Author: Carma Henry

   The driving force behind this historic event was Ms. Shauna Hicks-Lee, a woman of vision, conviction, and tenacity. “Juneteenth marks freedom,” she said in an interview held during the celebration, “but we know freedom didn’t come easy—and in many ways, we’re still fighting for it.” Black liberation today means visibility and ownership in spaces once closed off. “Once upon a time,” she reflected, “we didn’t have access to facilities like this. Now we do. Now people who don’t look like us see our vision and support us. That is part of liberation.”

aevion Norris, an 18-year-old African American teen from Illinois who couldn’t attend his high school graduation due to heart failure, got a special ceremony at the hospital where he’s waiting for a heart transplant. Despite battling his illness, he managed to finish school on time.

       On Tuesday (June 17), Obama delivered a speech in Hartford, Connecticut, where he took aim at the Trump administration’s “weak commitment” to democracy, per MSNBC.

Marva Johnson would win a unanimous vote of the Florida Board of Governors, but that came after another grueling round of stakeholder testimony opposing her appointment as  Florida A&M University president. All thirteen alumni, students, and faculty denounced her candidacy, qualifications, and the selection process that brought her to the post that would pay her nearly $900,000.00 annually. 

        A Black woman walked out of a North Carolina auto shop after employees appeared to mock Juneteenth.

       During a June 17 media briefing, Catholic health system executives shared details about the conversations taking place on Capitol Hill and what signals they’re picking up as lawmakers push to move the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to President Donald Trump’s desk by July 4.

        The Miami City Commission voted Tuesday to shift municipal elections to even-numbered years to coincide with state and federal contests. The 3-2 vote advances a proposal that would delay the city’s upcoming November election until 2026, effectively extending the terms of current commissioners — including those facing term limits — without requiring voter approval.

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The historically diverse statewide ticket in Virginia includes an openly gay Republican white male, a Black male attorney from Norfolk, a Jamaican-born U.S. Marine corps veteran, a Muslim woman born in India, a white woman who was a CIA officer and a Cuban American Republican.

     Our nation’s top health officials are sounding the alarm on federal nutrition policy. They’re right to be concerned. Rates of diet-related diseases — including obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, and iron-deficiency anemia — continue to rise. Anemia alone affects 10 million Americans, causing chest pain, headaches, and fatigue. Left untreated, it can lead to serious heart problems, premature births, and stunted growth in infants and children.

     This action flies in the face of the U.S. government’s lengthy record of humanitarian assistance to people of other nations whose lives had been blighted by war, poverty, and illness. From the Marshall Plan to rebuild war-devastated Europe, to Senator George McGovern’s Food for Peace project to feed the hungry, to massive international public health campaigns to eradicate global diseases, U.S. aid programs have played an important role in alleviating human suffering around the world.