The Freedom Fight is Not Over

Hallelujah, we are free at last! Surely the freed men and women in Galveston, Texas, who spent years in under the backbreaking yoke of slavery, shouted these words or something similar upward to heaven, when they received the jubilant news that their long-awaited day of freedom had finally arrived. But as they made the trek from the Old South where they lived in bondage to the North, which held the promise of new life and new beginnings, their overwhelming joy tinged with fear of the unknown paths that lay before them. And rightfully so; even though they had been loosed from the shackles of physical slavery, they were unaware that their generation and generations to come were standing at the precipice of a covert form of bondage plagued by racism, inequity, and injustice, and reserved for people of color.

Today, June 19, marks the 142nd anniversary of Juneteenth, which is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Originating in Galveston in 1865, Juneteenth is an acknowledgement of a chapter in our country’s history that continues to shape and influence our society today. What the celebration of Juneteenth causes us to ponder, however, is what freedom truly means and it prompts us to look introspectively at whether we, as people of color, are truly free today.

Because Juneteenth is now nationally recognized, slavery can no longer be relegated to the back burner of history. No longer can America deny the existence or historical significance of this pivotal chapter in our nation’s history. But we can also no longer afford to turn a blind eye to those actions and institutions that, being advanced in the name of progress, actually hearken to the Jim Crow era days of slavery. The only difference is that now the “slaves” are not the Africans, who were forcibly transported to American soil, but the modern day “slaves” are the Black and Brown people who inhabit this land, pay taxes to the government, and make up the workforce population, but are overworked, overlooked, underpaid, underestimated, undervalued, and undercut every day.

Harriet Tubman, the feisty matron who risked life and limb to spirit hundreds of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad, said of her freedom experience: “I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.” Her words resonate and ring with truth today because, even today, people of color are treated as strangers in a land that was built on and continues to thrive because of the sweat of our brows and the strength of our backs. With the Juneteenth commemorative ceremonies under way in at least 14 states across this country, it’s time to stop and think about the racial injustices that are hurting individuals and communities of color, identify the underlying problems, and take action to change. Without change, people of color will continue under the yoke of racism, unable to taste the sweetness of true freedom.