Donald Trump delays Oklahoma election rally to avoid Juneteenth slavery date
US president pushes back gathering by a day after requests from ‘many of my African American friends’ to respect significance of the day
Donald Trump has postponed his planned election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma – the scene of one of the worst race massacres in US history – amid outcry over its clash with the Juneteenth holiday marking the end of US slavery.
The gathering – which had also caused alarm among health officials tackling the coronavirus pandemic – was to be held on 19 June, the anniversary of the day in 1865 when a general read out Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation in Texas, freeing slaves in the last un-emancipated state.
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