Friday, June 19, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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Change is in the air this Juneteenth, and does it ever feel invigorating.
It comes from peaceful voices nationwide, joining as one in support of equal justice and equal protection for black communities. It comes through meaningful discussions about the need for sweeping law enforcement reforms and policies to address the systemic victimization and degradation of African Americans. It comes through the awesome strength of a national movement to fulfill the promise that makes this day — the commemoration of the end of slavery in America — so profoundly important.
For the first time in many Americans’ lifetimes, transformational change seems within grasp this Juneteenth. As Black Lives Matter protesters turn out day in and day out for demonstrations in every corner of the nation, the momentum toward progress grows stronger.
A new generation of Americans — politically active, socially aware, reform-minded — is showing the way. Like waves closing in on a sand castle, they’re poised to wash away a racist right-wing power structure that deals in modern forms of the subjugation of people of color — weaponizing police forces and the justice system against black communities, voter suppression and gerrymandering, economic policies that drive outrageous levels of income inequality and generational poverty, and much more.
These advocates for social justice are showing their compassion not just in the streets but in the political arena, where they’re amassing to drive out a racist president and the right-wing extremists who are aiding him.
That hunger for change was on full display in Nevada’s June 9 primary, where voters persevered through waits of six hours or more to cast their ballots. Primaries often result in weak voter engagement, but not this one. Coming in the immediate aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, it clearly brought out a strong contingent of voters eager to effect social change.
The bygone Americans who dedicated their lives to the abolition of slavery, those who fought and died for equality, would be proud of what’s happening today.
And yet the harsh reality of race relations in the U.S. on this Juneteenth is that blacks and other communities of color face crushing inequality that will take enormous resolve to address. It’s everywhere, formally and informally, conscious and subconscious. It’s the underfunding of schools in black communities, and in police departments that see themselves as occupying forces in minority neighborhoods instead of protectors. It’s racially biased sentencing laws that have led to grossly disproportionate imprisonment of black men. It’s latent biases that lead to blacks being rejected for loans at a higher rate than whites. It’s harsh bail and fining practices in the justice system that create a spiral of poverty and incarceration. It’s hatred that has sparked a surge in white nationalism and an explosion of violence against blacks and other minorities.
It’s the agonizing succession of black men and women being killed by police. It’s the frightening rate of COVID-19 infection in black America and other minorities who fill a high percentage of jobs in front-line industries.
Merely reforming police practices won’t solve these problems. It will take a holistic approach at every level of government, addressing such issues as educational achievement gaps, income inequality, institutional bias in the criminal justice system and more.
That includes here in Las Vegas.
Here, African Americans make up about 11% of the general population yet comprise nearly 25% of the number of Southern Nevadans living in poverty, according to a report last year from the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities and Brookings Mountain West.
In the Clark County School District, central valley schools that serve predominantly black or minority student populations offer fewer upper-level and advanced placement courses than suburban schools that serve largely white populations. Superintendent Jesus Jara spotlighted that discrepancy this year as a high-priority fix for the district.
These are just a sliver of the inequities in Southern Nevada, which is still overcoming a history plagued by bigotry. This is a city where blacks were banned from resorts through much of our history and where the KKK staged a march down Fremont Street in broad daylight in the 1920s.
It’s a place where steps toward progress often came at a heavy cost. Take the story of Stanley Morgan, a leader of the popular vocal group The Ink Spots, whose family became the first African-American owners of a home in the 1960s-era Paradise Palms neighborhood. That home was bombed, blowing an 18-inch hole in a concrete-block wall but fortunately causing no injuries.
Such was the racism experienced by blacks in Las Vegas.
But they didn’t give up on the community, much like today’s protesters haven’t given up on the country. They forged ahead. And while there are many problems remaining to be addressed, those residents helped turn Las Vegas into one of the more diverse and racially integrated cities in the U.S.
That’s worth remembering on this Juneteenth day. Although we should be careful not to be blinded by optimism, the fresh wind of change blowing from the streets in Las Vegas and across the county gives us every reason to be optimistic about the future.
