Truth and Action Roundup 6.19.2026

View this email in your browser Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source for information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it. Today is Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, at the end of the Civil War. The occasion marked by this holiday is a signal moment representing the efforts of thousands of people who gave everything they had to fight a system that seemed insurmountable in its power and cruelty. The moral force of Bible-rooted abolitionist arguments was key to building support for ending the sin of chattel slavery. It didn’t fall all at once, but only under determined, concentrated pressure sustained by true faith and moral clarity. The decades-long activism of Opal Lee after she retired from teaching is a major reason we now recognize this day nationally. She made a yearly practice of walking 2.5 miles to represent the two and a half years the Emancipation Proclamation took to reach Texas. Her activism also represents the tireless patience required to push for change. Although she succeeded in having Juneteenth recognized as a federal holiday, she has not stopped working to address poverty and violence in Fort Worth, Texas, where she lives. As we consider the challenges we face in a country where our communities have been targeted by the Trump Administration, we should carry forward in the spirit of Juneteenth. We must act when the odds seem insurmountable and remain patiently persistent in seeking change. –Chad Stanton, Sojourners P.S. We are continuing to build an intentional community of people looking to enact their faith in our Sojourners Faith and Practice Forum on Mighty Networks. Please consider joining us. In the News 1. The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continued to be weaponized by the administration against political opponents, even as many court cases went against the administration. • The FBI raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, an organization that helps register voters. Beyond the raid on the offices, agents questioned organizational leadership and staff across the state, seeking information and electronic devices. The group is accusing the federal government of waging a large-scale intimidation campaign. • Donald Trump’s name was removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., to comply with a judge’s order. Sojourners’ own Krystal Brewer attended the removal and was interviewed by NPR: “It's about not being able to do something just because you think you're the most powerful person and you can defy the courts. ... I wanted to see us get a part of our city back.” • A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reinstall exhibits and signs on topics like slavery and climate change that it had removed from parks and monuments nationwide. 2. The Trump administration’s cruel deportation regime manifested in many different ways: • Omar Artan, a Somali soccer referee, was denied entry into the United States to work the World Cup. Artan, who was named Africa’s best male referee last year, was turned away because of alleged associations with suspected members of terror organizations. Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries whose citizens currently cannot enter the United States as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown. FIFA has announced that he will be paid in full. • Fifteen people in Minnesota were charged with conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers over their response to a controversial and deadly ICE crackdown earlier this year. So far, the U.S. attorney’s office’s track record in charging anti-ICE protesters has been uneven at best, with the office dropping 18 of its 36 prior cases. As one activist charged in Illinois noted, “The process [of fighting the charges] is the punishment.” • A Haitian woman’s hypothermia death after her release by ICE has been ruled a homicide by a medical examiner. Daphy Michel, 31, died after being left at a Pittsburgh bus shelter for days last winter without proper clothing, social support, or any medical or mental health care. An attorney representing her family expects them to sue ICE in connection with her death. 3. Events in Iran and the Caribbean remained turbulent, even as hopes for peace rose in the former. • Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian have signed a memorandum of understanding to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran for now and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The parties now enter a 60-day negotiating window to resolve key issues around the future of Iran’s nuclear program. • The long-term impacts of the war on Iran will continue to be felt worldwide for months and years to come. In the United States, for example, one estimate is that a typical US household will have to pay thousands of dollars in various additional costs compared with a scenario in which war had not happened. • The U.S. military struck another boat it accused of smuggling drugs, killing one man and leaving two survivors. The United States has now killed at least 208 people in this campaign since early September. Take Action • On June 28th Sojourners is joining the Latino Christian National Network for a Lament and Hope service. • We’re demanding an end to the blockade against Cuba and providing resources to those in need on the island. What We’re Reading “Queer Folk Have a Faith that the Church Should Admire” | “The ballroom and the Black church exist in different worlds, yet they are also in conversation with one another.” (by Bryan Epps) “Interfaith Choir Roots Juneteenth Celebration in Joy and Justice” | “It’s our right to celebrate what’s good right now. We don’t have to wait until it’s perfect.” (by June Williams, FāVS News) Deep Breaths Freedom Friday How will you commemorate Juneteenth? Today is Juneteenth, and as a Black woman, my heart rejoices. I rejoice in the remembrance that despite centuries of bondage, my ancestors tasted the joy of freedom. I will rejoice, and I will rest, and I will remember. In this racial climate, where it has become acceptable to denigrate a former First Lady on the grounds of the so-called people’s house, honoring Juneteenth feels all the more urgent. My soul rejoices in the truth that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice, and no one can stop its bend. I ask again, how will you commemorate Juneteenth? Author Jemar Tisby reminds us that non-Black people should take time to “commemorate the day. Do your own educational labor before you show up to the party. Reckon with the history that made emancipation necessary and ask yourself where you stand on the right side of justice today.” Others suggest supporting Black-owned businesses, reading Black authors, and investing in the Black content creators whose work you regularly consume. Perhaps it looks like committing to protect the vote in Black communities that remain under attack. How will you stand with Black people at this moment? Today I am sharing a poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a suffragist, writer, teacher, and abolitionist. Born free in Baltimore and orphaned at the age of three, she was raised by her aunt and uncle and came of age with a deep commitment to justice. Harper used her words and her voice as instruments of freedom, refusing to separate the fight for women’s rights from the realities faced by Black women. At a suffrage gathering featuring Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she offered a pointed reminder: “You white women speak here of rights… I speak of wrongs.” Her witness still calls us to hold together truth, justice, and courage in our public lives. May your Juneteenth be filled with both joy and reflection. –Rev. Moya Harris, Senior Director of Programs, Sojourners Bury Me In A Free Land Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) Make me a grave where’er you will, In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill; Make it among earth’s humblest graves, But not in a land where men are slaves. I could not rest if around my grave I heard the steps of a trembling slave; His shadow above my silent tomb Would make it a place of fearful gloom. I could not rest if I heard the tread Of a coffle gang to the shambles led, And the mother’s shriek of wild despair Rise like a curse on the trembling air. I could not sleep if I saw the lash Drinking her blood at each fearful gash, And I saw her babes torn from her breast, Like trembling doves from their parent nest. I’d shudder and start if I heard the bay Of bloodhounds seizing their human prey, And I heard the captive plead in vain As they bound afresh his galling chain. If I saw young girls from their mother’s arms Bartered and sold for their youthful charms, My eye would flash with a mournful flame, My death-paled cheek grow red with shame. I would sleep, dear friends, where bloated might Can rob no man of his dearest right; My rest shall be calm in any grave Where none can call his brother a slave. I ask no monument, proud and high, To arrest the gaze of the passers-by; All that my yearning spirit craves, Is bury me not in a land of slaves. This poem is in the public domain. The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff: President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps Political Director: Chad V. Stanton Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris Digital Education and Outreach Specialist: Cortnie Brooks Policy and Action Assistant: Trinity Williams Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2026 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842