Juneteenth commemorates the final freeing of slaves in America in 1865. Yet, 155 years later, African Americans are still not truly free. Unequal treatment in education, employment, housing, access to capital, and mass incarceration hold people of color under a heavy weight of despair, poverty, illness, and death. Systems that should support vulnerable communities, such as public assistance, seem perversely designed to perpetuate this long history of abuse. Men and women of color are being murdered by law enforcement – in the streets, in their cars, and in their homes.
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