Mid-year marks Summer Solstice, Juneteenth, early voting etc

Bright sunny dawns, warmer temperatures, blooming buds and longer days are perhaps the most noticeable reminders that America has reached the halfway mark of  2024.
And Saturday when early voting kicked off the election cycle, New Yorkers realized their decision to act decisively in advance of the June 25 primary could inscribe an indelible future for Democracy.

Sunday, former presidential candidate and former first lady Hillary Clinton showed up at the 77th annual Tony Awards to stump the ideal.
Her appearance at Lincoln Center seemed to shock the theater-loving audience who gave her a standing ovation.
Although the performance platform seemed an unusual setting for the former potential first female president of the United States, her appearance connected with winners and losers as well as patrons of the gala honoring Broadway thespian with theater’s highest award.

Clinton claimed the stage when she delved into a speech about the importance of voting.
There to introduce a segment related to six-time nominee, “Suffs” a musical about suffragists who determinedly fought to secure the right of women to vote, the candidate who if elected hoped to ‘break the glass ceiling’ by being first of her gender to take the world spotlight — seemed sincerely concerned about the state of the nation.
Her message proved a plus for the Democrats because she seized the opportunity to endorse a valued practice boasted as unique to the American agenda.

Wednesday marks the fourth year since Juneteenth emerged a national holiday, a gainer most of her party affiliates endorse with pride.
There was a time when the word Juneteenth conjured curiosity and skepticism about a cultural celebration specific segments of the Black community regarded worthy of acknowledgement.
Often branded the “second independence day” it’s genesis further tarnished the reputation of whites entrusted with authority.

History recalls how attempts were made to deny Africans news of the Emancipation Proclamation decree which granted freedom from slavery in 1863. That many worked for free remaining captive property in 1865 shamed the nation.

Reportedly, emancipation was granted to free captive Africans from white bondage two years earlier and only that mid-year later federal troops had to forcibly deliver the news in Galveston, Texas.

Perhaps it was a mid-year madness that infected southern whites or maybe exploitation, greed and suppression that consumed the power-brokers but today and for some — parades, festivals, a week-long plethora of activities dedicates Juneteenth, a cultural and Heritage national celebration.