day of profound weight and power—a holiday whose very existence tells us so much about the soul of America. It reminds us of just how vulnerable our nation is to being poisoned by systems and acts of inhumanity. And it reminds us, too, of our incredible capacity to heal, to hope, and to emerge from our darkest moments of cruelty into a better version of ourselves. The Psalms tell us that ‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ Juneteenth contains both the long, hard night—the two-and-a-half years those enslaved in Galveston, Texas, endured before learning of their emancipation—and the promise of the brighter morning to come.

Loading the player...

There is no question that the night feels endless right now. The last words of George Floyd—I can’t breathe—have called our entire nation to reckon with the injustices we have allowed to fester. His death carries echoes of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and Atatiana Jefferson in Fort Worth—senselessly killed by officers in their own homes. It carries echoes of Ahmaud Arbery—lynched before our eyes while jogging on a Georgia road. It carries echoes of Rayshard Brooks—shot in the back by an officer on the eve of his eldest daughter’s eighth birthday party. It carries echoes of an unbearable litany of lives and dreams snuffed out before their time.

Their deaths call us to come face to face not only with overt acts of violence, but with subtler realities that strike at the dignity of Black Americans every day. Homes systematically undervalued in Black communities. Credit that is harder to access for Black entrepreneurs. Expectant Black mothers who are disbelieved when they share medical concerns with their doctors—contributing to Black women being two-and-a-half times as likely to die from pregnancy complications as white women. And today, in the grip of a devastating pandemic that has claimed more than 117,000 lives, persistent disparities in our health and economic systems have conspired once more to place the sprawling burden of the crisis disproportionately on the shoulders of Black families.

Black Americans carry this weight. But all Americans have the responsibility to act. I believe that the moral obligation of our time is to rebuild America in a way that finally delivers the full share of equality, opportunity, and dignity due to every American. And, achieving it starts by rooting out systemic racism from our laws, our policies, our institutions, and our hearts.

The pain engulfing us today demands an overwhelming response—we need a comprehensive agenda that tackles inequity in every part of our society. That is why I developed the plan I released in early May, which is designed to dismantle some of the most stubborn and pervasive barriers that hold back Black Americans from receiving an equal shot.

The plan is built around closing six pernicious racial gaps: the wealth and income gap, the education opportunity gap, the health care gap, the justice gap, the voting rights gap, and the environmental gap. Under each of those categories is a broad and evolving array of specific policies and actions—far too numerous to list out here, but available for anyone to read on my website.

Additionally, I have called for immediate legislative action to begin the urgent process of policing reform. No mother should worry that her child or loved one isn’t safe walking the streets of America. We must take action, starting with immediately outlawing the use of chokeholds and creating a model use of force standard to make de-escalation priority one. In addition, if I have the honor of becoming President, I will create a national police oversight commission in my first hundred days in office to ensure that our police protect and serve all members of their communities.

Earlier this month, a video was widely shared of George Floyd’s six-year-old daughter, Gianna, proclaiming: “Daddy changed the world.” We owe it to her—and to every one of America’s Black children—to never rest until it’s true. Getting this done won’t be easy; the roots of inequity touch nearly every corner of American life. But Juneteenth is a powerful reminder of our ability to change—to close our deepest wounds, and reach new mornings. I believe that, together, we can emerge from this moment and lay the roots of real and lasting justice, so that we might finally become the extraordinary nation that was promised to all Americans.

Share :

TOPICS:  Juneteenth Op-Ed christian essence Essence News Joe Biden Juneteenth Justice for All News Plan For Black America tanya

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2022 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now