On June 19 of each year, millions of Americans, primarily Blacks, celebrate Juneteenth in remembrance of Union General Gordon Granger arriving on the shores of Galveston, Texas and declaring slavery illegal in the United States in 1865. For many years after, people celebrated the unofficial holiday by taking off work, hosting cookouts, attending services in churches and entertaining themselves at parties not only in Texas but other states as well. Texas became the first state to declare Juneteenth an official holiday and others followed. The movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday succeeded in 2021 when President Biden signed legislation to that effect.
Many organizations are using the holiday to perform community service. That is an admirable pursuit, but in these times of political extremism, primarily on the right, more needs to be done to recognize the true spirit of what Juneteenth means other than well-meaning, yet rote community work. As Juneteenth becomes more a part of the country’s yearly traditions, there is a danger that it will become irrelevant if people of goodwill don’t get involved in changing its course.
People should focus on what Juneteenth really means: freedom. The freedom not to be in bondage to another human being. The freedom of people to determine their own destiny. The freedom to vote for whomever or whatever one wants.
Juneteenth, in a broader sense, advocates for women to have the right to govern their own bodies, supports people of color’s aspirations for first-class American citizenship and the right for young people to have a voice in the governance of this country and the elderly to be respected for their wisdom and experience.
However, freedom is in danger presently. State legislatures, whether in the North or South, have passed laws making it more difficult to vote but easier to buy a gun. That isn’t right. Juneteenth should be a time for people to organize to confront government at every level to help those who are hurting and to ensure equity among all people and not just the chance to stuff their faces with barbecue.
Juneteenth has NEVER been relevant. It is insulting to Black people and is just another hollow bone thrown to the masses— instantly corrupted, appropriated and manipulated by capitalist GREED and government INDOCTRINATION. Why would anyone want to celebrate racism, institutional genocide and socially acceptable bigotry? The African kidnap victims forced to do unpaid labor under penalty of TORTURE & DEATH were gaslighted, lied to and abused immediately after supposedly be “granted their freedom” by the very people who stole their independence and liberty, making them aliens to their own history and culture FOREVER. Now Black People are being segregated from even having the illusion of fellowship when celebrating 4th of July. That’s the White people’s holiday. Parades & Bar B Ques, going to the beach…fun. Very telling that Black people’s holidays always highlight THE STRUGGLE, SORROW, INJUSTICE….. Who wants to commemorate that? Especially when most Black People are STILL daily victims of BIGOTRY and have yet to experience true, real, honest EQUALITY in the country their ancestors definitely were FORCED TO CREATE.