Also called Emancipation Day, or Juneteenth Independence Day, Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. But this second independence day is not a national holiday and most Americans have never even heard of it. Years of systematic racism, segregation, and the oppression of Black Americans have diminished and stamped out efforts to make what should, undoubtedly, be an American National Holiday.
It’s become a stink at the U.S. Open: a pungent marijuana smell that wafted over an outer court, clouded the concentration of one of the world’s top players and left the impression there’s no place left to escape the unofficial scent of the city.
