CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota said Thursday on her show “Newsroom” that the year was a “humbling experience for many white folks” and included herself among those.
Reporting on President Joe Biden signing the law-making Juneteenth a federal holiday, co-anchor Victor Blackwell said, “Gallup conducted a poll asking Americans how much do you know about the Juneteenth holiday? Thirty-seven percent of black adults said they know a lot compared to only 7 % of White adults. Thirty-two percent of white Adults said they know nothing about Juneteenth.”
Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, Rev. Bernice King, said, “I certainly think this is an important moment of reckoning, an important moment where this nation now will have an opportunity to learn even more about this important history that African-Americans have faced. It’s a moment that creates a more sense of inclusion. You know, a lot of Black Americans don’t feel included on our Independence Day as a nation because so many of our ancestors were not free.”
Camerota said, “Bernice, I want to ask you about that poll that Victor just read. This year has been a humbling experience for many white folks, myself included, and how woefully uninformed we are about some major historical moments. I mean between Juneteenth and the Tulsa Wall Street massacre, and the idea that only 7% know this history. How do we change that?”
King said, “Those of us who are involved in the work of raising awareness and educating have to be continue to be consistent and persistent in doing that, and I think the holiday helps to raise the awareness because it’s a moment where there will be a concentration of energy in that regard.”
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