The Promise of July 4th
by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 06/22/2025
Juneteenth – June 19, 1865, (estimated date) Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to declare freedom for enslaved African Americans, two and a half years after the signing of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Major General Gordon Granger read the proclamation of freedom for slaves as declared in General Order Number 3, which stated:
Done. Jubilee!
And through that simplest telling, the last of the slaves were finally set free. However, there is freedom, and there is the kind of true freedom that exists only in a world devoid of vitriol and hatred. Clearly, this is not that world. Martin Luther King, Jr., reminded us that, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Change takes time, but it does happen.
There are also times when that change is threatened – even reversed. Why? Hate happens – othering happens – sua sponte. It happens when some believe that their perceived problems or losses are attributable to others. Someone else – someone unlike ‘us’ – must be blamed – hated –punished – banished.
Wendell Phillips (Nov 29, 1811 – Feb 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, a labor reformer, temperance activist, and advocate for Native Americans. He said, “ Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.”
We tend to associate his quote with July Fourth and our Nation’s Independence. It was about the eventual abolition of slavery.
In the face of hate, the loss of DEI, the threats to all of us – let us remain ever vigilant. The good work must go on, for in this, our imperfect world, we will never be done. Eternal vigilance against hatred is the price of true freedom – for everyone.
And – as always –
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