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.
In the middle of a military base outside Mexico City, an army colonel runs what he calls a kindergarten for dogs. Puppies that one day will become rescue dogs, or sniffer dogs for drugs or explosives, get their basic training here, at Mexico’s Army and Air Force Canine Production Center.
