Juneteenth, Withheld Truth, and the Cost of Delayed Liberation

On June 19, 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform over 250,000 enslaved Black Americans that they were free.

Two and a half years.

That's how long freedom was withheld, not because the Emancipation Proclamation hadn’t been issued, but because it was intentionally not enforced.

Juneteenth is often celebrated as the end of slavery in the United States. But for many, especially in the Black community, it’s also a reminder of what happens when information is hoarded, when systems delay justice, and when those in power shift the goalpost after the truth comes out.

As Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard professor and author of On Juneteenth, writes:

There is a tendency to focus only on the celebration. But Juneteenth is also about the withholding of information — a stark reminder that freedom delayed is freedom denied.

This pattern of telling the truth too late and changing the rules once the truth is known is not a relic of the past. It’s our present.

We see it in housing policy that displaces Black communities while claiming to uplift them. In education systems that erase Black history while claiming to be equitable. In justice systems that monitor, fine, and incarcerate Black bodies while failing to protect them.

Even now, in places like Alameda County, Black people make up over 45% of the unhoused population, in a city where they represent just 23% of the total population (EveryOne Home, 2023).

We shouldn't just mark Juneteenth with flags and fanfare. We mark it by confronting the systems that still bind our people.

We provide housing, trauma recovery, job readiness, violence intervention, and policy advocacy, led by people who know what it means to be silenced, criminalized, or left behind.

The spirit of Juneteenth is resistance, a call to tell the truth, early and often and to give people tools and power before systems try to change the rules again.

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Let us not mistake symbolic recognition for structural liberation. Join us for

Since the 1970s, Black August has honored the legacy of Black resistance, political prisoners, and the ongoing fight for liberation. At BOSS, we continue this legacy by turning remembrance into action.

The BOSS Black August Block Party is a powerful community gathering that honors the legacy of Black resistance while creating real-time access to healing, reentry support, and resources for justice-impacted individuals.

This event is part of our larger Black August campaign, themed “Centering Resistance, Authenticity, and Community.”

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Sources:

• Gordon-Reed, A. (2021). On Juneteenth. Liveright Publishing.

• Equal Justice Initiative. (2020). Juneteenth and the History of Delayed Emancipation.

• EveryOne Home (2023). Alameda County Point-in-Time Count.

• The Atlantic. (2020). "Why Juneteenth Matters." Clint Smith.