News Information and Media Site: Congress made Juneteenth a national holiday

Quick note: Hi folks — this newsletter will be taking Friday June 18th off, for Juneteenth. It will return to your inbox on Monday, June 21. Have a great weekend! — Elamin

THE BIG STORY

Congress has made Juneteenth a national holiday. Just don't talk about the legacy of slavery.

America's attempts to grapple with its history are often contradictory. Consider that just this week, Congress passed a bill recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday, the culmination of a decadeslong effort to get recognition for the day. A significant move, right? Yet it comes during a time of great tension over how the legacy of slavery should be taught.

The movement to nationally commemorate the day of June 19, 1865 — when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, were told they had been freed nearly three years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation — is not new. Many states already recognize it as a holiday, but many have been pushing for federal recognition, too.

Congressed passed the bill as a cultural war rages over lessons about slavery, race, and racism in schools.

These lessons have become a political and cultural flashpoint fueled by right-wing media and conservative activists. At least one Republican lawmaker in the House said he was voting against the Juneteenth bill because he believed it was part of a broader battle of so-called identity politics.

In this June 19, 2020 photo, protesters chant as they march after a Juneteenth rally at the Brooklyn Museum. John Minchillo / AP

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

The Biden-Putin summit ended without major breakthroughs — and the Russian leader relishing the spotlight

The meeting between President Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin was highly anticipated. And while the Switzerland meeting didn't end with any headline-making breakthroughs, it was clear that there was one winner: Putin.

The summit was carefully choreographed by the US side to ensure no mishaps or moments that would show the two leaders being overly friendly, like there were during the Trump–Putin summit, and to not allow Putin to set the tone and pace of events.

For example, the US asked that Putin, whose power move is to show up late to such events to ice his adversaries, arrive first to the meeting.

In the end, with all the media attention and acknowledgement, one expert put it like this: "Putin got exactly what he wanted."

SNAPSHOTS

The US can again grant asylum to domestic violence survivors after the attorney general tossed out a Trump administration decision. The Justice Department threw out a decision by former attorney general Jeff Sessions that made it virtually impossible for immigrants to win asylum because they were fleeing domestic violence in their home countries.

Three police officers have been charged in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy. The Honolulu officers were charged after body camera footage contradicted their account of what happened, prosecutors said. Authorities added that the use of deadly force against Iremamber Sykap in Honolulu was "unnecessary, unreasonable, and unjustified under the law."

An influencer was mistaken to be anti-vax when she responded "No I'm 23" to a question, and now it's become a huge meme. People thought it was a hilarious and problematic response to the question, but it appears Lucie Rose Donlan is based in the UK, where those in her age group are not yet eligible for the COVID vaccine.

CAGED TWEETS

The Nigerian government has banned its citizens from using Twitter and the consequences are steep

There is significant irony in the fact that the announcement initially came through the Twitter account of Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Information and Culture. Nonetheless, a couple of weeks ago, Nigeria's government announced it would be suspending Twitter operations in the country.

On the day the ban went live, telecommunications companies and service providers in the country received orders from the federal government to suspend the access of all network users to Twitter. The government called the ban "temporary" but didn't specify how long it would be in effect.

Many say the ban is in response to Twitter's decision to delete a tweet made by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, citing it as a violation of the app's rules against "abusive behavior."

But for a country where social media played an integral role in giving citizens the opportunity to voice their opinions and openly express their frustrations with the government, the ban is a big deal.

SOMETHING TO SIT WITH

Your weekend longreads on a Thursday

Why Bo Burnham, Jenna Marbles, and Shane Dawson all logged off. Have you seen Bo Burnham's new comedy special Inside? Scaachi Koul reframes it as a poignant horror show and explores why people who grew up on the internet have a different relationship with it now.

How Lin-Manuel Miranda went from being cool to corny. In 2016, Miranda was as cool as it gets. Everyone knew the words to Hamilton. It won a Pulitzer! He was on SNL! Fast forward 5 years later, and the shine seems to have worn off. Meha Razdan looked into how, over the past four years, the star musical composer has become a symbol of millennial cringe.

BuzzFeed's best books of June. Here are our top picks for the best books we read that will arrive this month.

Take a moment to invite calm and presence into your day,

Elamin

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