156 years ago today, Black southerners in Galveston, Texas, finally learned the news of their freedom from enslavement — nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed — now known as Juneteenth.

Earlier this week, I proudly voted in Congress to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. President Biden signed it into law, making it the first federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was declared in 1983.

Juneteenth is not only a celebration of freedom but a recommitment to truth, reconciliation, and reparations. This recognition is a small step on the path toward liberation, equity, and justice for Black people in America.

We cannot truly move forward until we reckon with the brutal racism in our country, past and present.

For decades, organizers, activists, and members of Congress have pushed for reparations.

In Congress I’ve co-sponsored H.R. 40 to establish a commission to study the horrific lasting impacts of slavery and make recommendations for paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved people. Reparations are not optional, they are a necessary condition of atonement.

We must also be clear that Black people continue to face racism today, directly and systemically.

That means making a true commitment to ending police brutality, putting an end to systemic inequalities in the form of housing, income, and education, and addressing disparities in healthcare that are hurting and killing Black people. It also means fighting back against the hundreds of attempts from Republicans across the country to pass laws to silence Black voters at the ballot box.

We have our work cut out for us, but on this day I am hopeful. Thank you for reading, and for your commitment to building a more just, equitable America.

In radical solidarity,

Ilhan Omar