160 years after slavery in U.S. ended, where do we stand on the promise of absolute equality?

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — This year will mark four years since Juneteenth became a national holiday, but the day has been celebrated for many years since 1865, when news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Galveston.

In honor of the 160th anniversary of Juneteenth in 2025, ABC13’s Brandon Hamilton had a conversation with a panel of experts to talk about equity – 160 years later.

That panel included:

• Sharon Fletcher, Executive Director, Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy

• Major Kimberly Smith, Harris County Sheriff’s Office

• Vera Bumpers, former president of National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, former METRO police chief

• Dan Potter, Director, Houston Population Research Center, Kinder Institute

The conversation explored issues that impact communities of color and examined several key questions such as how do we move forward as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all?

The group also touched on the debate surrounding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, or DEI.

“I hate people have made DEI such a dirty word. It’s getting people to understand and be inclusive in our thoughts and measures,” said Sharon Fletcher, Executive Director of Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy. “Diversity is important because we’re able to share these stories and these moments that come from our various communities. We don’t all look alike. Our journeys are not the same, but does that mean that there’s not value in those journeys, or in those moments, or in those communities?”

“Equity ensures that there’s opportunity for all. Not that it’s meritless, but it’s merit-based opportunity that’s there,” she continued.

SEE ALSO: Exhibit examines Galveston’s Juneteenth story

Policing since George Floyd

In a Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 10-17, 2025 and released in May, Americans were asked how they see the relationship between police and Black people in the United States.

According to the survey, more than half of U.S. adults (54%) say things are about the same as before Floyd was killed. A third (33%) say things are now worse, while just 11% say things are better.

“It’s disheartening to hear in this day and age that we are still having those negative feelings toward law enforcement. Law enforcement is here to help, and that is one of the reasons why we have so many community outreach programs,” said Major Kimberly Smith with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

When it comes to community encounters with law enforcement, Smith said it’s important for people to know they will be treated fairly and heard.

“I would want them to know they are seen. We are compassionate,” Smith told ABC13. “It’s important for officers to demonstrate that compassion, but at the same time, I have a job to do. So I want them to know their situation or case will be handled accordingly, but they will be treated fairly more than anything.”

Smith notes that’s one of the reasons why it’s important to have a diverse workforce and said the sheriff’s office mandates a duty to intervene policy. Re-training is also required every two years for deputies and detention officers.

“Leadership has to set the tone and the expectation that we will treat everybody with respect, regardless of what they’ve done, regardless of who they are, but that we will treat everyone with respect,” said Vera Bumpers, former president of National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and the former METRO police chief.

Bumpers said setting that expectation during her tenure was paramount.

“We went beyond the mandated training by the state. We did double that. Training is one thing, but unless it’s implemented, it means nothing,” Bumpers said.

Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research surveyed approximately 5,000 Houston and Harris County residents in summer 2023 about their experiences being the victim of a crime or other unwanted incident (for example, harassment, physical assault, damage to property, verbal abuse or cyberbullying) and whether they perceived those experiences as being motivated by bias or prejudice.

Seventy-three percent said they reported the crime to someone while 27% said they did not. A little more than half (51%) reported the incident to a family member or friend while 31% went to the police.

Still, of those who said they didn’t report it, the top reasons for not telling someone were because they didn’t believe anything would have been done about it (66%) and another 24% said they didn’t trust the police.

Economic disparities

Another important piece of the conversation was that of economic prosperity and why there appears to be a lack thereof in some communities.

As Fletcher explained, it’s not easy for everyone to push back when neighborhoods are at risk of gentrification or other methods used to push out longtime community members.

“We’ve seen that happen in Black communities across the nation. There’s always a freeway coming through. Our communities are the first ones that are subject to these things,” she said. “You go into more more affluent communities, they’re able to fight it. You don’t get the freeway. You don’t get the rail. But when you look at Black communities historically, it has happened. Freedmen’s Town here in Houston. There’s another settlement within the Dallas area. There’s the Claiborne project in New Orleans, Africatown (in Alabama) is another one.”

“It’s happened time and time again in Black communities, and we’re the ones usually subjected to what this gentrification looks like that ultimately causes displacement,” Fletcher continued.

Potter adds that the disparities at the neighborhood level and the differences in median income translate to real-world problems, including the type of amenities and resources, or lack thereof, being brought to areas.

“I think you can take a look at neighborhoods in the northeast, for example: Kashmere Gardens, Trinity Gardens, the Settegast neighborhood, Eastex Jensen. Not all of these are necessarily predominantly Black neighborhoods, but all sorts of people of color neighborhoods,” Potter explained. “What bonds them unfortunately is low-median household incomes over and over again, despite each of these being within 10 minutes of downtown. Lower earning households translates to a lack of grocery stores, a lack of other retail, increase in pawn shops or other types of predatory lending establishments, and in some ways, it creates an economy that becomes a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy.”

It takes everyone

So, how do we build communities that are stronger together?

Potter says it starts with understanding that the challenges of today started long ago.

“There has been a history of disinvestment in communities and neighborhoods that renders them with open air ditches, renders a failing infrastructure in terms of the electric grid and the roadway that is there. These are not coincidences. These are intentional decisions that were made. That is not to put this at the feet of the current administration or anybody saying these are decisions that they made today, but when they take up the title of mayor or county judge, they take up the history that comes along with it. They may not have done it, but they’re now in a position to do something about it,” Potter said.

And as Fletcher pointed out, there’s no one organization that can do the work alone. Instead, progress is oftentimes made through public/private partnerships.

“You have to have someone saying, ‘We need to be able to do this because this work supports the community being able to have appropriate utilities, fresh water, a good, working sewer system,” Fletcher said.

You can watch the full discussion that explores the meaning of Juneteenth, events in the last five years, and the progress we’re looking ahead to in the video player above.