Happy Juneteenth! A video for those who need to learn more about the holiday. #Juneteenth2019 #Juneteenth pic.twitter.com/PSOsvTLaJl— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) June 19, 2019
Outside the Oval Office, I kept a painting of a small crowd huddled around a pocketwatch, waiting for the moment the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. On Juneteenth, we celebrate the anniversary of that news - freedom - reaching slaves in Texas. And something more: pic.twitter.com/kSkLHbfnc3— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 19, 2019
And slaves. Can’t forget the slaves. https://t.co/bwaPQy61lv— Matthew A. Cherry 🏁 (@MatthewACherry) June 16, 2019
"It is impossible to imagine America without the inheritance of slavery."— The Root (@TheRoot) June 19, 2019
On this #Juneteeth, Ta-Nehisi Coates testified at the #reparationshearing to discuss the case for reparations. pic.twitter.com/b4WZlh0nH0
A Line A Day: Reparations https://t.co/STjQ6fLxas— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 18, 2019
I'm pretty sure Mitch was a toddler during the final pre emancipation days https://t.co/rBvgye2Zfk— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 18, 2019
I don't need or expect reparations & could care less what Mitch thinks about it. What I deserve as an American citizen is to have a real president and functioning federal gov't devoid of near Nazis. Where do I sign up for that?— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 18, 2019
Hey JoeBiden cites his relationships with segregationist senators as examples of "civility" https://t.co/jZPYByklEP— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 19, 2019
— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 19, 2019
Kyle Kashuv, a conservative Parkland survivor who got caught using the n-word, just had his Harvard admission rescinded pic.twitter.com/SMrTppVztl— Austin S. Harris (@austinsharris) June 17, 2019
Free speech doesn't mean free from consequences. No private organization owes you sh*t. Whatever your race is if you like to use the N-word, Harvard may use the "no thanks" expression. So just be happy that the penalty isn't jail time. Or maybe, just maybe, don't say it.— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 18, 2019
— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 17, 2019
you cant spend $20 on weed with harriet tubman face on it.
— Demetrius (@DemetriusHarmon) May 14, 2015
judgmental ass face , you gone fuck around and buy tulips pic.twitter.com/UXcFyC4Fl0
A Line A Day: Will trade a Benjamin for five Tubmans https://t.co/qruD0wQuT0— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 14, 2019
I just watched When They See Us from beginning to end of the series. Incredibly powerful, packed full with fantastic performances. Bravo to @ava and God bless the @centralparkfive— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 7, 2019
Wow– April Ryan: “Mr. President, will you apologize for the Central Park 5?— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) June 18, 2019
Trump: “You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt ... we’ll leave it at that.” pic.twitter.com/Cm3pQZ1Dis
I'm currently reading The Plot Against America and the parallels between Roth's novel and what's going on in America today are uncanny. Main difference is that in the novel there isn't a clear path to impeachment of president. https://t.co/QKlwH5NMxV— Roy L. Pickering Jr. (@AuthorofPatches) June 18, 2019
The Plot Against America by Philip RothMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a very interesting piece of alternate historical fiction. Philip Roth asks the question - what if FDR had been defeated in his presidential run for a third term by the charismatic, anti-Semitic Charles Lindbergh whose main campaign promise was to keep the US out of World War II while having a darker motive for acquiring great power? Roth tells his story in a macro way as well as going micro and showing the impact of Lindbergh's presidency through the eyes of a boy in a Jewish family living in Newark, NJ. I decided to read this book upon learning that HBO is doing a movie adaptation of it, with portions being filmed in my neighborhood. I took the opportunity to visit the site of filming when it was taking place a few blocks from my house. It was a cool experience made cooler by getting to hang out with a few of the extras. I've long been a Philip Roth fan, and while this novel didn't impress me quite as much as the masterful American Pastoral or crack me up like the hilarious Portnoy's Complaint, it was still a great read. Parallels between the 1940's of Roth's imagination and our current political climate are striking. Simply switch the idea of a man who ascends to the presidency aided by a foreign government (Germany) with the idea of a man ascending to the presidency aided by a foreign government (Russia). Switch a celebrity with no previous political experience having an improbable, meteoric rise to the White House with a celebrity with no previous political experience having an improbable, meteoric rise to the White House. Switch people being thrown into hellish concentration camps because they're Jewish with people being thrown into hellish detention centers because they crossed a border in hope for a better way of life. One is hypothetical fiction, the other is the life we're living. The deeper into the book you get, the more you marvel at how Roth seemed to be stealing from a reality that hadn't happened yet by creating one that never happened. As a wise man once said, truth is stranger than fiction.
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From MATTERS OF CONVENIENCE
President Joe Biden has signed legislation establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas. https://t.co/zuUa3cEVpB
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 17, 2021
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