The Black Lives Matter movement has shown no signs of receding over the four weeks since protests erupted around the world in response to the killings of George Floyd and other Black people. Which is promising: The hard work of confronting systemic racism and effecting meaningful change requires universal support, as three Black leaders at Northeastern noted in recognition of Juneteenth, the holiday of American emancipation from slavery.
“I am very proud of the mobilization and the energy that I’ve seen particularly from young people,” Rod Brunson, Thomas P. O’Neill Professor of Public Life at Northeastern, said Friday during the online panel discussion, Juneteenth: Legacies and Lessons. “We need to have some real substantive, concrete change. Otherwise we’re going to find ourselves right back to where we are today.”
