Happy Freedom Day

This is an excerpt from my presentation during the Third Annual Juneteenth All Clergy Day Gathering Luncheon at New Horizong Church International on June 19, 2026.

As our nation prepares for its 250th birthday, we understand that it was not until June 19, 1865 when General Granger and the federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform 2,000 enslaved African Americans that Black folks gained freedom.

So this day is significant in acknowledging that Juneteenth represents the full participation of African Americans in American citizenship and commands us to remember our history and culture in the face of racism, resistance, and efforts to roll back the rights and freedoms that we have gained.

Today, we stand as beneficiaries of those who endured unimaginable sacrifices, who put the movement towards freedom before themselves. They, and many whom sit right here in this room, remember and participated in an organized ground game that included protests, marches, sit ins, freedom rides, door to door trips, cross state communities, strategy meetings in fellowship halls, sanctuaries, and on wooden pews.

And here we are facing a battle we thought had already been won, a possession already settled, but how many know that freedom isn't free, that the moral universe only bends towards justice when we bend it. And perhaps it was disinterest, apathy, or neglect, neverthelss, our collective forefeiture to participate in the political process has placed our democracy in a position of fragility and our freedom to be full citizens at risk.

So we must return to the tried and true days of calling upon the church to take its rightful role in history and change, put on the whole armor of God, hold on to God's unchanging hand, and work together to help our communities move from awareness to action, from complacency to expediency, from backwards thinking and hate driving policy, legislation, and judicial decisions to love, progress, and justice. For we know that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.

If we want a Mississippi that reflects justice fairness, and opportunity, then we must meet this moment with leadership. We must be willing to do the work.

Because faith without works is dead and democracty without participation is, too.