Recognizing Juneteenth and Freedom for All Americans
Juneteenth is a celebration of Freedom. It is considered the day that slavery officially ended, the emancipation of all African Americans. Thankfully, it was also the day that all Americans were finally set free from the scourge of slavery.
June 19, 1865, was the culmination of the struggle for Freedom that began in Boston 100 years earlier in 1765 with the first demonstrations against the Stamp Act imposed by King George III on the American colonies. With the slogan of “No taxation without representation,” what seemed initially to be a commercial, economic protest actually inspired the concept of self-government and freedom for the American colonies. This concept grew and expanded to encompass much more important concepts of human freedom enshrined in our Declaration of Independence. However, it took the American Revolution, followed by a doomed Constitutional compromise on slavery which culminated in the Civil War tearing our young nation apart and killing over 600,000 men, to finally reach the day of ultimate freedom for all on American soil.
A key piece of the process that led to the Emancipation of slaves in America was the formation of the Republican Party by men who resolutely opposed slavery. According to Professor Thomas L. Krannawitter, “In its inception, the Republican Party had one dominating purpose: To stop the spread of slavery. Or, in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, to place slavery ‘in the course of ultimate extinction.’ Republicans like Lincoln emphasized and promoted the ideas enshrined in the Declaration of Independence at the very moment influential Democrats, enamored with the settled science of their day—scientific racism—were mocking and rejecting those ideas.” The emancipation of the slaves in America on June 19, 1865, finally completed the American Founding. This achievement was made possible by the Republican Party.*
It is important to celebrate this important liberation day for it not only freed the enslaved, but it meant that the universal, self-evident truths written and sworn to by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence finally were meant for them, for all People living in America: “…that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
On a personal note, it recalls my experiences as a child in the South in the 1960’s and 1970’s. For although slavery ended in 1865, prejudice and discrimination did not. Having witnessed both against others and experienced both personally, I rejoice in the recognition that despite what others portray, America has changed. America is not a racist country. I reject the premise of systemic racism in America. While Democrats try to divide, push critical race theory, and indoctrinate the next generation to believe that we are all either victims or oppressors, that is not the America we are in 2022. Americans must not allow the divisive rhetoric of those who would separate us by race to succeed; but instead, we must defy them by uniting in celebrating the successful accomplishment of Freedom and the guarantee of unalienable rights for all Americans!
Today and always, let us remember and take to heart the important words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “…I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
May God Bless America!
For Freedom,
