Black community shares thoughts on freedom

By Morgan Carpenter 
mcarpenter@afro.com

and 

Brianna Robinson  
brobinson@afro.com 
AFRO Interns

June 19 marked 161 years since the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas were told of their freedom following the Civil War. Each year, the day is a time to celebrate Black freedom and reflect on the progress made and still needed. This year, the AFRO took the streets and interviewed men and women on the street, asking if they, as Black people, feel like they are truly free.

Have a look below at some voices from the Black community on the topic of freedom. 

Ally Yededji, 20
Richmond, Va.
Public Policy Student
University of Pittsburgh

Do you feel we are finally free?: “I don’t think the answer is a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ We have more opportunities today than previous generations did, but a lot of those opportunities came from being granted access to spaces, rights and institutions that we were once excluded from. Even today, that access can be limited, challenged or unequal. So, while I think Black people are far freer than we once were, I think it’s worth asking whether being granted access is the same thing as being truly free.”

Nichelle Thomas, 60
Flint, Mich.
US Navy

Do you feel we are finally free?: “No, absolutely not by far, look at it. Society is still under the thumb of people other than us of color and so we still don’t have a say so no matter what.”

Alex Levy, 26
Baltimore, Md.
Cloud Security Engineer

Do you feel we are finally free?: “I think in the literal sense, probably. I think we’re bound by stereotypes. There’s a lot of negativity towards us and because of those stereotypes we’re not fully free.”

Karsten Hardy, 44
Greenwood, Miss.
Microsoft Cloud Architect

Do you feel we are finally free?: “Yes and no. Yes– you know we’re free from religion and all these beautiful other things in the Constitution, ‘We the people, in order to form a perfect union…’ blah blah blah…yes, we are to a certain extent…we’re free, but there’s things to improve. There are many different ways to go. We’re socially free, but not systematically free.”

Imara Caston, 19
Atlanta, Ga.
Public Relations Student
Florida A&M University

Do you feel we are finally free?: “No, I don’t think we are free. I think true freedom would mean we could do whatever we wanted, within legal guidelines of course, without consequences. So, in a lot of ways, we are still in constraints. There’s nothing free about having to fight against a system that was built by you, not for you. I just think that some people’s versions of ‘free’ are different, and in my version – no – we aren’t free.”

Natalie McDuffie, 23
Howard County, Md.
Clinical Laboratory Scientist

Do you feel we are finally free?: “I would not say so. I think we live in a white America and because of that we will never be free. We live in a different world than white people and we will never be in the same reality, and there’s things put in place to stop it.”

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