Juneteenth 2026

Today is Juneteenth. Let’s think about that — briefly, since as an old cishet white guy I have limited personal experience here, but can speak respectfully. Juneteenth Juneteenth is a story about the end of slavery in the United States. President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation 2 years earlier in January of 1863, but the Southern states – even those already defeated – wouldn’t implement it without compulsion. This is exactly like the Southern states who took 14 years to comply with school desegregation, but in the aftermath of the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act took only 14 hours to redistrict to eliminate all majority-Black Congressional districts. They are like a rubber band held taut, eager to snap back into racism and fascist control of the wealthy if the grip of civilization is loosened for even a moment. Let’s start out with a view from an historian, in this case the estimable Heather Cox Richardson. (I’m aware of the irony here: I as an old cishet…