Barack Obama And Michelle Marked Juneteenth With Powerful Messages.

Former President Barack and Michelle Obama marked Juneteenth on Friday with powerful statements.

Barack Obama in his statement called the annual June 19 holiday commemorating the abolishment of slavery a chance to take stock of the work still ahead.

Obama tweeted that the annual holiday has been a celebration of victory, and it has also been “a celebration of progress”.

Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory, or an acceptance of the way things are. It's a celebration of progress. It's an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, change is possible––and there is still so much work to do.https://t.co/5XCRdnk3iR

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 19, 2020

His message this year comes as protests have broken out around the country over the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and other black Americans.

Floyd died last month after a former Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest while he said he could not breathe. Arbery was shot and killed by white men in February while jogging in a Georgia neighborhood. And Taylor was shot in her Louisville, Ky., apartment in March after several police officers forcefully entered with a no-knock warrant while she was sleeping.

However, Michelle Obama wrote a powerful message explaining what Juneteenth meant to her in a tweet on Friday marking Juneteenth.

“Most of us were taught that slavery came to an end when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. But as is so often the case, the full promise of this country was delayed for segments of the African-American community. And for enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, freedom didn’t come until June 19, 1865,” She wrote.

Juneteenth is a combination of the words June and 19th, the holiday marks the freedom of the Black people in the US. that were enslaved. It is widely celebrated in Black communities and the day got more attention this year due to the protest by the blacks against police brutality. The Black Lives Matter protest was triggered by the the death of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, and others.

Major companies like Twitter, Spotify and Google have made Juneteenth an official calendar holiday this past week. It was also noted by Apple’s calendar.