What is Juneteenth?

Today is Juneteenth holiday. For decades, Juneteenth was celebrated mainly within Black communities. In 2021, it became a federal holiday in the United States—an overdue acknowledgment of one of the most pivotal moments in American history.

The History Behind Juneteenth 

 • January 1, 1863 – President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all enslaved people in Confederate states legally free.

 • But in reality, freedom didn’t reach everyone immediately. Many slaveholders in remote areas, especially in Texas, ignored or resisted the order.

 • June 19, 1865 – Over two years later, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with federal troops. He announced General Order No. 3, which proclaimed that all enslaved people were now free.

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

What is Freedom?

At its core, it means the power to choose—to act, speak, think, and live according to your own will, without undue restraint.

But freedom isn’t just one thing. It takes many forms:

1. Personal Freedom
The ability to make decisions about your own body, beliefs, and actions. It’s walking your own path, wearing what you want, choosing whom you love, and dreaming your own dreams.

2. Political Freedom
The right to have a voice in how you’re governed—voting, protesting, expressing opinions without fear, and having access to justice.

3. Economic Freedom
The opportunity to work, earn, own property, and improve your life through your efforts, without exploitation or oppression.

4. Psychological Freedom
Freedom from fear, guilt, shame, and internalized oppression. It’s the quiet, inner space where you are allowed to be exactly who you are.

If you love someone, let them be free. And watch them blossom into their most authentic self.

The Folly of Sameness

Growing up in a homogeneous group can breed a kind of cultural illiteracy — not just ignorance of other traditions, but a deep-seated discomfort with difference itself. The cost? Empathy narrows. Curiosity dims. And a fear of the “other” festers.

There is a subtle tyranny that can emerge within homogeneous groups, especially during formative years, where anyone different is looked down upon or ridiculed. Here’s a reflection:

The Folly of Sameness
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In halls where every voice sounds just the same,
Where mirrors line the walls with matching frames,
A child is taught to fear the foreign name,
To mock the soul that dances in new flames.

The laughter sharpens like a teacher’s rule,
The different child becomes the class’s tool—
A joke, a jest, a silence carved in stone,
Their colors drained until they match the tone.

What harm is done when no one sees the sky
From any lens but theirs? They don’t ask why
Another walks with songs they’ve never heard,
Or shapes their dreams with an unspoken word.

Sameness is easy, sameness is safe.
It feeds the need to not feel out of place.
But sameness blinds, and sameness breeds a wall,
Until the mind grows narrow, false, and small.

And those who dare to speak or dress or pray
In ways that drift from the accepted way—
They bear the weight of sneers that wound the soul,
While they still rise, and make the fractured whole.