Juneteenth reminds us that freedom delayed remains to be freedom denied until we flip celebration into motion.
“What are we doing to really turn 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 types. It’s also a mirror. Yearly, June 19 asks us the identical uncomfortable query: are we actually free, or are we simply higher adorned 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 individuals 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 larger 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 types 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 diminished to a break day. In reality, I feel it must be a day on.
In 2023, I wrote that my enthusiasm for Juneteenth had turn into difficult. I nonetheless liked the vacation. I’m at all times proud my dad’s day is similar as a vacation related to freedom. However, at the moment, I questioned whether or not we had been doing sufficient past celebrating. Had been we turning into extra free mentally, spiritually, bodily and systemically? Or had been we performing freedom whereas accepting oppression in new varieties?
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 mates and their youngsters to observe the acclaimed docu-series Exterminate All The Brutes or decide up Black AF Historical past: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America. Pressure youngsters to place away the screens and do significant work. Defending Black girls, Black elders, Black kids and safe Black futures. Freedom means financial energy, media energy, political energy and non secular self-discipline. Because the previous 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 isn’t just about what was carried out to us. It’s about what we nonetheless owe one another. Dr. Opal Lee mentioned we’re all in the identical boat. I notice all people 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 motion pictures. Celebrations are positive, 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. Train 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 one can ever once more delay the reality, steal the longer term or persuade us that survival and liberation are the identical factor.
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