John,

On June 19, 1865 — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been in effect — Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas declaring that all people who were enslaved were to be freed.

Upon hearing of their freedom, the newly freed Americans broke out in celebration of prayer, food, song, and dance. Slavery had been over, but many Black Americans were still not free until that Monday in June.

This is the spirit of Juneteenth. We don’t celebrate the day when change is announced for some. We celebrate the day when justice is made real for every single last one of us.

Growing up as the son of educators in Mobile, Alabama, serving in the United States Army, and now working as a congressman representing Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, I have seen firsthand the progress we’ve made in this country over the decades.

But today, there are still so many of us left behind.

So on this Junenteenth, we remember our history, we celebrate how far we’ve come, and we recommit to the words of the grandmother of Juneteenth, Miss Opal Lee: “None of us are free until we're all free.”

Happy Juneteenth,

Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.

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