by GAGE KLIPPER at dailycaller.com
Juneteenth celebrates the day that the last slaves in America were finally informed they were free. Despite being shoehorned into federal holiday status under the more nefarious auspices of the Black Lives Matter “racial reckoning,” it is a noble moment in American history and well worth celebrating.
Badgering average Americans about the ongoing need to grapple with the legacy of slavery has become a full-time job for many in Washington. Upon taking office, the Biden administration pledged to take a “whole of our Government” approach to advancing “racial equity.”
That is why it comes as a surprise to see Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing today. It is more than ironic that Blinken chose Juneteenth — the day of reverence our leaders insisted be set aside to reflect on the horrors of slavery — to meet with the leader of one of the most prolific slave-holding states in the world today.
China infamously holds over 100,000 ethnic minorities, including the Muslim Uyghurs, in detention camps where they are subject to cruelties such as family separation and sterilization. Chinese companies use the Uyghurs as slave labor to produce goods ranging from plastics to textiles and even some food products.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, the Chinese government gives subsidies to companies that use Uyghur labor, exacerbating the demand for labor. Working with the companies, China ensures the Uygurs will be “controlled and watched” while they undergo “political indoctrination.” Once detained, they are “usually subjected to constant surveillance and isolation.”
A practice long outmoded in America — vanquished by a more perfect application of our founding principles — is alive and well in our top peer competitor.