Dear Beacon:

Last week Juneteenth became an official federal holiday. It is important to celebrate this milestone. After all, at 94 years old, Opal Lee, the determined “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” spent a majority of her life fighting for this moment. Her journey began at the age of nine when a white mob swarmed her new home in Texas, threatening her family and eventually burning down their house. The date was June 19th, 1936, seventy-one years to the day after Union Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas, and two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom. And we aren’t stopping there. We are moving towards true and lasting freedom. As Beacon member and Faith in New Jersey Executive Director, Charlene Walker posted, “All the hype about Juneteenth and no hype about getting liberated today is heart-breaking. Our people are in cages, subjected to involuntary servitude, brutalized by the police without recourse, there are legislative grabs for our rights daily, and resources are being stripped from our communities everyday.”

The roots of enslavement continue to dominate the systems of our country. And they must be dismantled, pulled up root by root. Emancipation, lasting emancipation, is more than a proclamation or a celebration. Beloved, this American milestone is a call to act. 

Faith in Public Life hosted a webinar in honor of Juneteenth and its unfinished business with leaders for lasting change, rooted in liberation and emancipation. Take time today to learn how we can dismantle the long-term effects of systemic enslavement in our time. Then, let’s make a commitment to act. 

We hope you will join us virtually on Wednesday June 23rd at 1:00 pm for a Moral March on Manchin and McConnell that Rev. Robin is helping to organize.  The Poor People’s Campaign is demanding an end to the filibuster and voter suppression.

Our acts, as well as our failure to act, affect real people. 

Today, and everyday, Beacon renews our commitment to liberation through racial equity, heralded both in our 8th principle and our congregational covenant. Opal Lee is not done. Nor are we. Together we renew our fight for liberation.

With a faith known as Love,

Dr. Tuli Patel and Reverends Emilie & Robin