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In this week’s SojoMail, Adam Russell Taylor writes that amid today’s retrenchment and backsliding on racial justice, our nation needs the lessons of Juneteenth more than ever:
This week, the staff at Sojourners will have some well-deserved additional time off as we pause on Thursday to observe Juneteenth. I want to share why we do this — and why I hope other American Christians will join us in honoring this day as part of our shared call to justice.
It has been four years since Congress established Juneteenth as a national holiday on June 17, 2021. That same year, my executive team at Sojourners decided to follow suit for our organization. For us, taking Juneteenth off isn’t about performative justice or simply giving our staff an extra holiday. It’s about aligning our calendars with our convictions — redoubling our commitment to expanding freedom, learning the painful but necessary lessons from our past, and honoring one of the most significant moments in our nation’s history. Even though Juneteenth is now a national holiday, I wonder how deeply its meaning has truly seeped into our civic consciousness, particularly at a time in which the uglier parts of our nation’s history are being whitewashed and censored. Anniversaries of accomplishments in the long freedom struggle offer a critical opportunity to push back against those efforts and tell the unvarnished truth about American history — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Amid today’s retrenchment and backsliding on racial justice, our nation needs the lessons of Juneteenth more than ever. As I reflect on the day’s history and meaning, two historical footnotes stand out.
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