Friday 19th June 2020..Day 122!!

Friday marks the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the abolishment of slavery that takes place every year on June 19.

The date refers not to the end of legal slavery in the United States but to the gap in time before everyone heard the news.

“It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it,” President Trump said of Juneteenth this week in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. 

Many schools don’t teach the history of Juneteenth and it is not recognized as a federal holiday.

However, Trump earned criticism for scheduling a campaign rally on the date. The rally had also been scheduled in Tulsa, Okla., a location associated with the Tulsa race massacre of 1921.

Trump later rescheduled the rally for the following day, June 20, saying “many” of his African American friends and supporters suggested his campaign change the date “out of respect for this holiday.”

“I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal.

His predecessor, former President Obama, observed Juneteenth with yearly proclamations during his administration. 

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Juneteenth was first celebrated in Texas in 1866 and has since been reserved as a day of celebration and reflection for many African Americans.

This year, the date falls amid protests against racism and police brutality sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other black Americans.

As state and federal lawmakers face ongoing protests over police use of force, a number of cities and states have recognized Juneteenth as an official holiday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) issued an executive order recognizing the date as an official holiday for state employees and announced plans to propose legislation making it “an official state holiday so New Yorkers can use this day to reflect on all the changes we still need to make to create a more fair, just and equal society.”

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) also made Juneteenth a holiday for state employees. 

Companies like Twitter, Nike and JCPenney have also announced plans to observe the date as a holiday. The NFL closed league offices in observation.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) have announced plans for legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

While a culmination of recent events have brought mainstream attention to the celebration, the holiday’s origins date back to June 19, 1865, the date Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued an order in Galveston informing thousands of enslaved people in Texas that “all slaves are free” under the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln.

The proclamation by Lincoln, which freed enslaved people in Confederate states like Texas that had seceded from the nation during the Civil War, was issued two years prior to Granger’s order.

Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., pointed out in an essay explaining the holiday’s history in The Root that emancipation took longer in Texas partly due to slave owners in other states “migrating to Texas to escape the Union Army’s reach.”

Gates also noted in his essay that after Granger issued his order and the subsequent ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865, “it wasn’t exactly instant magic for most of the Lone Star State’s 250,000 slaves.”

“On plantations, masters had to decide when and how to announce the news — or wait for a government agent to arrive — and it was not uncommon for them to delay until after the harvest,” Gates wrote.

This is taken from the Mexico daily news...

Thursday’s 5,662 Covid-19 cases set new daily record; total reaches 165,455

Mexico City, México state, Puebla and Tabasco have the largest active coronavirus outbreaks

A new single-day record of 5,662 confirmed Covid-19 cases were added to Mexico’s tally on Thursday, while 667 additional fatalities were reported, lifting the death toll to close to 20,000.

The Health Ministry reported that the cumulative case tally had increased to 165,455 and that confirmed Covid-19 deaths had risen to 19,747.

An additional 1,868 fatalities are suspected of being caused by Covid-19 but have not yet been confirmed.

About a quarter of Covid-19 patients who have died did not have an identified underlying health condition that made them more vulnerable to the disease, Health Ministry data shows.

There are currently 23,528 active coronavirus cases across the country while the results of 59,778 tests are not yet known. Just under 453,500 people have been tested for Covid-19, and three-quarters of those who tested positive have now fully recovered.

The daily tally of coronavirus cases and deaths. Deaths are numbers reported and not necessarily those that occurred each day. MILENIO

Mexico City continues to lead the country for accumulated coronavirus cases, active cases and deaths while México state ranks second in all three categories.

Just over 40,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the capital since the start of the pandemic, with 10% of confirmed cases – 4,141 – currently active. Mexico City’s official coronavirus death toll is 5,184.

After Mexico City and México state, Puebla and Tabasco have the largest active coronavirus outbreaks. Just over 1,000 of Puebla’s 1,340 active cases are in the state capital, which has a larger active outbreak than any other municipality in Mexico.

At the municipal level, the Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa has the second biggest active outbreak followed by León, Guanajuato, and Centro (Villahermosa), Tabasco.

In addition to Mexico City, three states have recorded more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths: México state, with 2,343; Baja California, with 1,638; and Veracruz, with 1,160. Seven others – Sinaloa, Puebla, Tabasco, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Hidalgo and Quintana Roo – have recorded 500 or more.

Mexico’s biggest success story of the pandemic is Colima, which has the lowest coronavirus case tally and death toll in the country. The small Pacific coast state has recorded just 339 cases, 89 of which are currently active, and 42 deaths.

Zacatecas is the only other state to have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases while four others – Baja California Sur, Zacatecas, Durango and Aguascalientes – have death tolls below 100.

National data presented at the Health Ministry’s coronavirus press briefing on Thursday night showed that 46% of general care beds set aside for patients with serious coronavirus symptoms are currently occupied while 39% of those with ventilators are in use. However, hospital occupancy levels are significantly higher in Mexico City and México state.

At Friday night’s press briefing, the Health Ministry will present a new “stoplight” map indicating the risk of coronavirus infection in each of Mexico’s 32 states.

Exactly half of the states are currently at the “red light” risk level while the other half were allocated an “orange light” last Friday that allowed them to ease restrictions this week. The new risk levels for each state will take effect on Monday.

Stay safe and healthy!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!