Juneteenth 2023

“If racism can’t be shown to be natural, then it is the result of certain conditions, and we are impelled to eliminate those conditions.” – Howard Zinn

Today is Juneteenth 2023. Today marks both a celebration and a reflection on the roots of our American history. For millions of Americans, an Independence Day true to the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness did not begin on July 4th, 1776. No, millions of American people were still under the bondage of institutionalized slavery, the antithesis of the ideals of the country’s independence. It took another ninety years for the federal government to declare, via the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1st, 1863), that “all persons held as slaves… shall be forever free.” And even then, the abolishment of slavery was in name alone, for justice cannot be declared alone. Justice must also be applied. On June 19, 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the federal government came to Galveston, Texas, where slavery still existed, and ordered that all people were free under the proclamation.

Today is a day to recognize the genesis of a different America, a better America. Today is a day to recognize the ways our country has failed and succeeded. Today is a day to recognize the ways our country can improve. The conditions that bred racism and bigoted hate are yet to be fully abolished. The ways we affect change today require a close examination of history and more specifically, of past people and their relations with each other. Today, YCS reflects on the injustice of slavery and the conditions that gave rise to it. Today, we recommit to being “impelled to eliminate those conditions” so that all people shall be forever free, not just in principle, but also in practice.

-YCS Founders