Churches Against ‘Jim Crow’

For many black congregations, this weekend’s celebration of Juneteenth will feature a special emphasis on exposing the racial biases of our nation’s criminal justice system.

Since attorney Michelle Alexander wrote The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, a network of churches has joined her in the fight against a criminal justice system that targets poor minority communities and locks up a disproportionate percentage of African American men.

The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, a group of thousands of black churches involved in local and global social justice issues, is coming together for Juneteenth to galvanize faith-based action against the new Jim Crow that Alexander writes about in her book.

Catherine Newhouse, Churches Against ‘Jim Crow’ | Urban Faith, June 17, 2011.

See earlier posts on The New Jim Crow. See also the Gallagher Law Library (UW Law) guide, Race in the Criminal Justice System and the website for the state Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System.

Juneteenth is a celebration of African American freedom and accomplishment. The Washington State legislature declared:

The legislature recognizes that on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and the slaves were now free; that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863; that the end of slavery brought on new challenges and realities in establishing a previously nonexistent status for African-Americans in the United States; that racism and continued inequality is the legacy of slavery and acknowledging it is the first step in its eradication; and that since 1980 June 19th has been celebrated as Juneteenth across the United States as a day for people to come together in the spirit of reconciliation to commemorate the contributions of African-Americans to this country's history and culture.

The legislature declares that an annual day of recognition be observed in remembrance of the day the slaves realized they were free as a reminder that individual rights and freedoms must never be denied.

The legislature declares that an annual day of recognition be observed in remembrance of the day the slaves realized they were free as a reminder that individual rights and freedoms must never be denied.

Laws of 2007 ch. 61 § 1, codified at RCW 1.16.050.