Burgess Owens: “I would like to once again highlight our newest Federal holiday, Juneteenth, or Emancipation Day. For Americans who are…”

“I would like to once again highlight our newest Federal holiday, Juneteenth, or Emancipation Day. For Americans who are not familiar with this day, it has been celebrated within the Black community for over 150 years. This was the day when the message finally reached Black Texans living in Galveston that slavery was over and that they were indeed free. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862. Union General Gordon Granger arrived with over 2,000 troops to deliver this message to the former slaves on June 19, 1865, 3 years later. The lesson that can be learned from this special day is twofold. For almost 3 years, Black Texans lived as slaves at a time when the price had already been paid for them to live free. As it was with Juneteenth 1865, it would be the Republican Party that delivered the message to my race: You are free. In America, in the land of freedom, success is a personal choice. It is not easy, nor is it guaranteed. But if you choose to dream, work, sacrifice, and remain patient, you can, regardless of your skin color, live your American Dream. The remarkable success of the late 1800s all-Black Greenwood community speaks to the tenacity, pride, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit of a race that rose in less than 50 years from slavery. Its destruction in 1921, within 12 hours, also highlights the vulnerability of the American Dream in the absence of the rule of law.…”