6/19/2025
This week we celebrate Juneteenth. While I didn’t grow up celebrating this holiday, I can still embrace the opportunity to celebrate the steps taken to fulfill the promise of freedom. The holiday is a powerful reminder that the most important changes do not happen with the wave of a magic wand or the signature on a document, the most important changes take time. Social change is often messy and there is room for all types of people to participate. People who are courageous enough to tell their story, people who design and implement a strategy, and people who harness their creative talents to support the cause are all welcome in the movement for freedom. While we celebrate the emancipation of African Americans in the United States, the fight for freedom is not limited to this one time in history, this specific population or this generation.
Our founding fathers were not perfect, but the first amendment of the constitution promises the freedom of religion, expression, assembly and the right to petition. Often times we fail to live up to the freedoms expressed in the first amendment. The reasons are many and include excess comfort in our current circumstances, fear of change and unwillingness to share the “wealth”. Sadly, we often see freedom through a lens for ourselves even if it comes at the expense of others. This is nothing new and remains a challenge in the United States. In our history, we have fought for freedom for many, including but not limited to African Americans, women, immigrant populations from numerous countries, and the LGBTQ population. If you see yourself reflected in any of these groups I am sure you would conclude that we still have a way to go to embrace freedom for all.
Currently, I think we are facing a new fight for freedom for a group of people that is more diverse and larger perhaps than any group that has come before. People who are living in poverty have very little freedom and may soon lose the little they may have. My observation over more than 25 years working in a social service and public health field, people living in poverty do not have freedom in most aspects of their lives. They do not have freedom to determine where their children go to school. Without a car, they do not have freedom around what jobs they can accept. They often fall victim to losing financial freedom due to institutional policies and practices that prevent them from climbing out of poverty. They are not free to seek multiple healthcare opinions and often are restricted to government supported health services without options. Even the freedom to eat healthy can be at risk due to food deserts in many of our poorest areas. And the luxury of having the freedom to schedule time is non-existent for people living in poverty, they are at the mercy of a bus schedule, two or three work schedules, and a child’s school schedule. These are freedoms that many of us reading this take for granted.
Juneteenth is specific to a celebration of emancipation for African Americans, deserving of not only ongoing recognition but also ongoing advocacy for the freedom to succeed. Far too many people, including a significant population of African Americans are living in poverty and facing a life with no or very limited freedoms. The fight for freedom is not over for a significant number of people in the United States based on 2023 Census data, 37 million people live in poverty (11% of the total population)[1]. But 17.9% of African Americans live in poverty[2] in the United States – the fight for freedom clearly has a long way to go.
[1] Emily A. Shrider, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60-283, Poverty in the United States: 2023, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC, September 2024. [2] U.S. Census Bureau. Poverty in the United States: 2023; Issued September 11, 2024.
