One Woman's Quest To Make Juneteenth A National Holiday 
 
 A 90-year-old Texas woman is trying to make "Juneteenth," a holiday that honors the freedom of slaves, a national holiday. She's walked around the country and will end her petition in Washington, D.C. 
 
 MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: 
 
 This week, thousands of Americans are getting ready to visit Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration or protests or other events. But we want to introduce you to a woman from Fort Worth, Texas, who's planning a special visit to the nation's capitol for a different reason. 
 
 OPAL LEE: I kept telling family and friends that wanted to do it, and I think they thought, well, she's delusional. 
 
 MARTIN: That's Opal Lee. She is on a quest to make June 19 a federal holiday. If you know your American history, then you know that June 19 is known as Juneteenth. It marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and brought news that slavery had been abolished some two and a half years earlier. Oh, and let me just mention Opal Lee is 91 years old. 
 
 LEE: I just thought if a little, old lady in tennis shoes was out there walking, somebody would take notice. 
 
 MARTIN: It started out as a simple walk around her church in Fort Worth. 
 
 LEE: But I got together some people here. We had a rally, and so after the rally, the people walked with me, and we've been going ever since. 
 
 MARTIN: Now she's made her Juneteenth walk throughout the country from Texas to Colorado to Illinois. Her last stop is the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Even though, some 45 states recognize Juneteenth in some way or another, she says the holiday is so important it should be recognized as a federal holiday. 
 
 LEE: Slaves didn't free themselves. There were abolitionists and people of all persuasions that worked untiringly to have slavery abolished. 
 
 MARTIN: Opal Lee has been trying to get President Obama to make Juneteenth a national holiday before he leaves office. But as that date draws near, she says, she hasn't gotten any sign that the president's onboard. But she's not discouraged. 
 
 LEE: I have no idea, but I'll be trying. 
 
 MARTIN: And she says she will keep pushing to make Juneteenth a national holiday when Donald Trump becomes president. 
 
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 The issue arose in a resolution written by John Wiley Price, the county’s only black commissioner. Described only as a “Juneteenth Resolution,” it was approved unanimously. 
 
 Other commissioners admitted after their meeting Tuesday that they hadn’t read the document before voting for it. 
 
 Commissioner Mike Cantrell, the court’s lone Republican, later changed his vote to an abstention. 
 
 “The reason why I didn’t abstain this morning is that I had not received a copy of the resolution,” he said. 
 
 None of the other commissioners changed their votes, meaning the resolution remains the county’s official position. It is, however, a nonbinding resolution, and no tax money will change hands as a result of its passage. 
 
 The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting gave no sign that reparations would be a topic. The “Juneteenth Resolution,” commemorating the day slaves in Texas learned of their freedom, seemed from its description to be just another routine proclamation. Others approved on Tuesday expressed support for Men’s Health Month — it’s June — the American Kidney Fund, and an employee in the tax office who’s been on the job for 25 years. 
 
 But Price’s resolution went beyond taking note of Juneteenth; it included a long list of injustices endured by blacks, from slavery to Jim Crow to predatory lending practices. Then, in its final paragraph, it declared that the suffering of African-Americans should be “satisfied with monetary and substantial reparations.” 
 
 Price read the entire document aloud at the meeting. But that happens with every resolution, and the commissioners didn’t seem to be listening with a critical ear. With no discussion, Price’s resolution was approved by voice vote. 
 
 Then, about an hour later, the other commissioners complained that they hadn’t been given copies of the resolution before they voted. It wasn’t part of their meeting packet, they said. Nor was it posted on the county’s website. Price said in an interview that he didn’t know how that happened. He said he wrote the resolution after reading an article in The Atlantic making the case for reparations. Other ethnic groups, including American Indians and Japanese-Americans, have received compensation for past mistreatment, he noted. 
 
 “We are the only people who haven’t been compensated,” he said. 
 
 The other commissioners didn’t delve into the substance of the reparations debate. They simply expressed frustration at not seeing the resolution before the meeting. 
 
 “I am leaving my vote the way it is,” County Judge Clay Jenkins said. “This is the body’s expression of support for unity towards people, a recognition of Juneteenth.” 
 
 But, he added: “I want to encourage staff to make sure that all of the commissioners have the opportunity to actually read what they are voting on before that vote in the future.” 
 
 Commissioner Elba Garcia added, “Amen.” 
 
 On Twitter: 
 
 @mwatkinsDMN ||||| Ima Matul came to the United States in 1997, when she was 17 years old, she told CNN. She thought she would be working as a housekeeper for the cousin of her former employer in Indonesia, but when she arrived her passport was taken: 
 
 As soon as she passed through customs, the woman who she'd be "working" for confiscated her passport. At the tony house of her employer just outside Beverly Hills, the $150 a month she'd been promised never materialized....She did not get her one day off a week... [her captor] "was threatening me, saying that if I ran away, the police would arrest me because I didn't have my passport, and that I'd be thrown in jail where I'd be raped," said Matul. 
 
 Matul’s story isn’t unique. An estimated 35.8 million people around the world are modern day slaves, according to the 2014 Global Slavery Index, a report by the Australia-based NGO the Walk Free Foundation (WFF). 
 
 The ranking is based on the percent of the population estimated to be enslaved and the actions the government is taking to end modern slavery. Mauritania and Uzbekistan top the list with 4 and 3.9 percent of their population in slavery. But in absolute numbers, India leads, with an estimated 14 million people enslaved. 
 
 Slaves can be found in every one of the 167 countries the index ranked, including the United States. About 60 thousand people are trapped in slavery in "the land of the free." 
 
 Modern-day slavery includes people who are forced to work, owned or controlled by an "employer," bought and sold as "property," and those physically constrained or unable to move freely, according to Antislavery.org. Forced prostitution is a big part of modern-day slavery, but human trafficking also includes domestic workers, restaurant workers and traveling sales crews, reports Steve Hargreaves for CNN.com. Foreign workers are especially vulnerable because they fear deportation. One example: the 500 Indian men working as welders and pipe-fitters in Texas and Mississippi for the marine construction company Signal International, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. 
 
 “The first step in eradicating slavery is to measure it," the WFF’s founder, Andrew Forrest, told Larry Elliott for the Guardian. "And with that critical information, we must all come together – governments, businesses and civil society – to finally bring an end to the most severe form of exploitation.” The index’s report gives the Netherlands, Sweden, the United States, Australia and Switzerland the best ranking in terms of government response. Only the U.S., Australia and Brazil have taken steps to keep forced and slave labor out of their supply chains and those of businesses. 
 
 The report says victim assistance is a weakness for most countries. "Most countries either only provide short term assistance, neglecting long-term reintegration, or provide support solely for female or child victims," they write. 
 
 CNN’s Freedom Project highlights how individuals can help eradicate modern day slavery. The site has a list of global hotlines to report cases of human trafficking, a list of charities by country and organizations that work globally. 
 
 Ima Matul was eventually able escape. She passed a note to the neighbors’ nanny, who was able to arrange for her transportation for a shelter run by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. The people that kept her were never prosecuted because the case was difficult to prove, CNN reports. But Matul has since gotten her GED and is married with three kids. She now works at the coalition as a Survivor Organizer. ||||| Call it Ani DiFranco’s “accidental racism.” The musician’s “Righteous Retreat” for songwriters was scheduled to take place over four days at the Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, La., not far from DiFranco’s home in New Orleans. She cancelled the retreat yesterday after fielding outrage from numerous bloggers and social media commenters understandably upset about the decision to patronize a former holding place for enslaved black people — particularly given that it continues to profit from that heritage. 
 
 In an open letter of apology, DiFranco wrote that initially she didn’t know where her retreat was scheduled, but when she found out about the plantation setting, her first thought was “whoa” (her word). But then she could “not imagine or understand that the setting of a plantation would trigger such collective outrage or result in so much high velocity bitterness.” 
 
 In Louisiana, where blackface minstrelsy and Confederate statues are apple pie, DiFranco can maybe get a pass for the initial oversight. But ultimately it should not have taken collective outrage, only her own, to make a change. Her decision, at first, to proceed with the retreat falls in line with an American habit of divorcing painful symbols and events from their historical and environmental contexts. She knew better, but decided not to do better. 
 
 I can attest from living in Louisiana that there is some ambiguity around “plantations,” and whether they’re facially, racially neutral in the 21st century. It doesn’t need to be complicated, though. We know plantations were major economic engines of the American chattel slavery system. They are the locations where kidnapped and enslaved Africans were whipped to death when not toiling to death while collecting cotton and sugarcane. They are where countless enslaved African women were lynched, raped, and traded away like bitcoin. They were also, as I’ve written here, at the center of a massive deforestation and monocropping experiment that has left the land across the South ruined to this day. 
 
 John Randolph, the Nottoway Plantation’s owner, owned 155 slaves and 42 slave houses in 1860, a time when most owners held less than 20 slaves, according to the Nottoway narrative. More from that history: 
 
 John Randolph made it clear from the very beginning that no expense was to be spared in the construction of the opulent structure he planned to build; he wanted a house that would be completely different from anything ever built before, no matter what the cost. 
 
 Those costs: 
 
 The Nottoway mansion was to be constructed of very durable cypress wood, cut from trees which grew in great abundance in the swamps of Forest Home. However, before the cut cypress logs could be used, they had to be cured underwater for six years, after which they were hauled by the slaves over miles of plantation ground to the construction site. There the slaves finished preparing the timber by cutting the logs into planks and allowing them to dry. 
 
 Reading the Nottoway’s version of history, I was instantly reminded of the film and book 12 Years a Slave, which showed us the excruciating physical costs of expanding the plantation state. In a recent interview with Harvard historian Henry Louis Gates (a consultant on the film), director Steven McQueen said of his cinematic vision, “The story is about the environment, and how individuals have to make sense of it, how we locate the self in events.” 
 
 DiFranco failed to make sense of the environment, perhaps trying to contain the past of the location in the past. By avoiding or ignoring the bigger questions — for one, what systems of oppression or destruction does the “plantation” symbolize, especially in Louisiana? — she chose instead to privilege the beauty of the landscape. And these are truly exquisite, opulent estates, there’s no denying that. 
 
 “People have said to me, ‘It’s so beautiful,’ and that’s because it is so beautiful,” McQueen told Gates. “You had these beautiful plantations, but horrific things happen in the most beautiful places … Life is perverse.” 
 
 Ugly things happen in fantastic places when people choose to see what they want to see, instead of what’s actually there. In that respect, the bigger question has to do with our blind spots — whether seeing one community’s water source as another’s waste disposal site, or Louisiana Duck Dynasty hunter Phil Robertson saying that black people were “happy” in the early history of his state (a notion that Northup thoroughly debunked in his memoir). In either case, someone profits from those blind spots, and someone’s life is further devalued. 
 
 DiFranco acknowledged the troublesome history of slavery in her apology, writing, “i know that pain is stored in places where great social ills have occurred,” and that she “know[s] that the pain of slavery is real and runs very deep and wide.” 
 
 She blows out her knowings even further writing: 
 
 i know that indeed our whole country has had a history of invasion, oppression and exploitation as part of it’s very fabric of power and wealth. i know that each of us is sitting right now in a building located on stolen land. stolen from the original people of this continent who suffered genocide at the hands of european colonists. i know that many of us can look down right now and see shoes and clothes that were manufactured by modern day indentured servants in sweat shops. i know that micro profits from purchases that we make all day long are trickling down to monsanto, to nestle and to GE. i know that a sickeningly large percentage of the taxes we pay go to manufacturing weapons and to making war. and on and on and on. it is a very imperfect world we live in and i, like everyone else, am just trying to do my best to negotiate it. 
 
 In the end, instead of patronizing a place that has chosen to profit off of a painful past, DiFranco shut down her retreat. Rather than continuing in honor of the higher ideals she lists in her letter, she took her guitar and went home. It’s too bad. 
 
 McQueen said he placed so many grotesque scenes in his film as a “call to arms” for the audience. “We don’t want to get involved. We walk by … it’s what we do. … There’s so much that we can do and should do.” 
 
 With all her knowing, from slavery to Monsanto, it seems there’s much more DiFranco could’ve done. ||||| 5 HAPPY JUNETEENTH! 5 5 
 
 Briefly describe photo including (city, state) along with any other relevant details. 5 5 5 5 Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. 
 
 Join Yard Sign Campaign From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond. Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a day, a week, and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics and family gatherings. It is a time for reflection and rejoicing. It is a time for assessment, self-improvement and for planning the future. Its growing popularity signifies a level of maturity and dignity in America long over due. In cities across the country, people of all races, nationalities and religions are joining hands to truthfully acknowledge a period in our history that shaped and continues to influence our society today. Sensitized to the conditions and experiences of others, only then can we make significant and lasting improvements in our society. The celebrations that followed the reading of the proclamation by General Gordon Granger began a tradition that has lasted for one hundred and forty four years, and today is hosted in cities across America and beyond. The JUNETEENTH.com website is dedicated to this celebration and to those who tirelessly contribute to its continued existence and growth. For information regarding this website, contact us via email or call: 504 242-4691 © JUNETEENTH.com 
 
 Dedicated to the memory of Tom Feelings and his extraordinary work 
 
 "The Middle Passage" 5 Let's make Juneteenth a commemorative, not of the horrific institution our country embraced, but rather as a showcase of the strength in the American spirit to recognize wrong and set about making it right. In this same spirit America moves ahead today in leveling playing fields and achieivng ever greater equality. Let us celebrate all that Juneteenth teaches us about our country's greatness in ouruse of the heart to hear and to learn and to work together for all that is good and just. John 
 
 Albuquerque Almost 7 years ago, on June 21, 2008, my grandmother was laid to rest. As our funeral procession passed near Wichita State University in Wichita, KS, a parade was taking place. The parade stopped to let us pass, and the men and women on horseback removed their cowboy hats and placed them over their hearts. It was the first time that day we laughed - Grams would have loved that she stopped a parade. What those men and women did not know is my Grams was a First Lieutenant in the Army - she served during WWII as a psychiatric nurse. She lived an amazing life after that, with God at the helm. 
 
 I learned today that the parade that day by WSU was the Juneteenth Parade. That the men and women so selflessly stopped to allow our funeral procession to move past has remained in our family's hearts and minds all these years. We cannot thank you enough for your kindness. You are forever a part of our family's history. Angie 
 
 Kansas L ook for the Juneteenth World Wide Celebration emblem at Juneteenth events across America and beyond! 
 
 5 Please support our efforts. 
 
 Help us expand the JUNETEENTH.com Website. 5 This site is very inspiring. I am starting my annual tradition . God Bless! Isabel Portugal I cannot say thank you enough. This website has done what word of mouth could never hope to accomplish. It has reached all walks of life. It gives hope, rekindles memories, makes others aware, it is a tool that can be used to complete a job that is still in finishing stages. We should never forget those who gave so much and received so little to make this day possible. C. Harris 
 
 California Your website has awakened in me wonderful memories of my families celebration of Juneteenth. We celebrated with music, food, sharing of our blessings, and ended by the entire congregation dancing the Grand March on the lawn of the church. Nia Florida " The praise and celebration of Juneteenth has been a long time in coming. We thank the people of Galveston, Texas for patience and endurance. God Bless! " Cheryl D This is a great site. I hope all Americans will embrace the spirit of Juneteenth as one of freedom and culture, and take time to reflect on the great mosaic of America. When we see ourselves as one people, with our differences adding flavor to our similarities, America becomes a truly great nation and people in the eyes of history. Jack 
 
 New Mexico Read more 2018 Featured Writers Do you recognize the name "Kristina Kay"? She is the author of the poetry in our Juneteenth Poetry section. What you probably don't know is that she was only 9 years old when she wrote those poems. Well, fast forward a few years, and she's all grown up and still utilizing her talents as an international writer and traveler. 
 
 Read more about Kristina Kay Point Being: Seek out your God-given talents and you will move mountains. On that same point, here is another future great writer and motivator. Jared Green has a story to tell about turning one's life around - even at an early age. Contact him on Instagram and stay tuned for his new book.
– She's almost there. Opal Lee, 90, set out from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, in September with a single goal: a long walk, with a final stop in Washington, DC, where she wants to present her petition to President Obama calling for a federal holiday on June 19. That's the day—"Juneteenth"—that Union soldiers came to Texas in 1865 with the news that slavery had been abolished more than two years earlier. What started out as a stroll around Lee's church last August mushroomed into something bigger. "The people walked with me, and we've been going ever since," Lee tells NPR. "I just thought if a little, old lady in tennis shoes was out there walking, somebody would take notice." She was right. Invitations started coming, and Lee was happy to take them—in states ranging from Colorado and Ohio and Pennsylvania and Virginia, in a quest to add 100,000 signatures to her petition. "I walk wherever I’m invited," Lee told CBS Pittsburgh during a stop in November. "Two and a half miles in the morning and two and a half in the afternoon to symbolize that slaves were later told that they were free." Lee, who collects donations on GoFundMe, is due in the nation's capital next week, where she hopes to make her case to Obama and lawmakers. Although 45 states count Juneteenth as a holiday, Lee says federal recognition is important. "It would be the oldest holiday of significance for black people in these United States, so it needs to be observed and celebrated," she tells Fox4. "Slaves didn't free themselves," she adds, per NPR. "There were abolitionists and people of all persuasions that worked untiringly to have slavery abolished." And if her pitch falls short next week? There's a new president coming and Lee plans to keep pushing with him. (Dallas once voted on slavery reparations.)