Today, on Juneteenth, we view this significant national holiday as a commemoration of progress. As individuals interconnected in the human experience, there is still much work ahead of us. However, Juneteenth instills within me a sense of hope that love and unity can triumph over adversity. Freedom was finally realized on June 19, 1865, when approximately 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army officially proclaimed that over 250,000 enslaved black individuals in the state were emancipated through executive decree. This momentous day became known as “Juneteenth” among the newly freed people in Texas. What is your opinion of this newly recognized federal holiday? Let’s talk about it…
Edward Wing: “Beautifully said! Juneteenth truly represents a significant step forward in our journey toward equality and justice. It’s a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come and how much further we can go together.”
Douglas Homrighausen: “Although my politics are very much different than yours, I agree with you on this.”
Christopher Bogdon Badynee: “As a Conservative, I love celebrations. There is no other reason to live with other people than to celebrate. Usually, a celebration is a form of peace. Usually. Celebrating is living well. CHEERS to Juneteenth!”
Charlie Cruce: “This holiday started when Texas slaves received word they were free.”
Jodi Nalazek: “Why do the “government ” jobs have off while the people still work? Aren’t the slaves still working? Get back to work.”
Raven Hall: “ Can’t we have a day to ourselves? I guess everything is supposed to be for the Oppies. ANYWHOOOO! Happy Juneteenth my melanated family.”
Wayne Purdy: “Celebrate freedom & uplift one another!”
Amy Herrington Lofton: “The event that led to this holiday is clearly documented. What I want to know is this: Who was the plantation owner that withheld this information for over 2 years? It was a dirty trick to keep his free labor. I just feel like his name should be dragged through the mud for doing that.”
Sherri Gammon:“I wish a holiday would change all the scars and sins of the past, but only a changed heart can do that. A heart that is free from hatred, bias, superiority, and discrimination. Only God can change a heart like that! Only God can make us one!”
Tim Schubert: “Most people don’t really care. I don’t really care. I just think that it would make more sense to celebrate the actual end of slavery, like when the 13th Amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865, or even better in my opinion, December 18, 1865 when the 13th Amendment was proclaimed and the last slaves in the U.S. were actually freed. Juneteenth was just a day when the last known slaves in Texas were informed about the Emancipation Proclamation. There were still slaves in the border states and in certain parts of some Confederate states that had been under Union control on January 1, 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect.”
Ty Doyle: “A national holiday celebrating the end of slavery is long overdue and is something that should have happened 50 years ago. I dislike the fact that, like seemingly everything else, all of this is going to be used by people trying to score political points, but the existence of the Juneteenth holiday itself is something to celebrate.”
David Dixon: “The two biggest objections I have heard are that it’s a stupid name and that it’s pandering to what amounts to no more than a fraction (albeit the loudest fraction) of the Nation. It is a stupid name, but I can live with that. As for the obvious pandering to the chronically malcontent 12% among us, I initially just shrugged my shoulders and said “meh”, until a friend of mine who is outraged by the new “National” holiday pointed out that any holiday that has no meaning for 88% of the Nation is hardly a “National” holiday. The pandering intent behind creating the holiday is unlikely to produce results because the chronically malcontent 12% doesn’t want to work for equality and remains malcontent because it doesn’t want equality but a kind of super equality in which they are not expected to grow beyond who they currently are or contribute in any significant way to being worthy of this equality. The financial cost associated with this fake “National” holiday is out of all proportion to any gain that could ever possibly be realized. People tend to forget that National holidays always cost taxpayers in salaries paid to government employees who have off. One day is inconsequential. One day year after year is not. So I have been brought around from not really caring to being somewhat annoyed by our new holiday. I would write more except I am now busy campaigning for the creation of a National holiday celebrating the April 7, 1975 introduction of the first pet rocks. This is a far more worthy cause to me as I hope you would all agree. After literally eons of being stepped on, these poor oppressed creatures were herded into tiny crates, transported from their native lands and sold to owners who kept them enslaved for nothing but their personal pleasure.Please join in pushing for this noble cause and remember, the most laudable part of the since emancipated pet rock community is they never have and never will complain and simply enjoy the benefits of their newfound freedom.”
Bob Moseley: “It’s a great day in history that ended slavery. Can you imagine the joy that was felt by all those people? Families reunited that were forced apart. Slavery is wrong on all levels. There are so many things that divide us but I think the one thing that should unite us all is the fact that Simon of Cyrene carried the cross for Jesus. Simon was from North Africa.”
Andy Zehner: · “A holiday to celebrate emancipation is good. But Juneteenth is not the day I would choose.Celebrating Juneteenth is almost like celebrating the longest holdout of slavery.Juneteenth raises something that happened in Texas to undeserved national importance. Supposedly, Juneteenth marks the day that federal troops reached Texas, and supposedly, made emancipation official. But it was already official when it was proclaimed. Also, the arguments offered for Juneteenth are based on falsehoods about the emancipation proclamation.”
Latoya Eatmon: “It may not be in time for me and the lot of us, but it is my hope that one day Juneteenth will be celebrated by Americans with the same reverence, vigor and excitement as the 4th of July or at least Cinco de Mayo.”
Fran Potter: “No more slavery of any kind. There are more people enslaved now with human trafficking than during slavery. Let’s work to free those who are currently enslaved. Slavery was wrong in 1865, it is wrong today.”
Cherrelle Wilson: “Happy Juneteenth! Today’s A Beautiful Day To Be Black.”
