Juneteenth—celebrated on June 19th by most Black Americans—commemorates the legal end of slavery in Texas on June 19th, 1865, more than two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863.

In honor of Juneteenth, I’m reposting the following essay.

How I Challenged a Privileged White Male Friend’s Racism The hardest part? First, I had to listen to him.

Since Trump and the GOP swept the 2016 election, it’s been one unthinkable legal change after the other in the wrong direction, practically daily. With each thing, I’ve thought: It can’t get any worse. And then it does.