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world news Dialuna 20 Juni 2022

Black Americans living abroad reflect on Juneteenth

(AP) — As the United weekend’s event will include She said that only a powerful
States marks only the sec- a trip to Providence Island, change would make her con-
ond federally recognized where former slaves settled sider returning to the U.S.
Juneteenth, Black Ameri- before moving into what is
cans living overseas have now mainland Monrovia. Chrishan Wright in New
embraced the holiday as Jersey regularly speaks with
a day of reflection and an While there are no offi- Black Americans who plan
opportunity to educate cial statistics tracking Black to or already have made the
people in their host coun- Americans moving abroad, move abroad.
tries on Black history. many are discussing it more
openly after the police killing Wright, 47, hosts a podcast
President Joe Biden moved of George Floyd. In the after- “Blaxit Global” and said
quickly last year to feder- math, many African Ameri- many of her guests are tired
ally recognize the day Black cans saw the U.S. “from the of the U.S.
Americans have been cele- outside in” and made up their
brating since the last enslaved minds not to return. “They’ve done all the things
people were told they were to achieve what is supposed to
free in Galveston, Texas, on Tashina Ferguson, a 26-year- be the American dream, and
June 19, 1865, two years after old debate coach, was living that yardstick keeps moving. Japan, which hosted a Ju- Michael Williams teaches
President Abraham Lincoln’s in New York at the time of They don’t feel like they’re neteenth gathering of about African American history at
1863 Emancipation Procla- Eric Garner’s death. on solid ground in terms of 300 people at the ritzy Tokyo Temple University in Tokyo
mation. being able to retire comfort- American Club on Saturday. and left the U.S. when he
She moved to South Korea ably or pay off student debt was 22. He’s now 66 and had
In Liberia, Saqar Ahhah in 2019 and will celebrate Ju- or just cover their bills.” She and her husband David lived abroad for much of his
Ahershu, 45, from Jersey neteenth on Sunday with a didn’t plan to live in Japan. adult life, but returned to the
City, N.J., is organizing the group of drag performers at Wright plans to move in 2023 U.S. for graduate school in
country’s first “Journey a fundraising brunch for the to Portugal. Through her Like Whitaker, many Black Boston and Baltimore.
Home Festival.” Marsha P. Johnson Institute. podcast, she already knows Americans at the Juneteenth
of Juneteenth celebrations event came to Japan almost America has changed so
“Because this is part of that She has mixed feeling about this weekend in Lisbon, the by coincidence, as Christian much, he feels like a tourist
hidden African American the newest federal holiday. capital. missionaries or Peace Corps when he visits, he laughed.
history that still hasn’t been volunteers. But they made
completely unpacked,” he “The commerciality of June- In some places with larger Japan their home. Williams said he knows about
said in Monrovia. teenth has become this like populations of Black Ameri- Juneteenth from teaching
whole, ‘Put it on a T-shirt, cans, Juneteenth is already She now wants to raise their history.
Liberia, Africa’s oldest inde- put it on ice cream tubs’ type part of the program. son there because she wor-
pendent republic, was found- of thing,” she said. “But as ries about gun violence in the “I would always end my pre-
ed by freed slaves repatri- a Black person within the LaTonya Whitaker, from Mis- U.S. sentations that hopefully,
ated to West Africa from the Black community I’m like, sissippi, has lived in Japan for someday, this would be a na-
United States in 1822, exactly ‘Yeah, let’s celebrate us.’” 17 years. She is executive di- “I realized we really need a tional holiday. And so now it
200 years ago this year. This rector of Legacy Foundation community,” said Whitaker. is, and it feels great,” he said.

Spain, Germany battle wildfires amid unusual heat wave

(AP) — Firefighters in leave their homes because of ger that an unfavorable shift wide and reach the other
Spain and Germany strug- an approaching wildfire Sun- in weather could revive the side, to give you an idea of In central-north Navarra, au-
gled to contain wildfires day. blaze that caused the evacua- the difficulties we faced,” thorities have evacuated some
on Sunday amid an un- tion of 18 villages. Juan Suárez-Quiñones, an 15 small villages as a precau-
usual heat wave in West- Spanish authorities said that official for Castilla y León re- tion, as the high temperatures
ern Europe for this time after three days of high tem- Spain has been on alert for gion, told Spanish state tele- in the area are not expected to
of year. peratures, high winds and an outbreak of intense wild- vision TVE. drop until Wednesday.
low humidity, some respite fires as the country swelters
The worst damage in Spain came with dropping temper- under record temperatures The fire in Zamora was start- They also asked farmers to
has been in the northwest atures Sunday morning. That at many points in the coun- ed by a strike from an electri- stop using heavy machinery
province of Zamora where allowed for about 650 fire- try for June. Experts link the cal storm on Wednesday, au- that could unintentionally
over 25,000 hectares (61,000 fighters supported by water- abnormally hot period for thorities said. The spreading spark a fire.
acres) have been consumed, dumping aircraft to establish Europe to climate change. fire caused the high-speed
regional authorities said, a perimeter around the fire Thermometers have risen train service from Madrid to “The situation remains deli-
while German officials said that started in Zamora’s Sier- above 40 C (104 F) in many Spain’s northwest to be cut cate. We have various active
that residents of three villages ra de la Culebra. Authorities Spanish cities throughout the on Saturday. It was reestab- fires due to the extremely
near Berlin were ordered to warned there was still dan- week — temperatures usu- lished on Sunday morning. high temperatures and high
ally expected in August. winds,” Navarra regional
Military firefighting units vice-president Javier Remírez
A lack of rainfall this year have been deployed in Zamo- told TVE.
combined with gusting winds ra, Navarra and Lleida.
have produced the conditions Remírez said that some vil-
for the fires. There have been no reports lages had seen some build-
of lives lost, but the flames ings damaged on their out-
Authorities said that gusting reached the outskirts of some skirts.
winds of up 70 kph (43 mph) villages both in Zamora and
that changed course erratical- in Navarra. Videos shot by Some wild animals had to
ly, combined with tempera- passengers in cars showed be evacuated from an animal
tures near 40 C, made it very flames licking the sides of park in Navarra and taken to
tough for crews. roads. In other villages, resi- a bull ring for safe keeping,
dents looked on in despair as authorities said.
“The fire was able to cross a black plumes rose from near-
reservoir some 500 meters by hills.