Let’s Remember What Juneteenth Is and Isn’t

by Wendell Griffen

Juneteenth (June 19th) is the most recent federal holiday established in the United States. Its stated purpose is to commemorate the date in 1965 when enslaved Africans learned they were no longer enslaved.

June 19, 1865 did not mark the end of Confederate military resistance. Confederate forces continued armed hostilities against Union forces until August 1865, when a Confederate naval vessel named Shenandoah sailed into Liverpool, England, and its captain and crew quit fighting.

June 19, 1865 is not only an important date to remember because of what enslaved Africans learned. That date also marks when the United States started disregarding their right to reparation for 250 years of enslavement. 

The U.S. has refused to make amends for 250 years of human trafficking since Juneteenth. 

The U.S. has refused to make amends for 250 years of racialized murders, maimings, rapes, and other atrocities since Juneteenth.

The U.S. refused to make amends for refusing to provide formerly enslaved Africans with land, housing, education, or any other means for living after Juneteenth.

No forty acres. No mules. No schools. 

Simply put, Juneteenth shows how much this society refuses to do right by indigenous and other people of color. 

So, let’s observe Juneteenth. But also let’s do something about the unpaid debt this society owes, refuses to pay, and refuses to acknowledge—the debt owed to right the wrongs it committed, the harms it did, and the continuing effect of that blatant violation of love and justice. 

Please include that emphasis in your Juneteenth observances. Otherwise, Juneteenth is merely a callous attempt to continue denying the truth about the debt this society owes and refuses to pay.

Wendell Griffen is is Pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, a state court circuit (trial) judge, owner/CEO of Griffen Strategic Consulting (a consulting practice focused on cultural competency, equity, and inclusion), a trustee of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, and an author, advocate, and activist concerning faith, justice, and public theology. He holds degrees in political science and law from the University of Arkansas, is a U.S. Army veteran, and is author of the book The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope and three Internet blogs (Wendell Griffen on Cultural Competency, Justice Is a Verb!, and Fierce Prophetic Hope).”