This Juneteenth, we celebrate a renewed call for racial justice

WASHINGTON — AFSCME President Lee Saunders issued the following statement to commemorate Juneteenth:

“Juneteenth has always been a day to celebrate the end of slavery and an opportunity for African Americans to honor their history, their culture and their contributions to our nation.

“This year, our Juneteenth celebrations are draped with a backdrop of peaceful protests pushing for change. If we want to crush enduring, systemic racism in American society – if we want justice for Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others – we must continue to organize for change. We must continue to make our voices heard. We must make sure that we vote.

“We at AFSCME will never lose sight of the connection between racial justice and economic justice or forget the Jim Crow roots of so-called ‘right to work’ or any other law that divides us as a nation. As we continue the struggle, we will lean on one of the enduring lessons of black history: a thriving African American community, with economic security and upward mobility, depends on strong unions.”