JUNETEENTH: What Does Freedom Really Mean?
- Brother Levon X
- Jun 19
- 3 min read

Dear Family,
Juneteenth—officially recognized as a federal holiday in 2021—is more than a date on the calendar. It commemorates June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation—more than two years after it had been issued. This moment marked the final enforcement of the end of slavery in the Confederate states, but it did not mark the true end of suffering for our people.
Slavery was not just a moral atrocity—it was big business. The forced labor of enslaved Africans generated billions of dollars through the cotton industry and other trades. So when slavery "ended," the machinery of oppression didn’t vanish—it evolved. Jim Crow laws, Black Codes, lynching, rape, economic sabotage, and the systematic destruction of Black families were all new forms of control that emerged in its place.
Let’s go deeper.
The 13th Amendment, ratified in December 1865, stated that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist… except as a punishment for crime.” That exception clause paved the way for a new form of bondage: mass incarceration. Today, Black Americans make up roughly 13% of the U.S. population, yet comprise nearly 38% of the prison population. Many of these individuals are behind bars due to petty offenses, unjust sentencing, or false convictions—often used as tools for forced labor, echoing slavery’s legacy.
This same post-slavery era saw Black communities striving for independence, building towns like Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, only to see them destroyed through white supremacist violence. Whether it was the burning of Black towns, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, the spread of crack cocaine, or the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS, systemic efforts have continually sabotaged Black progress.
Despite all this, we have survived.
We celebrate the engineers, the inventors, the freedom fighters, and the everyday men and women who built families, businesses, and institutions in the face of unimaginable adversity. Our endurance in the face of the worst holocaust in human history is nothing short of divine. But the struggle is far from over.
The promise of “40 acres and a mule”—a tangible path to self-sufficiency—was never fulfilled. Conversations around reparations have been ongoing since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Even today, the economic and psychological residue of slavery and segregation lingers. Redlining, gentrification, and educational disparities continue to create cycles of poverty. The deliberate separation of Black families through welfare policies and mass incarceration further cripples our communities.
Let’s also be honest about how we’ve internalized some of the trauma. In the absence of cultural self-determination, media and entertainment have often promoted destructive images of the Black man and woman. The hypersexualization of our sisters and the criminalization of our brothers stem from slavery’s legacy—when Black women were used as breeders and Black men as property. The rise of “strip culture” and the glorification of dysfunction are not freedom—they are symptoms of colonized thinking.
Real freedom is not just physical—it’s mental, spiritual, and economic. That’s why the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad remain so essential. Through the Nation of Islam, he taught us who we are, how to love ourselves, and how to resist the traps of our oppressors. He reminded us that true freedom starts with self-knowledge and that our liberation must come from unity, self-discipline, and faith in the God of justice—not the religion of slavery that was forced upon us.
To this day, those who walk in truth and teach righteousness—whether they wear bowties, dashikis, or three-piece suits—are continuing the legacy of our ancestors. They are the new abolitionists, committed to liberating minds and uplifting hearts.
As we celebrate Juneteenth, let us not just reflect—we must act.
Are we truly free if we’re still navigating systemic racism? Are we truly liberated if our youth are imprisoned by ignorance, poisoned by food, or consumed by media that disrespects our dignity?
Juneteenth must be more than a day off—it must be a call to consciousness. We are duty-bound to teach our children the full truth of our history—not just the pain, but also the power. We must build our own schools, support Black businesses, defend our families, and create a future where freedom is not just commemorated—but lived.
Citations and References:
National Archives. “The Emancipation Proclamation.” https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation
U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIII. https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-13/
The Sentencing Project. “Report on Racial Disparities in Incarceration.” https://www.sentencingproject.org
Equal Justice Initiative. “Lynching in America.” https://eji.org/reports/lynching-in-america/
ACLU. “History of Redlining and Modern-Day Housing Discrimination.” https://www.aclu.org
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 2010.
Ta-Nehisi Coates. “The Case for Reparations.” The Atlantic, June 2014.
Nation of Islam. Message to the Blackman in America, Elijah Muhammad.
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