OP-ED

Always remember, that the strategy for beating this thing centers on something known as herd immunity. I’m sure you’ve heard that word by now. The is when the entire population is protected from the virus because enough of the general population has either been vaccinated or previously infected by the virus and developed natural antibodies. Needless to say, with a virus as deadly as COVID-19, we certainly don’t want to sit and watch enough folks get infected and hope enough of them don’t die to contribute to our herd immunity goal. That means we have to rely on the success of the vaccine campaign.

When you get vaccinated, you’re not doing it just for yourself. You’re doing it for those close to you, for your friends and family, and for the community. If we want to see an end to this pandemic and get back to some sense of normalcy, we need to get vaccinated.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson made history this week when the U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. That is cause for celebration.

I do this thing in my head with President Joe Biden. When he gets on my nerves, I often call him President.

The last two years have underlined what we already knew: the digital divide in America is real and has consequences for millions of Americans.

According to the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation, the Juneteenth Flag represents a star of Texas bursting with new freedom throughout the land, over a new horizon. The Juneteenth Flag also represents a new freedom, a new people, and a new star.

On paper Black people were free, but in reality, in the physical world, Black people found themselves, particularly during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras in the South, living in a state of oppression and some were even in a perpetual state of servitude.

Right now, Black Americans are still chained to systems of financial bondage. We must think beyond Juneteenth to continue to find ways to access capital, which brings real freedom.

What if we as Black people utilized Juneteenth each year to collectively recalibrate on “one single issue” like the Freedom to Vote Act, the George Floyd Act, or the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act. 

Juneteenth is many different things in my mind. It is a chance to recognize and celebrate true freedom in the United States. It is a chance to acknowledge past wrongs to create healing. It is a holiday to acknowledge that Black Americans had to fight to be seen as Americans.