I ask readers to accept two premises in this discussion about the fate of Juneteenth.
- Juneteenth only exists as a federal holiday as a reaction to the millions of people protesting in major cities across America, following the release of the George Floyd videos of his murder. These protests lasted as long as a year in some locations. Protests, even violent ones, didn’t scare politicians as they have been built into our culture. What made these different was that the majority of protesters were white people, demanding specific changes in law enforcement, including ending qualified immunity and reallocation of resources. Rather than give the people what they demanded, Juneteenth, which met none of these demands, was offered as appeasement and the appearance of justice.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a vague concept used to remove books from libraries, reduce focus on historical inequities, and stop any effort at righting historical wrongs. Many actions have been taken because of DEI that no logical person can explain. The Pentagon ordered the deletion of tens of thousands of images that allegedly promoted DEI. Those included pictures of minority war heroes, women in action, and the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan, presumably because the plane’s name contained the word gay. The plane was actually named after an officer’s mother. However much as one may like Juneteenth, it is DEI. Juneteenth is purportedly a celebration, but any serious look at what happened that day paints a different picture. Juneteenth is a diversion and DEI as f**k.
The effort to recognize Juneteenth began long before George Floyd met his demise with his neck under Derek Chauvin’s knee for almost nine minutes. Marjorie Taylor Greene is currently leading efforts to grant Chauvin a federal pardon. Chauvin was also convicted under state charges, and according to Governor Tim Walz, should he receive a pardon, he’d be transferred to a Minnesota state prison.
Juneteenth is recognized as the day enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom when Major General Gordon Granger read General Order #3 in Galveston, Texas, declaring the slaves were now free, according to the Emancipation Proclamation issued two and a half years earlier. Lost in the celebration was the fact that the newly freed men and women were told to go back to their plantations and hopefully work for wages. They were told not to come to military bases, and the government wouldn’t support them.
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.
The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.
By order of Major General Granger”
The first “Emancipation Day” celebrations were held the following year in a few Texas Black churches. They spread over the years across the state, and as Texans moved across the country, particularly during the Great Migration, they brought Juneteenth with them. Juneteenth is also celebrated by the Mascogos, descendants of Black Seminoles who escaped from slavery in 1852 and settled in Coahuila, Mexico. In Limestone County, 30,000 Black people celebrated at Booker T. Washington Park, established in 1898 for Juneteenth celebrations. Black people began using the word Juneteenth for Jubilee Day early in the 1890s.
In 1979, Democratic State Representative Al Edwards of Houston successfully sponsored legislation to make Juneteenth a paid Texas state holiday. The bill passed through the Texas Legislature in 1979 and was officially made a state holiday on January 1, 1980. In 1997, activist Ben Haith created the Juneteenth flag, which illustrator Lisa Jeanne Graf further refined. In 2000, the flag was first hoisted at the Roxbury Heritage State Park in Boston by Haith. The star at the center represents Texas and the extension of freedom for all African Americans throughout the whole nation. The burst around the star represents a nova, and the red curve represents a horizon, representing a new era for African Americans. The red, white, and blue colors represent the American flag, which shows that African Americans and their enslaved ancestors are Americans, and the national belief in liberty and justice for all citizens. In 1999, Ralph Ellison’s novel Juneteenth was published, increasing recognition of the holiday.
Opal Lee was twelve years old when her family home was burned down in Fort Worth, Texas. Her parents had committed the sin of moving into a white neighborhood. The date of the fire was June 19, 1939. Juneteenth was always more than a cookout for her. In 1976, Lee began a tradition of walking 2.5 miles, representing the two-and-a-half years it took for the Emancipation Proclamation to reach the state of Texas. From September 2016 to January 2017, Lee traveled from Fort Worth to Washington, stopping in dozens of cities along the way for symbolic 2.5-mile walks to draw attention to her cause.
“I was thinking that surely, somebody would see a little old lady in tennis shoes trying to get to Congress and notice,” said Lee
Lula Briggs Galloway was a former Black Panther who lobbied Congress for several years in hopes of making Juneteenth a federal holiday. Clara Peoples brought Juneteenth from her home in Oklahoma to Oregon in 1945. In 1996, the first federal legislation to recognize “Juneteenth Independence Day” was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.J. Res. 195, sponsored by Barbara-Rose Collins. Juneteenth was on the radar of Congress, but there was little interest among members in making it a holiday until George Floyd.
“Recognizing Juneteenth nationally would be one more way to acknowledge the intrinsic value of Black people and their history to the wealth and prosperity of the USA.” — Lupita Nyong’o
On June 19, 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday with President Joe Biden signing it into law two days earlier. It was a federal holiday, relatively few people were demanding, but a welcome diversion from the people in the streets without sacrificing anything. It would take Hallmark a year to get ready with appropriate cards for the occasion, which took on the tone of America always being on the arc towards moral progress. Look at what a great thing we did: we freed the enslaved people.
It wasn’t popular to oppose Juneteenth when votes were cast in Congress, yet some Republicans made themselves heard. DEI hadn’t become the bogeyman it is today, but the sentiment existed.
“Let’s call an ace an ace," said Republican Matt Rosendale. "This is an effort by the Left to create a day out of whole cloth to celebrate identity politics as part of its larger efforts to make Critical Race Theory the reigning ideology of our country. Commemorating the last of the slaves being told they were free is part of a larger hard-left agenda to enshrine the racial history of this country as the prime aspect of our national story.”
“This name needlessly divides our nation on a matter that should instead bring us together by creating a separate Independence Day based on the color of one’s skin,” added Chip Roy
“I fully support creating a day to celebrate the abolition of slavery, a dark portion of our nation’s history," said Thomas Massie. "However, naming this day ‘national independence day’ will create confusion and push Americans to pick one of those two days as their independence day based on their racial identity.”
During his first term as President, Donald Trump issued a pro forma statement from Melania and himself supporting Juneteenth. That was before he decided the destruction of DEI was part of his path back to the White House. In 2020, Trump obtusely planned a political rally in Tulsa, OK, home of the Black Wall Street Massacre. Trump ultimately moved the rally to June 20th after people told him how insensitive it was. He then stated he put Juneteenth on the map, with nobody knowing what it was until he came along. While he arguably never cared about Juneteenth, recent signs suggest he’s now intent on its revocation.
Pete Hegseth has already erased Juneteenth from the armed forces. The Pentagon banned Juneteenth activities throughout the military to comply with Trump’s executive order banning DEI. Several cities have canceled Juneteenth events. The annual Juneteenth Parade in Indianapolis “couldn’t secure a location.” Bend, Oregon, cited safety concerns in today's political climate.
“As you know, Juneteenth is more than just a holiday for us — it’s a time to uplift our history, celebrate our resilience, and stand in joyful solidarity. But in today’s increasingly volatile political climate, with rising incidents of racial aggression and threats — particularly toward Black and Latino communities — safety must come first.”
In Plano, Illinois, the cancellation was due to circumstances outside of the organizer’s control, such as “community engagement and negative feedback.”
While states like Texas preceded the federal government in recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday, almost every state has recognized it in the past few years in some fashion. Only 29 states allow Juneteenth as a paid holiday, some offering the choice between another holiday like Robert E. Lee’s Birthday or Confederate Memorial Day. There is the problem that most white people don’t know how to celebrate Juneteenth. Except in the Black community, there are no traditions to follow, and white people are on the outside looking in, sometimes with contempt in today’s DEI backlash environment.
One day soon, a reporter will ask Donald Trump if celebrating Juneteenth isn’t opposed to his attempts to eradicate DEI. They may add that the military has already banned such celebrations. Trump will give no more than lackluster support and may condemn Juneteenth entirely. Maybe he’ll plan a rally in Rosewood, FL, or Ocoee, FL, or another site where hundreds of Black people were massacred to show his contempt.
Some Congressional Representative in the House of Representatives will introduce a bill to end Juneteenth, and another will do the same in the Senate. What Republicans in the current Congress can you see standing up to a movement to end Juneteenth?
Juneteenth only became a federal holiday because white people took to the streets in protest. They watched a video they couldn’t turn away from, and said "this is too much". Since then, most have returned to their plantations to work for wages. Juneteenth has come full circle.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.