‘Absolute Equality’ in the Home of Juneteenth

<p>In Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger announced General Order No. 3: “the people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” The day became known as <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/know-your-value/opal-lee-helped-make-juneteenth-national-holiday-age-95-she-n1282451" target="_blank">Juneteenth</a>, commemorating the actual end of slavery in the United States. </p><p>Yet more than a century and a half later, Black people in Galveston are still fighting for the “absolute equality” promised to them in that order.</p><p>The biggest threat today is gentrification, which began after Hurricane Ike in 2008 <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/After-seven-years-Galveston-public-housing-6550061.php" target="_blank">destroyed</a> the city’s overwhelmingly Black public housing. The situation was made <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/galveston-short-term-rental-housing/" target="_blank">worse</a> recently by a short-term rental boom fueled by the pandemic. Since 2000, the Black population has <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/galveston/article/Galveston-the-birthplace-of-Juneteenth-has-been-17247696.php#:~:text=Between%201890%20and%201940%2C%20Galveston's,according%20to%20U.S.%20Census%20data." target="_blank">plummeted</a> by 38 percent.</p><p>On this episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee travels to Galveston to speak with <a href="https://www.juneteenthlegacyproject.com/who-we-are" target="_blank">Sam Collins</a> of the Juneteenth Legacy Project, <a href="https://www.galvnews.com/coy/article_a14788af-e293-5258-8348-adafea1078b5.html" target="_blank">June Pulliam</a>, whose great-great grandparents moved to the island in 1865, and lawyer and activist <a href="http://anthonypgriffin.com/about.html" target="_blank">Anthony P. Griffin</a>, who is trying to preserve land for Black folks in this historic city.</p><p>Follow and share the