Juneteenth Special: Historian Clint Smith on Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
We feature a special broadcast marking the Juneteenth federal holiday that commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. We begin with our 2021 interview with historian Clint Smith, originally aired a day after President Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth the first new federal holiday since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Smith is the author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. “When I think of Juneteenth, part of what I think about is the both/andedness of it,” Smith says, “that it is this moment in which we mourn the fact that freedom was kept from hundreds of thousands of enslaved people for years and for months after it had been attained by them, and then, at the same time, celebrating the end of one of the most egregious things that this country has ever done.” Smith says he recognizes the federal holiday marking Juneteenth as a symbol, “but it is clearly not enough.”
Rhiannon Giddens on Pulitzer-Winning Opera “Omar” About Enslaved Muslim Scholar Omar ibn Said
As part of our Juneteenth special broadcast, we feature our interview with pioneering musical artist Rhiannon Giddens, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her opera Omar, about Omar ibn Said, a Muslim scholar in Africa who was sold into slavery in the 1800s.
“Another Wasted Life”: Rhiannon Giddens on How Death of Kalief Browder Inspired Her Song
“Another Wasted Life.” That’s the name of a remarkable new song by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens. She released a video of the song on October 2 to mark International Wrongful Conviction Day. The song was inspired by Kalief Browder, a Bronx resident who died by suicide in 2015 at the age of 22 after being detained at Rikers Island jail for nearly three years, after being falsely accused at the age of 16 of stealing a backpack. He was held in solitary confinement for two years and was repeatedly assaulted by guards and other prisoners.
In the video for “Another Wasted Life,” Rhiannon Giddens features 22 people who were wrongly incarcerated. Together, they collectively served more than 500 years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. The video includes two men, David Bryant and Tyrone Jones, who each spent 40 years in prison. Another seven of the men each spent over 25 years locked up after wrongful convictions. Rhiannon Giddens made the video in partnership with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.
DOJ Takes Elon Musk’s Side in NAACP Lawsuit Against xAI for Polluting Black Neighborhoods
The Department of Justice has intervened in a legal case involving the world’s first trillionaire, Elon Musk, asking a Mississippi federal court to toss a lawsuit from the NAACP against Musk’s company xAI, a subsidiary of SpaceX. The NAACP says xAI is violating the Clean Air Act by running dozens of unpermitted gas-burning turbines in majority-Black neighborhoods to fuel its data centers in Memphis, Tennessee. The Department of Justice, however, is arguing that the lawsuit violates national security by “seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War’s military operations.”
“We should be concerned about this type of authoritarian rule,” says NAACP attorney Abre’ Conner, who adds that communities themselves “should be the ones to make the decisions about our health, about pollution in communities, about stopping sacrifice zones from being furthered because of an agenda that does not serve everyday people.”
Headlines for June 18, 2026
Trump and Pezeshkian Sign Memorandum Aimed at Ending U.S. War on Iran; Israel Attacks Lebanon, Killing One and Wounding Three, Despite U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Deal; Ukrainian Drones Attack Moscow, Sparking Massive Oil Refinery Fire; Israeli Attacks on Gaza Have Killed Over 1,000 Palestinians Since October “Ceasefire”; Rep. Ro Khanna Is First U.S. Lawmaker to Sign Anti-AIPAC PEACE Pledge; Peace Activists Celebrate as Maryland Public Pension System Divests from Israeli Bonds; U.N. Says Gang Violence Has Displaced 1.5 Million Across Haiti; Haitian Immigrants Call on Supreme Court to Toss Case Seeking to End Protected Status; Advocates Say Jailed Immigrants “Disappeared” After Transfer from “Alligator Alcatraz”; Georgia GOP Rejects Trump’s Push to Redraw Legislative Maps Ahead of 2028 Elections; Trump Administration Sues to Halt Reparations for Black Residents in Chicago Suburb; Bill Pulte to Become Acting U.S. Spy Chief After Trump Calls Off Hearing for Nominee Jay Clayton; Pentagon Releases Names of 8 People Killed in B-52 Crash; “Pure Retaliation”: FTC Sues Trans Health Association over Gender-Affirming Care
Trump’s War on Iran Ends with a “Triumphant” Tehran and a Diminished U.S.: Vali Nasr
The United States and Iran have officially signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in Iran. The 14-point agreement includes an immediate end to fighting on all fronts including Lebanon, an end to the U.S. naval blockade on Iran and the full resumption of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. It also proposes easing oil sanctions on Iran, unfreezing Iranian assets and launching a $300 billion investment fund to rebuild Iran, all while tabling the question of Iran’s nuclear program, which is instead set to be negotiated over in the coming months.
“The United States is more eager for this war to end than Iran is,” says professor Vali Nasr, who teaches at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. “In Iran, they’re very triumphant.” We discuss the long-term effects of the war, from the growing U.S. distrust of Israel, to the new generation of political leaders in the Islamic Republic, to the evolution of Iran into a major power player in an increasingly multipolar world.
“Shoot the People”: Meet Misan Harriman, Celebrated Photographer & Outspoken Advocate for Palestine
The new documentary Shoot the People profiles the Nigerian British photographer and activist Misan Harriman, the first Black photographer to shoot the cover of British Vogue and an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights. We speak to Harriman in New York City ahead of the film’s U.S. premiere, about his work, the repression and criminalization of pro-Palestine protest in the United Kingdom — including the unprecedented sentencing of four activists with the group Palestine Action as terrorists — and more. “I genuinely believe that through art and culture, we can see that the sum of all of our parts is stronger than the powerful few,” says Harriman.
G7 Summit Highlights Global Economic System “Captured” by Billionaires: Oxfam
World leaders are returning home from the annual G7 summit, having failed to address issues such as income inequality, climate change and territorial conflict, while entertaining the wealthy executives of the artificial intelligence and fossil fuel industries. Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar calls the G7 “a club of the super-rich super-elites” and slams the summit’s focus on business, and business as usual, at the expense of humanitarian efforts and improving the lives of “the common people.”
Headlines for June 17, 2026
Israel Kills 4 in Lebanon Despite U.S.-Iran Deal to End War; Israeli Drone Hits Journalist in Southern Lebanon; Israeli Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Detained Palestinian Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya; U.S. Strikes Another Boat in Pacific; Pentagon Officials Admit Past Strike May Have Killed Victims of Human Trafficking; Federal Conspiracy Charges Filed Against 15 in Minneapolis Who Opposed ICE Crackdown; Police Fatally Shoot 1-Year-Old After Shoplifting Call at a Walmart in Mississippi; DOJ Moves to Block NAACP Suit Against Elon Musk’s Data Center, Citing National Security; FBI Says It Disrupted Extremist Plot to Attack White House During UFC Fight; U.N.: Drone Strikes in Sudan Have Killed Over 1,000 So Far in 2026; Doctors Without Borders Dismisses 18 in Chad Tied to Sexual Abuse of Sudanese Refugees; Guardian: U.S. Military Strike in Somalia Killed 12 Civilians, Including 8 Children; Africa CDC Warns Ebola Outbreak in DRC Could Become Worst on Record; Texas Faces Screwworm Outbreak a Year After DOGE Cut Funding for Key Program; Elections Held in Oklahoma, Alabama and Georgia; Sacramento Gov’t Body Agrees to Fully Fund Access Sacramento TV Station
Has Trump Had Enough of Netanyahu? Israel Defies U.S., Vows to Continue War in Lebanon
The United States and Iran are set to formally sign an agreement Friday to end military hostilities, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin negotiations on a long-term peace accord between the two countries.
According to terms of the memorandum of understanding obtained by CNN and other media outlets, there is to be “an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.” The leaked text also promises sanctions relief for Iran and access to the country’s frozen assets held abroad, as well as a $300 billion fund for reconstruction and development. The memo reiterates Iran’s long-held position that it will never produce nuclear weapons, with the fate of its nuclear program delayed until further negotiations.
Israel has vowed to ignore the U.S.-Iran agreement and maintain its occupation of southern Lebanon, with many Israeli leaders and commentators expressing outrage about the apparent terms of the deal for being too conciliatory to Iran. President Trump, meanwhile, has expressed criticism of Israel’s actions in Lebanon.
“Trump’s had enough,” says Israeli political analyst Ori Goldberg, speaking to Democracy Now! from Tel Aviv. “He hasn’t had enough because he cares about the Palestinians or about Lebanon. He’s had enough of Netanyahu’s disrespect. He’s had enough of the notion that it’s actually Netanyahu who’s calling the shots.”
Verdant Square Network