At 95 years old, Opal Lee is showing no sign of stopping. Her life's story — including her famous trek from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., to call on lawmakers to make Juneteenth a national holiday — has since become legendary, earning her the name "Grandmother of Juneteenth.". Watch her discuss her work yo make Juneteenth a national holiday.
Following a meeting with families of the ten African Americans shot and killed at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo in May, Attorney General Merrick Garland announces that the Justice Department has charged 18-year-old Payton Gendron with 26 counts of hate crimes and weapons violations. The attorney general also provides details of the accused gunman's planning and execution of the attack.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) will join the White House in the coming days as director of the Office of Public Engagement, a White House official confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.
Bottoms will replace Cedric Richmond, who left the White House last month, as one of President Biden’s top advisers in the West Wing. The Office of Public Engagement is tasked with engaging with the public about the White House’s agenda.
Bottoms has committed to serve at least through the November midterm elections.
South Carolina’s sole Democrat in Congress Jim Clyburn easily fended off two Democratic challengers with 88% of the vote in his primary race Tuesday to secure his 16th term.
“I hope that I am able to continue to serve the people of South Carolina in a way that will make all of them proud, and maybe get that other 10 or 12% that I didn’t get tonight,” Clyburn told reporters virtually after his race was called by the Associated Press with nearly 90 percentage points.
Clyburn will face Republican challenger Duke Buckner, an attorney from Walterboro, in November after results showed Buckner with more than 70 percentage points.
Primary Results
James Clyburn 48,215 votes 88.0%
Michael Addison 4,098 votes 7.5%
Gregg Dixon 2,445 votes 4.5%
Ahead of Flag Day, Mayor Muriel Bowser directed 51-star flags to be displayed along Pennsylvania Avenue and issued the following statement regarding DC statehood:
“Today, ahead of Flag Day, I directed our team to hang 51-star flags along Pennsylvania Avenue as a reminder to Congress and the nation that the 700,000 tax-paying American citizens living in Washington, DC demand to be recognized. On Flag Day, we celebrate American ideals, American history, and American liberty. But the very foundation of those ideals, and the basis for our liberty, is representation. DC’s disenfranchisement is a stain on American democracy – a 220-year-old wrong that demands to be righted. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the Washington, DC Admission Act, and now the U.S. Senate must do the same.
“As Americans nationwide brace for a decision on the future of Roe v. Wade, we are also reminded that DC’s disenfranchisement impacts not just Americans living in DC, but Americans nationwide who share our values. While the stakes are even higher for Washingtonians, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the majority of Americans who believe in a woman’s right to choose. We also stand shoulder to shoulder with the majority of Americans demanding common sense gun reforms, and with the majority of Americans who want to build a more inclusive democracy.
“We are at an inflection point for American democracy, and it is within the Senate’s power to do the right thing, embrace representation, and move DC statehood forward to the President’s desk.”
