Trump’s postpones Oklahoma rally ‘out of respect’ for Juneteeth holiday
- The June 19 holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States
- Trump had faced criticism for scheduling his first campaign rally in months on a day known by Black Americans as Freedom Day
Amid protests against racial injustice, Trump had faced criticism for scheduling his first campaign rally in months on a day known by Black Americans as Freedom Day and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city where white mobs massacred Black Americans a century ago.
“Many of my African-American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out of respect for this Holiday,” Trump tweeted. “I have therefore decided to move our rally to Saturday, June 20, in order to honour their requests.”
Trump, seeking re-election on November 3, scheduled the Tulsa rally on June 19, the date in 1865 when Texas became the last of the pro-slavery Confederate states forced to comply with former President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War declaring all people held as slaves free.
Tulsa, a city important in Black American history, in 1921 was the site of one of the bloodiest outbreaks of racist violence in US history in which white mobs attacked black residents and businesses.
Referring to his rally, Trump told Fox News in an interview aired earlier on Friday: “Think about it as a celebration.”