Representative Al Green (D-TX) stood in Galveston on Juneteenth, the very city where enslaved Texans first learned they were free 160 years ago, and argued that celebrating that moment means little without a deeper accounting for what preceded it.
The Texas congressman posted on X from Galveston calling for reparations as a necessary next step in the country's reckoning with its history of slavery.
"In Galveston and across our nation, Juneteenth celebrates freedom for the enslaved," Green wrote on social media. "However, there has been no reconciliation for more than 240 years of enslavement, and there can be no reconciliation without reparations. Justice demands reparations."
The location carried particular weight, with Galveston on June 19, 1865, that Union Major General Gordon Granger read aloud General Order No. 3, formally notifying the people of Texas that enslaved people were free, more than two months after the Civil War had ended and nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed.
Mission to Freedom
The delay has long been a central part of the Juneteenth story, and for many, a symbol of how slowly freedom actually traveled.
What followed in the years after that announcement became a tradition. Large community gatherings began in 1866, with prayer services, readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, music, food, and celebrations that mirrored the spirit of the Fourth of July.
In several Texas communities, freed people pooled resources to purchase land specifically for Juneteenth gatherings; Emancipation Park in Houston, acquired in 1872, stands as one enduring example.
The holiday's prominence has waxed and waned over the decades, fading during World War II and again during the civil rights era before experiencing a steady revival.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday, a recognition long sought by advocates, including Green himself.
However, for Green, federal recognition is not the same as justice. His post made clear he sees Juneteenth not as a conclusion, but as an ongoing obligation.
