Juneteenth is a powerful reminder that the Democrats lost their war for slavery and secession.
Yes, the glorious news of Republican President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation finally made its two year trek to the great state of Texas. On June 19, 1865, U.S. Major General Gordon Granger delivered General Order No. 3 and proclaimed, in part: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
WHO IS JUNETEENTH FOR?
This freedom was made possible by whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics who fought for the Union. (Of course all these groups also fought for the failed Confederacy.) Juneteenth doesn’t belong to one particular group. It belongs to every American. The abolition of slavery began the dismantling of destructive and artificial color barriers. It would take over a century for further attacks on human dignity in the form of “black codes” and Jim Crow laws, to be burned on the trash heap of Democratic Party history. Anti-miscegenation laws, which made marriages like mine illegal (white wife, brown husband), were also used to prevent “transracial” adoptions (like the multi-color family of fifteen I grew up in).
Scientific racism malevolently divided the world into different “races”, and I reject it. We’re one human race. I know that’s triggering to the DEI crowd. I write about this in my brand-new book and documentary, Should Have Been Aborted. (Watch the documentary livestreamed on the Radiance Foundation’s Facebook page on Juneteenth at 7pm ET.)
Slavery was not just a tool of “white supremacy”. It was a barbaric tool of humankind. Romans enslaved an estimated five to ten million (mostly white) people. Northern African barbary pirates (Muslims) enslaved over a million Europeans. The Mayans and Aztecs enslaved millions. China enslaved (and continues to enslave) their own people. Native Americans enslaved each other; they also took thousands of black slaves. Japan reportedly enslaved millions of Chinese during World War II. African nations Benin and Ghana formally apologized for their role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Today, the nations leading in modern slavery are in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
WHAT DOES JUNETEENTH MEAN TO ME?
I was adopted on Juneteenth. My truly diverse family is filled with white, black, mixed, Asian, Native American, able and disabled lives. I’m a genetic mix of many different ancestries. According to a recent genetic test, I’m 59.3% European and 36.8% African. I also have trace amounts of Asian and Mexican ancestry in my DNA. I’m also more Native American than Elizabeth Warren! Who isn’t, though?
As a Christian, I see racism for what it is: a sin. Our best weapon against it is the One who colorfully created us in His image. Without Christ, there’s no true unity. That’s why I can never embrace toxic ideologies like Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality or Anti-Racism. These warped worldviews see Christianity as the enemy and racist equity and perpetual guilt as their deity.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Democratic President Biden signed Juneteenth legislation into law in 2021. Oh, the irony of Democratic leaders opining about how great an achievement that was while never once mentioning their party’s rabid commitment to inequality. I’m glad they finally caught up with the party of Lincoln. I despise the official name given to the federal holiday: Juneteenth National Independence Day. This wasn’t our nation’s independence. That belongs to July 4th. So, who then became “independent”? The Democrats in the South made sure freed slaves knew no “independence” by oppressing them with systemic racism for another century. They also terrorized them with the Democrat-founded Ku Klux Klan.
This holiday should simply be called Juneteenth Emancipation Day. It’s what happened historically. Yet, the Smithsonian takes issue with historicity. The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s (NMAAHC) webpage on Juneteenth doesn’t mention Republicans or Democrats, and it refuses to assign credit or culpability. How convenient. The museum never acknowledges that over 642,427 soldiers died fighting to preserve the Union. They battled a radically pro-slavery Confederacy. The NMAAHC never mentions white abolitionists. Instead, the taxpayer-funded museum reduces Juneteenth down to some woke sense of blackness: “…remember the [black] ancestors who sacrificed, remember the bloodshed in the struggle, remember the collective strength of people of the African diaspora, and finally remember the spirituality and transcendent joy that enabled us to overcome."
No. Juneteenth is a clarion call that we overcame—white, black and every hue in between—together, and we can only move forward the same way.
Ryan Bomberger, co-founder of The Radiance Foundation, is an Emmy Award-winning creative professional, public speaker, and columnist. He was the first of ten adopted in a diverse family of fifteen. Ryan’s the author of the brand new autobiography, “Should Have Been Aborted.” His books also include “Not Equal: Civil Rights Gone Wrong,” and the children’s books, “He is He” and "She is She.”
