What we know Juneteenth is about based on how it's being recognized

Now that Juneteenth is a thing, the day's liberal defenders and conservative apologists have argued that the recognition of Juneteenth is completely innocuous, nothing more than celebrating the end of slavery. They've asked how anyone could oppose that.

But the clear context for the now formal national recognition of the holiday is the last year or so of the BLM protest movement and the cultural revolution associated with that — the "racial reckoning" as the liberal media puts it. Slavery has not been a topical issue; so-called systemic racism has. That's the obvious context that apologists are playing dumb to.

So here are some examples of how the day is being recognized — representative ones — that show it to be problematic.

• The hashtag on Twitter is a black power fist, a symbol of literal communist origin, and one associated with radicalism.

  

• Government accounts directly tie the day to the continued fight against systemic racism.

  On this day in 1865, enslaved African Americans of Galveston, Texas received word of their freedom, that had been purposefully withheld for 2+ years after the Emancipation Proclamation. On #Juneteenth we continue to fight against systemic racism & build a freer, stronger country. pic.twitter.com/TYvnCwF0IQ

  — Department of State (@StateDept) June 19, 2021

  "It's a continuous struggle, a continuous fight, a continuous place of remembrance."  
  
  Learn more about #Juneteenth from three @NMAAHC scholars and commit together to eradicate the enduring system of racism to build this country back better for our future. https://t.co/GXEdrjFTGU pic.twitter.com/hVUWr1240T

  — U.S. Department of Energy (@ENERGY) June 18, 2021

• People are already using the day to push for things like changing the American flag.