It’s a holiday I’ve learned about relatively recently, well after we moved to Colorado in 1984. And it’s my custom to publish early on special days. With all that’s going on in our country now, I don’t want to ignore this. I pray today’s remembrances are peaceful and constructive.

You can read more of the history at https://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm. Breakpoint also had an excellent post on why Juneteenth is important for us all. John Stonestreet wrote:

But it’s a day all Americans should commemorate. Juneteenth was the culmination of the efforts of men and women across race and social standing to put an end to a particularly shameful practice on our shores.

Freedom was an important part of Jesus’ mission.

[Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4.16 – 19, NIV)