This past Saturday, I joined many in our community in celebration of Juneteenth. I am excited by the fact that the President passed the Bill to make Juneteenth a National Holiday, now known as Juneteenth National Independence Day. Let's start where we should: Black people are inextricably tied to America’s founding and foundation, making days like Juneteenth all the more important to observe. Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached the people of Galveston, Texas, freeing slaves in the last rebel state. Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, but the proclamation wasn’t enforced in Galveston until federal soldiers read it out on 19 June 1865.
Slavery might have officially ended in 1865, but we are still grappling with the vestiges of that original sin, from institutionalized racism that holds people back from realizing their potential to historic neighborhood disinvestment, all because of the color of one's skin. To erase the history of Juneteenth is not only a great disservice to us here in New York and across the country but a great disservice to our collective memory. As I think about the upcoming celebrations of July 4th and independence, I also think about how Black history is intimately woven with America's history.
Thank you to Ossining's Juneteenth Council for volunteering your time to put together such thoughtful events throughout the month of June and for raising the community's consciousness about the history of this under-recognized and under-celebrated second Independence Day in the United States.
