✊🏽 JUNETEENTH: THE HISTORY THEY DON’T TEACH YOU IN SCHOOL
On June 19, 1865—two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation—Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform the last enslaved Black Americans that they were technically free.
Let that sink in.
Slavery had been abolished in 1863. But for 900 days, white Texans chose to keep human beings in chains, working, suffering, and dying—because no one came to stop them. And when Union soldiers finally did, it wasn’t accompanied by reparations, justice, or any real consequence for the enslavers. It was simply, “Now they know.”
That’s Juneteenth. It’s not a day of pure celebration. It’s a day of truth-telling, of uncovering the lies this country was built on, and of honoring the resilience of Black Americans who have endured every form of legal, social, economic, and spiritual sabotage imaginable.
🔥 BEING BLACK IN TRUMP’S ANTI-BLACK, ANTI-TRUTH AMERICA
Now let’s fast forward to 2025, shall we?
Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, but don’t be fooled by the performative flag-waving and social media graphics from politicians who are actively dismantling every policy meant to repair the very damage Juneteenth represents.
Donald Trump and his Republican cult aren’t just indifferent to racial justice—they are actively trying to erase it.
- They’ve gutted DEI programs—diversity, equity, inclusion—because in their warped, white grievance worldview, fairness is now “discrimination.”
- They’re banning books that mention slavery, systemic racism, or Black excellence.
- They’re criminalizing protest, rewriting history, and weaponizing law enforcement against communities of color—again.
- They’re elevating white supremacist judges and lawmakers to strip power away from Black voters and communities.
- And now they dare call themselves the “party of Lincoln” while licking the boots of Confederates—the ones who fought to keep people enslaved.
This isn’t about being “colorblind.” This is about being willfully racist. About rolling back the clock to a time when Black people “knew their place,” when white comfort was more important than Black truth, and when privilege didn’t have to share the table.
Let’s be honest: being Black in America still means you have to fight for air.
To breathe without fear.
To vote without interference.
To live without being hunted, policed, silenced, or gaslit by a country that built its wealth on your ancestors’ backs and still won’t say thank you.
Being Black in Trump’s America means you are the target of every law, every policy, every whisper campaign that blames you for the systems you didn’t build but are forced to survive.
They say DEI is “woke indoctrination”? No.
DEI is the bare minimum. It’s asking for a fair shot, not a handout.
They say Juneteenth is “divisive”? No.
Juneteenth is accountability. It’s a mirror—and cowards hate mirrors.
So this Juneteenth, let’s remember:
đź–¤ Freedom was delayed.
đź–¤ Justice is still denied.
đź–¤ And the same forces that kept Black people in chains are now just wearing suits, robes, and red hats.
But also this: Black joy, Black love, Black excellence, and Black resistance have never been extinguished.
Not in 1865. Not in 1965. Not in 2025.
Because Black people are the backbone of this nation, and without them, America would have no soul worth saving.
Julie Bolejacj, MBA
