Juneteenth reminds us that freedom delayed remains to be freedom denied except we flip celebration into motion.
“What are we doing to really develop into free?” – Chuck Jigsaw Creekmur
Juneteenth has at all times been private to me. It’s greater than a vacation. It’s also my dad’s birthday.
It’s historical past, tradition and celebration of kinds. It’s also a mirror. Yearly, June 19 asks us the identical uncomfortable query: are we really free, or are we simply higher embellished in our bondage? At a Juneteenth celebration, I noticed a person with a “Free-ish” shirt and it actually hit the bullseye.
Years in the past, I spoke with Dr. Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” when she was nonetheless pushing for the vacation to be acknowledged nationally. She reminded us all that enslaved Black folks in Texas weren’t instructed they had been free till June 19, 1865, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. She additionally made it clear that the combat was greater than her and even the second. It was only a second inside a motion.
Now we sit in 2026. Juneteenth is a federal vacation. There are all kinds of concert events, cookouts, and branded campaigns. However there are additionally horrible AI flyers, roll-backs on each entrance and meaningless hashtags. Freedom can’t be lowered to a time off. Actually, I believe it needs to be a day on.
In 2023, I wrote that my enthusiasm for Juneteenth had develop into sophisticated. I nonetheless liked the vacation. I’m at all times proud my dad’s day is identical as a vacation related to freedom. However, at the moment, I questioned whether or not we had been doing sufficient past celebrating. Have been we changing into extra free mentally, spiritually, bodily and systemically? Or had been we performing freedom whereas accepting oppression in new kinds?
That query feels even louder now. Rattling.
Freedom in 2026 means proudly owning our platforms. It means instructing our youngsters the reality even when the reality makes America uncomfortable. I’ve inspired my associates and their children to observe the acclaimed docu-series Exterminate All The Brutes or choose up Black AF Historical past: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America. Pressure children to place away the screens and do significant work. Defending Black ladies, Black elders, Black kids and safe Black futures. Freedom means financial energy, media energy, political energy and non secular self-discipline. Because the outdated people used to say, “Maintain the road” and transfer ahead.
It additionally means loving one another higher. Respect one another.
Final yr, I wrote about unity, belief and pure Black love after a easy second jogged my memory that Juneteenth is not only about what was performed to us. It’s about what we nonetheless owe one another. Dr. Opal Lee stated we’re all in the identical boat. I notice everyone doesn’t share that perception.
Opal Lee will flip 100 this yr, and her Stroll for Freedom continues with 2.5 miles symbolizing the two-and-a-half-year delay between emancipation and the information reaching Texas. That stroll is the lesson and the motion. It’s the new second, as a result of Freedom strikes. It’s more and more elusive because it films. Celebrations are high quality, however group is gorgeous.
So this Juneteenth, benefit from the meals and parades. Play the music. Honor the ancestors. Put on the colours. However after the celebration, do one thing. Construct one thing. Fund one thing. Heal one thing. Educate one thing or somebody. Defend one thing.
As a result of freedom in 2026 is just not merely remembering that they lastly instructed us we had been free.
Freedom is ensuring no person can ever once more delay the reality, steal the long run or persuade us that survival and liberation are the identical factor.
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