Latest news with #Emancipation
Axios
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Alligator Alcatraz leans on myth steeped in racism
Key to the marketing ploy underpinning Florida's detention camp in the Everglades is the alligator, portrayed by Republican leaders as a blood-thirsty prison guard ready to attack anyone who escapes. Why it matters: Nothing about the portrayal is accurate, experts in alligator biology and history tell Axios. What's more, the idea of the alligator lusting for human flesh is rooted in racism, dating back to Jim Crow, when tourists could buy postcards illustrating Black children as "gator bait." "This idea that being around alligators is inherently dangerous is very problematic and misunderstood," said Mark V. Barrow Jr., a Virginia Tech history professor working on a book about the cultural history of American alligators. The big picture: Florida's reptilian mascot isn't just in the nickname-turned-official name of the detention center. It's central to the premise. "When people get out, there's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons," state Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a June 19 video introducing Alligator Alcatraz. "Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide." AI-generated memes depicting alligators in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hats, as well as merchandise, followed soon after. During his visit to the facility this month, President Trump joked that the critters serve as "bodyguards" and "cops." Reality check: "They're not on our side. It's silly to think that," Mark Teshera, a wildlife biologist who studies alligator behavior, told Axios. Flashback: The idea of alligators as ferocious, human-eating beasts dates back to accounts from William Bartram, a naturalist from Philadelphia who in the late 18th century traveled to the Southeast, Barrow told Axios. Bartram's widely read book chronicling the experience included over-the-top descriptions of the reptile and stories of seemingly unprovoked attacks. The myth has persisted for centuries — including after Emancipation, when the false, racist belief that alligators liked the taste of Black flesh proliferated in the South. It was "part of this broad campaign to dehumanize, oppress, suppress newly freed African Americans," Barrow said. That history is why the University of Florida ceased its "gator bait" cheer and band performance in 2020. The other side: Gov. Ron DeSantis' office did not respond to Axios' requests for comment. Between the lines: Alligators don't consider humans prey and often react to them with fear, said Teshera, who authored a study that found that risky human behaviors caused most alligator attacks. Those behaviors include swimming in waterways known to be inhabited by alligators, walking dogs near their habitats, and feeding them. That also explains why, in Florida's scenic rivers and swamps, humans can observe alligators with little risk. Just be sure to practice situational awareness and give them space, Teshera said. What they're saying:"Alligators get such a bad rep, but when you break it down … they're usually reacting to a situation," he said.
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
What IS going on with Will Smith? As fans beg 'cringe' singer to 'stop releasing music' how star has been marred by setbacks after hallucinating that he would LOSE his career
Will Smith has faced yet another setback as he desperately tries to get his career back on track in the wake of his notorious 2022 Oscars slap. The actor, 56, had enjoyed an illustrious four-decade career, earning several accolades in the world of film and music. Yet his body of work has since been overshadowed, after he made global headlines when he stormed the stage at the 94th Academy Awards and slapped host Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Despite winning the Best Actor accolade that evening for his role in King Richard, he hasn't enjoyed the success and opportunities that many do after winning the coveted gong. His reported £28 million role in slavery epic Emancipation failed to make an impact at the box office in 2022, leaving his movie career somewhat in the wilderness. He then focused on his music, announcing the release of a new album and a tour to accompany it - but fans have branded his singles 'cringeworthy' and were left baffled at his choice of tour venues, which includes Wolverhampton's Civic Hall and Scarborough Open Air Theatre. Indeed fans have now begged Will - who won four Grammy Awards in his heyday - to stop releasing music altogether. His latest single, Pretty Girls, was branded 'corny' upon its release this month and has failed to make an appearance in the charts. Prior to that, his single First Love also failed to chart. He was also compared to a sad 'dad on the karaoke with a drunk local woman', with some even unkindly remarking he's in his 'Elvis era', after performing at the Premio Lo Nuestro award show in Miami. The release of First Love also sparked fresh scrutiny over his bizarre marital arrangement with Jada Pinkett Smith. Will and Jada tied the knot in 1997, however Jada disclosed in 2023 that they had been separated for seven years, beginning in 2016, but remained married. Confusion has continued to swirl over the exact nature of their relationship, with a source later claiming that they are 'still together' but 'have had separate homes for years.' His latest single could not be taken as an ode to their love, however, as in Pretty Girls, he raps about his love of all women. He sings: 'It's a full house, better play your cards right / I'ma post your pic if you pose / Make one phone call, you in Vogue / Head, shoulders, knees, toes / Hold up, wait, pose. 'I like BBLs / That stand for "Bad b**ches link up" / Poppin in the club all night in the section / Picture perfect, I swear you perfection.' The single has failed to delight fans. Taking to X/Twitter to comment on the music, one account went as far to tweet: 'Dear Mr. Will Smith, This is absolute cringe worthy trash. Please don't release anymore music. 'Thanks, Everyone on the planet.' It will come as a blow to Will, who - according to IMDB - has no acting jobs in the pipeline. However, while undoubtedly upsetting, it may not be too much of a shock for Will, who previously revealed that he had hallucinated a vision of losing his career and fortune while on an ayahuasca drug trip. Bizarrely, he made the admission shortly before his career defining Oscars slap, with the information coming to light on David Letterman's Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. During the interview, which aired shortly after the Academy Awards, he admitted he was 'terrified' of taking ayahuasca, a drink originating in South America that is brewed from plants that cause a psychedelic experience. People who use the drink report hallucinations and visions, including sometimes dramatic ones that supposedly have therapeutic effects. 'I decided that it was something that, you know, I wanted to try,' the actor said, bafter researching the drug. He described the high as creating two realities that are both '100 percent present' at the same time: 'It's not superimposed over this reality. They're totally separate.' While describing his vision of his career implosion, he called it 'the individual most hellish psychological experience of my life.' He joked that 'You always feel like, "Maybe it won't kick in this time,"' as he said the drink's hallucinatory properties aren't felt for about 45 minutes. But then, 'All of a sudden, it's like I star seeing seeing all of my money flying away,' he recounted to a rapt Letterman. 'And my house is flying away. And my career is gone,' he continued. 'And I'm trying to, like, grab for my money and my career. My whole life is getting destroyed.' The host got him to confirm that the vision represented his 'fear in real life.' Will shared that he felt the need to vomit — a common symptom of ayahuasca use — before he heard a voice in his head say menacingly, 'This is what the f*** it is. This is what the f*** life is.' The father-of-three, who has been banned from attending the Oscars until 2032, recently admitted that he wants to 'rebuild something beautiful and powerful' after slapgate. He compared the moment to kintsugi, which is the Japanese art of piecing smashed pottery back together. Will told Genius: 'I can look at [the Oscars incident] as an absolute mess, horrible, terrible – or I can look at it as a really great kintsugi opportunity, to rebuild something beautiful and powerful. Talking about one of his new songs, Beautiful Scars, he added: 'I hate admitting that I'm only human – my ego wants to be Superman … The word I was thinking about when I thought about the last couple of years of my life was 'brutaful' – brutal and beautiful.' He also seemed to get candid about it in the lyrcis, as he raps: 'I hate when I lose it, but I face the music / 'Oh, why did he do it?' See, I'm only human'. For now, Will be focusing on his first ever tour in the UK and Europe. The American rapper is travelling across the pond to play songs from his forthcoming album, Based On A True Story, his first full-length album in 20 years after 2005's Lost And Found. The tour, which will also see him perform hits such as Gettin' Jiggy Wit It and Miami, lands in England with a date at the seaside resort Scarborough, with Smith performing on on August 24 at Open Air Theatre. This will be followed with a gig at Cardiff's Bute Park on August 25 and a concert at Manchester's Victoria Warehouse on August 27. He will perform at London's Brixton Academy the day after and a final gig at University of Wolverhampton at the Halls on August 30.
Irish Times
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Stark difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump highlighted by views on Juneteenth celebrations
For many Americans, the chance seeing a former US president in the flesh is a once-in-a-lifetime novelty. Those flying on a commercial carrier to Texas this week were quick to record the presence of Joe Biden sitting among them, with requests for selfies happily obliged with. Biden was headed to Galveston to mark the annual Juneteenth celebrations. He made what had for years been a sacrosanct date in African-American history and culture into a federal holiday in 2021. The day marks one of the more extraordinary stories in the complex and bleak history of slavery in the US. On June 19th, 1865, some 2½ years after the by-then slain president Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, word finally reached African Americans in the island city of Galveston, Texas, that they were, in fact, free. READ MORE The news, which came with the arrival of Union army general Gordon Granger, was greeted with stunned disbelief and then euphoric celebrations. Last Thursday, June 19th, that moment was marked by events and parties throughout the country. But in the White House, it was noted that the scheduled plan for US president Donald Trump to sign a proclamation did not materialise. 'I'm not tracking his signature on a proclamation today,' was the terse response of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt when she was asked about the issue. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was not aware of plans by Donald Trump to commemorate Juneteenth. Photograph: Doug Mills/The New York Times 'I know this is a Federal holiday. I want thank all of you for showing up to work – we are certainly here. We're working 24/7 right now.' During his first administration, Trump consistently paid homage to what was still an unofficial holiday, referencing Granger's announcement and paying tribute to the 'courage and sacrifice of the nearly 200,000 former enslaved and free African Americans who fought for liberty'. In 2020, he cancelled a rally that had been planned for June 19th in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the location of one of the most notorious race massacres in US history. In the days afterwards, Trump blithely flipped the fallout by claiming that the coverage had helped to establish the importance of the day in the minds of many Americans. 'I did something good. I made it famous. I made Juneteenth very famous. It's actually an important event. But nobody had heard of it. Very few people had heard of it,' he said. This year, however, he remained uncharacteristically silent about the observation of the day until he issued a late-evening personal proclamation via social media grousing about the number of federally approved days off. 'Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our country billions of dollars to keep all of these businesses close. The workers don't want it either! Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every ... working day of the year. It must change if we are going to make America great again.' Protesters attend a Juneteenth demonstration against US immigration officials in New York on Thursday. Photograph: Michael M Santiago/Getty The remark was interpreted as a veiled threat to cancel a day which prominent campaigners such as Sam Collins III, or 'Professor Juneteenth', and Ronald Meyers, a physician and civil rights activist, had spent decades advocating for. It took until 1980 before Juneteenth became a state holiday in Texas and another four decades for a US president to recognise it officially. In a profile in the Texas Observer last year, Collins said the country only began to pay attention to the Juneteenth Observance Foundation after the death, through police brutality, of George Floyd and the subsequent nationwide protests in 2020. But Thursday's significant silence from Trump is in keeping with the blunt ideology of his administration when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) issues. Juneteenth seems set for a bumpy few years as it is dragged into the deepening culture wars. 'If Juneteenth was really about emancipation, why not ... September 22nd, 1862, when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation?' right-wing media personality Charlie Kirk asked on social media before answering for himself. 'It's about creating a summertime, race-based competitor two weeks before July 4th, which should be the most unifying civic holiday on the calendar.' Biden was last in the spotlight more than a month ago when a furious bout of publicity over a book charting his cognitive decline was overshadowed by the announcement that he is suffering from cancer. 'It's not that hard to get invited once,' he told the gathering in Reedy Chapel, Galveston. 'But to get invited back is a big deal. Still today, some say to me and you that this doesn't deserve to be a federal holiday. They don't want to remember what we all remember: the moral stain of slavery. I've often called it America's original sin. Well, I took the view as president that we need to be honest about our history.' The episode once again illuminated the stark difference in outlook and spirit between the former president and the current one, whose mood was unlikely to have been cheered by the flood of responses to his social media post. 'I voted for you, but this comment is ridiculous,' one person replied to Trump's post. 'I know you don't care if people like you, but if you want to be popular you must acknowledge this date. There is historical and cultural significance to this date. Your lack of compassion is alarming.'
Daily Mail
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Trump delivers stark warning to workers on Juneteenth
Working-class Americans received a stark warning from President Trump as he celebrated Juneteenth by complaining about the excessive amount of federal holidays. Trump issued a directive Thursday night that declared the country is wasting too much money on closing business and said he has considered axing future celebrations. Before this year's holiday post - which failed to mention Juneteenth - Trump spent years commemorating the day which celebrates the freedom of enslaved African Americans. He even once claimed to have made Juneteenth 'very famous.' Trump honored the holiday in each of his first four years as president, even before it became a federal holiday in 2021. But this year, Trump kept silent about the holiday other than his late Truth Social post, despite the significance of the day for black Americans. Asked whether Trump would commemorate Juneteenth in any way, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: 'I'm not tracking his signature on a proclamation today. 'I know this is a federal holiday. I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here. We're working 24/7 right now.' Juneteenth, also referred to as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas. Their freedom came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln liberated slaves in the Confederacy by signing the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War. In 2020, Trump sought to woo black voters with a series of campaign promises, including vowing to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday. After he lost the election, Biden went on to sign the legislation declaring Juneteenth the newest federal holiday. In the past week, Trump has in some way acknowledged Father's Day, Flag Day, National Flag Week and the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. None of these days are among of the 11 national holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. In 2017, Trump celebrated the 'soulful festivities and emotional rejoicing' when in 1865 a major general delivered the news to a Galveston crowd that all enslaved people were free. He told the Galveston story in each of the next three years. 'Together, we honor the unbreakable spirit and countless contributions of generations of African Americans to the story of American greatness,' he said in his 2018 statement. A year later, he said: 'Across our country, the contributions of African Americans continue to enrich every facet of American life.' His 2020 statement read: 'June reminds us of both the unimaginable injustice of slavery and the incomparable joy that must have attended emancipation. 'It is both a remembrance of a blight on our history and a celebration of our Nation's unsurpassed ability to triumph over darkness.' In 2020, however, Trump chose the controversial location of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the place to hold a rally following the Covid pandemic. That decision for that venue met with fierce criticism. In Tulsa in 1921, a white mob looted and burned that city's Greenwood district, an economically thriving area referred to as Black Wall Street. As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands were temporarily held in internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Black leaders argued it was offensive for Trump to choose June 19 and Tulsa for a campaign event. Days before the rally, Trump tried to put a positive spin on the situation by claiming that he had made Juneteenth 'famous.' He said he changed the rally date out of respect for two African American friends and supporters. 'I did something good. I made it famous. I made Juneteenth very famous,' Trump said. 'It's actually an important event, it's an important time. But nobody had heard of it. Very few people have heard of it.' Generations of Black Americans celebrated Juneteenth long before it became a federal holiday in 2021.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Editorial: Why Juneteenth matters — The promise of freedom, liberty and equality must still be redeemed
Two-and-a-half years after Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the enslaved people of Texas learned — via the victorious Union Army — that they were liberated. It was June 19, 1865, when U.S. Maj. General Gordon Granger issued an order, reading: 'The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.' That 'absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property,' of course, while easy to assert on paper, has been devilishly difficult in the 160 intervening years to make real. In Reconstruction, Southern whites brutally kept freed Black people down. During Jim Crow, segregation and voting suppression and racism made the promise of fairness little more than a taunt. Even since the civil rights movement, which culminated in sweeping federal legislation prohibiting discrimination, the pernicious virus of bias infects too many institutions. Even if every last American were enlightened — which is most certainly not the case — the accumulated weight of generations of bigotry, much of it written into our laws, still weighs on the nation. Wealth and power are tightly intertwined, and the median white household has a net worth 10 times the median Black household, a disparity that adds up to more than $10 trillion. There are many reasons for this, some of which flow from individuals' decisions — we don't for a moment suggest that to be Black in America is to be invariably destined to a life of poverty and oppression — but the lasting burden of decade after decade after decade of injustice still makes shoulders ache. On Juneteenth, we celebrate those who carry that weight and dedicate ourselves to building a fairer future. _____
