For the second year, thousands of people marked Juneteenth by queuing outside the National Archive’s East Side Rotunda Gallery to catch a glimpse of the rarely exhibited Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3., which informed enslaved Black people in Texas of their freedom in 1865, and gave rise to the holiday.
Two of the most influential documents that discuss the freedom of enslaved Black people in the United States are so fragile that the National Archives normally keeps them in a high-security climate-controlled vault with limited light for preservation. But that could change soon. On Saturday, Colleen Shogan, the Archivist of the United States, announced a plan to display the Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 permanently.
Shogan said they belong with other foundational documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which are on permanent display in the Charters of Freedom Rotunda at the Archives.
“It’s critically important because it’s an addition to the Charters of Freedom and helps us tell a much more comprehensive story,” she said. “It’s important for all Americans to see a reflection of themselves in American History.”
She did not give a date, saying the timing will depend on when the archivists complete their research on preservation.
A thoughtful and happy Juneteenth!
Forecasters warned people celebrating Father's Day outdoors to take precautions as triple-digit temperatures prompted heat advisories across much of the southern U.S., triggered thunderstorms that knocked out power from Oklahoma to Mississippi and whipped up winds that raised wildfire threats in Arizona and New Mexico.
A suspected tornado struck near Scranton, Arkansas early Sunday, destroying chicken houses and toppling trees onto homes, the National Weather Service said. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.
Meteorologists said that potentially record-breaking temperatures would continue into midweek over southern Texas and much of the Gulf Coast. Storms producing damaging winds, hail and possibly tornadoes could strike the lower Mississippi Valley.
“If you have outdoor plans this #FathersDay, don’t forget to practice heat safety! Take frequent breaks, stay hydrated, NEVER leave people/pets alone in a car!” the weather service office in Houston said on Twitter.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency for north and central parts of his state after strong winds and severe weather caused widespread power outages on Saturday. On Sunday, more than 740,000 people were without power in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, according to PowerOutage.us...
Climate change is here with a vengeance.
Asylum-seekers transported from Texas to California’s capital city of Sacramento two weeks ago say they were misled by people who convinced them to travel with promises of work and shelter.
A total of 36 migrants were driven from Texas to New Mexico where they were then transported on private charter flights to California on June 2 and June 5, Eddie Carmona, director of campaigns with the non-profit PICO California, told CNN. Most of the migrants, two of whom CNN spoke to, are from Venezuela and Colombia, while a few are from Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
“We are here because they offered us a job,” one of the migrants, a 34-year-old Venezuelan man who does not want to be identified for legal reasons, told CNN. “We were deceived by the people who provided the flight service. They offered us jobs and housing.”
Investigators from the California Attorney General’s office have determined that although the migrants came from Texas, they were carrying documents purportedly from the Florida government. The papers listed Vertol Systems Company Inc. as the contractor behind the flights. CNN has obtained a signed contract showing Florida’s Division of Emergency Management hired Vertol Systems to relocate migrants in May. It’s the second time Florida’s government has worked with the contractor since the fall of 2022. [snip]
Members of the first group told authorities they were told to sign documents before they could board the plane to Sacramento, according to Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta. However, not all the migrants – who are not fluent in English – understood where they were headed and not all signed the forms, she said.
The Venezuelan migrant, who had only been in the US for a week before being transported to California on the first flight, told CNN four people approached him in a migrant shelter in El Paso, Texas, and promised if he agreed to go to California, he would be given a job and a place to live.
The migrant said the people asked him to sign paperwork in English, which he doesn’t speak. He said although he didn’t understand the document, he signed it because of what he was promised.
California is looking into whether trafficking and/ or kidnapping laws were broken and, if so, to hold those who were responsible for this outrage to account, up to and including Christofascist Texass Gov. Gregg Abbott and Florida Gov. "Bootsie" DeSantis. If there's any justice in this country...
