Today is June 19, or Juneteenth, as it has come to be known in the United States. It marks the anniversary of Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issuing General Order No. 3 after arriving in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, over two months after the Civil War ended. The order announced the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing any remaining slaves in the state. Now a federal holiday, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, even though it existed for nearly another six months, until the 13th Amendment was ratified, ending the institution once and for all.
However, what, to the American, is Juneteenth?
On the surface, a day to celebrate slavery’s end seems self-evident. It was a despicable institution that plagued every human civilization for thousands of years. Its existence in the U.S. opposed the ideals of liberty and freedom expressed in our nation’s most cherished documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And, it took the deaths of over 625,000 white soldiers in the Civil War to bring it to an end. It would be easy to categorize Juneteenth as a holiday that celebrates the end of slavery. Yet, while true, such a classification is a vast oversimplification.
Much of the complexities that surround celebrating Juneteenth stem from the fact that its relevance was due to the left-wing sociocultural blitz that ensued after the George Floyd riots. Even though the tradition of Juneteenth allegedly dates back to the 1890s, it gained prominence because of an event in 2020. Somehow, a black man who died in police custody, while resisting arrest, became intrinsically linked to an institution that existed in human civilization for millennia and ended in the country over 150 years ago. Historically, the two things are entirely unrelated. Culturally, they’re interwoven.
Furthermore, given its contemporary left-wing ideological orthodoxy, it’s difficult for those who don’t subscribe to such thoughts to openly embrace the holiday. It’s not really a celebration, as much as it is a genuflection to a radicalized neo-Marxist infiltration of American society and culture. Acknowledging the day is not a recognition of the abolishment of slavery, but rather forced compliance to a left-wing, agenda-driven political indoctrination. It means accepting a Howard Zinn revisionism of U.S. history. It means adhering to the falsities of left-wing propaganda such as the 1619 Project.
So, then, what, to the American, is Juneteenth?
THERE IS ONLY ONE INDEPENDENCE DAY
The answer to that is simple: propaganda. Juneteenth is rooted in virtue but corrupted by political charlatans in an attempt to indoctrinate and reshape the culture to adhere to a social justice utopia. It is a day weaponized to infuse extremist, ideologically driven, left-wing propaganda. It’s a day bastardized by revolutionary ideologues who use the anniversary of the day slavery ended to remind everyone that slavery existed. It’s a day meant to delegitimize and diminish the legacy of the U.S. It’s not a day of celebration — it’s a day of rogue indoctrination.
Juneteenth should be a day all people support and celebrate. The end of slavery was a monumental event in the nation’s history. Freedom is worth celebrating. But it mustn’t be done under false pretenses to placate the whims of rogue liberal ideologues and acolytes, as Juneteenth is. Because even though the day may be marked to celebrate freedom, celebrating Juneteenth in its current iteration means we are enslaved to the implementation of the Left’s ideological and cultural norms.