June 19, 2020
From Senate Candidate, Democrat Leslie Danks Burke:
“As Americans, we understand that no one can be free unless we all are. We believe in a country founded on the principles that all people are created equal and that government’s moral authority comes from the consent of all the governed. Yet more than 150 years after we began celebrating the day that the last enslaved Americans were told they were free, we are still battling racial oppression.
“So as we commemorate the day that the last enslaved Americans became free, we must recognize and address this discord between our founding principles, and continuing oppression in our country.
“Let us be inspired on our journey by Harriet Tubman’s description of the glorious feeling freedom brings. As she crossed over from bondage in Maryland to freedom in Pennsylvania, Tubman said: ‘I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now I was free. There was such glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees and I felt like I was in heaven.’
“Let the sun come up like gold for us all. Happy Juneteenth to all my fellow Americans.”
