Last Friday Juneteenth was celebrated as a national holiday for the first time. Especially for many white people, the history of what happened on June 19, 1865 was never included in our formal education. On that day, Union General Gordon Granger announced General Order No. 3 proclaiming the freedom of enslaved people in Texas, the last state where Black people were still being held in slavery. Juneteenth was celebrated in the Black community starting the next year, and it became a state holiday in many states over the years. The official name of our newest national holiday is Juneteenth National Independence Day. In less than two weeks, we will celebrate another Independence Day on July 4th that commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Although this day was celebrated in various ways from that time on, it did not become an official national holiday until 1870.
Both holidays celebrate the ideal of freedom, but it is important to recognize that the freedom celebrated on both holidays has not yet been fully realized. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that “all men are created equal” at a time when millions of Black people were enslaved throughout nearly all of the original 13 states. General Order No. 3 proclaimed freedom for all enslaved people but provided no resources for the formerly enslaved. This led directly and indirectly to the brutal conditions of sharecropping, convict leasing, lynching, and Jim Crow legal segregation that made Black people second class citizens for another 100 years. Yet despite these forms of oppression, Black people built vibrant communities and made major contributions to our nation as they continued the struggle for freedom.
The racial reckoning of the last few years makes it clear that the consequences of systemic racism are still with us today even as legislators in many states pass voter suppression laws and outlaw the teaching of Critical Race Theory. The very history that Juneteenth commemorates is in danger of being trivialized, ignored, or even outlawed at the same time that Juneteenth becomes a national holiday. As people of Biblical faith, it is essential to proclaim the full humanity of all people, especially those who suffer the consequences of ongoing systemic racism. We must commit to learning and teaching the realities of our nation’s history including where we fall short of our national ideal of freedom and justice for all. Then we can celebrate Juneteenth and July 4 as independence days that exist between two worlds – the world of the ideal of freedom and the world of the ongoing struggle for true freedom for all God’s children.
The video posted below features a poem by the Rev. Dr. James Forbes Jr. He was the first Black pastor of Riverside Church in NYC and has been a major leader in faith based movements for racial justice. His poem captures the two worlds o celebrating the ideal of freedom and struggling for the realization of freedom. Please take a few minutes to listen and reflect: