Congressional Hispanic Caucus Statement on Juneteenth 2020
SAN ANTONIO, TX — Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Joaquin Castro (TX-20) issued the following statement tocommemorate Juneteenth:
"For 155 years, ever since Union Army Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and read General Order No. 3 abolishing the institution of chattel slavery, June 19th has been a day of freedom and jubilee.
"Many students in America's classrooms never learn about Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery—our nation's original sin. Yet the legacy of slavery casts a long shadow on the inequality of today: disparity in health and wealth, segregation in housing and education, injustice in police brutality and mass incarceration, all can be traced back to a history of white supremacy and systems of structural racism.
"This year's Juneteenth celebrations occur as we confront three convergent crises: the deadly coronavirus, mass unemployment, and a broken police system, all of which disproportionately affect Black and Brown people. And let's be clear: racial injustice kills. In the past it was massacres in Tulsa and Porvenir; today it is mass shootings in Charleston and El Paso. We still have much to overcome.
"But working together across lines of difference, progress is possible. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus proudly commemorate Juneteenth with our siblings in the Congressional Black Caucus. I hope today is filled with Black joy and Latino solidarity—Black issues are Latino issues. Next week, we will take action toward a more just future by passing the Justice in Policing Act.
"Juneteenth is a moment for every American to reflect upon how we can bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice and keep striving to become a more perfect union."
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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.