Days of Freedom and Equality

A friend-of-a-friend writes about Juneteenth:

--------------

Traditionally celebrated by African Americans, especially but not exclusively in Texas, Juneteenth is the oldest celebration of emancipation from slavery in the country. It was the final exorcism of the evil institution that had plagued our young nation for its first century and poisoned these lands since first European contact for nearly three centuries prior to that.

Because of its proximity to Independence Day, both temporally and conceptually, our newest federal holiday has powerful potential.

One model for creating what we might call a new “season of critical patriotism” can be found in the Jewish High Holy Days. 

I’ve been moved by the power of the moral space that opens in the ten days between a celebration of the promise of the new year on Rosh Hashanah and lament over the failings of the past at Yom Kippur. The sweetness of apples, honey, and kugel foreshadows repentance, fasting, and atonement. Like binary stars, these holidays orbit one another, generating a contemplative space between them known as the “days of awe.”

The period of 15 days that span the space between Juneteenth and Independence Day could similarly function as an enduring season of critical patriotism for our time. Alongside the celebratory fireworks and other well-established practices surrounding the 4th of July, we could develop new rituals that include the creative interplay of lament and celebration, reckoning and repair, truth-telling and dreaming.

Borrowing from the High Holy Days model, we could conceptualize this season as the “days of freedom and equality,” anchored by the Juneteenth proclamation that all are free and the Independence Day declaration that all are equal. 

We could also embrace a conviction that is deeply engrained in Judaism, Christianity, and indeed most religious traditions: that we can better live with integrity into the future if we face failures to live up to our principles in the past.

Conceptualizing the 19th of June and the 4th of July together, in a creative mutual orbit where each is held by the gravitational force of the other, can help us develop rituals and stories that are honest about our country’s failings while also being hopeful about its possibilities. 

-----------

Superb. This is by Robert P. Jones. Thanks, Robert, and I hope it catches on.